The Kennedy Center’s Social Impact program announced partnerships and programming for the 2022-2023 season, including Community Partnerships, Culture Caucus, the Conflux, Social Practice Residents, and Millennium Stage. Social Impact is the Center’s systemic commitment to the assumption that the humanities hold unique power in our society to construct communities, center joy, encourage motion, and drive meaningful change. Social Impact goals to leverage the humanities for non-arts outcomes to advance justice and equity in all that we do.
“Our work in Social Impact is most visible through our partnerships and programs, but most animated by our underlying commitment to the legacy of John F. Kennedy. Kennedy himself was a change agent with a magnetic social vision of equity across the American landscape”, says Marc Bamuthi Joseph, VP and Artistic Director of Social Impact. “Our investment in cultural leaders and sensible creatives is an extension of Kennedy’s vision of a vibrant and diverse public imagination. We’re working hard to present an exciting impact season that leverages justice today with a watch on a transformative cultural future.”
Returning this season are Community Partnerships, a one-year commitment intersecting with the Social Impact’s five pillars of community empowerment, artist empowerment, impact performance, cultural leadership, and REACH activation. Partnerships with The Armed Services Art Partnership, The Ferry Tales Project, Paula Brown Performing Arts Center, Washington Improv Theater, Washington Jazz Arts Institute, and The Recording Academy Washington D.C. Chapter will facilitate discussions and collaborate with Social Impact and other Programming departments on the Kennedy Center, including Dance, Theater, Jazz, Comedy, International Programs, and Hip Hop Culture and Contemporary Music. These partnerships will include artist workshops, panel discussions, performances, film screenings on the REACH, and collaborations with Social Impact’s standing programs, Millennium Stage, Office Hours, Local Theater Residencies, and Dance Sanctuaries.
The Culture Caucus is a cohort of 10 individuals and organizations, based within the D.C. area, who represent an ecology of cultural practice whose foothold is within the performing arts. The caucus for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 seasons includes SMYAL, The 1882 Foundation, Miss Chief Rocka, Corazón Folklórico DC, Inc., District Running Collective, The Green Zone, Congress Heights Arts and Culture Center, Latinx History Project, Visionaries of the Creative Arts, and Shanthi Chandrasekar. Through the residency program, these culture makers will create and produce quite a lot of events that can happen on the REACH.
The Conflux goals to intertwine programming on the Center with a national organization also engaging in social impact-facing work. This past 12 months’s programming, We the People’s Before, included a 3 day event and production within the Eisenhower Theater surrounding the First People’s Funds commitment to the past and way forward for Indigenous communities. This 12 months’s programming will probably be presented by The Arab America Foundation (AAF), a nonprofit cultural and academic organization that promotes Arab heritage and educates Americans about Arab identity and Arab Americans across the US with other diverse organizations to counter social inequality. The initiative was established to dispel negative imagery directed against Arab Americans within the US and produce an accurate narrative that’s non-biased in combating heightened hate crimes and bigotry. Programming this 12 months includes three events in February featuring The National Arab Orchestra, Emad Batayeh, and an Arab Film & Media Institute Film Screening.
Impactful Connections, a recent partnership with the District of Columbia Public Libraries, focuses on creating access through transportation for D.C. residents to experience free local, national, and international arts and culture programming on the Kennedy Center. This program goals to reduce the barrier of attending to and from the Center by providing pick up and drop off locations at five participating District of Columbia Public Libraries across all 4 quadrants of the District. The partnership will launch on January 21, 2023.
This season also includes the Social Practice Residency, featuring individuals who engage in critical conversations about social change and artistic interactions. This 12 months’s residents are Cristal Truscott, PhD-culture employee, scholar, educator, playwright, director, founding father of the touring ensemble Progress Theatre, and creator of SoulWork; Elizabeth Rule, PhD-writer, public scholar, and advocate for Indigenous communities; and Kristina Wong-performance artist, comedian, author elected representative, and Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama.
Millennium Stage will proceed its commitment to accessible shows celebrating cultural heritage and the humanities with live programming from Wednesday-Saturday. Live shows and events will happen on the Center’s North and South Millennium Stages in addition to being live streamed on their Digital Stage. This season may even feature a recent film series with screenings on Sundays on the REACH’s Justice Forum.
Community Partners
The Armed Services Arts Partnership
The Armed Services Arts Partnership (ASAP) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the biggest community arts organization serving the military community within the U.S. ASAP fosters creative communities where veterans, service members, military relations, and caregivers thrive through the humanities. Their free classes include stand-up comedy, storytelling, improv, creative writing, acting, and visual arts. Research demonstrates ASAP participants experience significant, lasting improvements in resilience, social connection, self-esteem, and integration of self.
ASAP Chapters are currently positioned in Washington, DC; Hampton Roads, VA; San Diego, CA; and Indianapolis, IN-and we’re expanding nationally. In eight years, 2,000 individual veterans have participated of their classes and their alumni have performed for an estimated 150,000+ audience members, including shows at Carolines on Broadway, Warner Theater, and at The White House.
The Ferry Tales Project
The Ferry Tales Project is a collaboration with the International Programming department on the Kennedy Center, Caitlin Cassidy (Lead Artist), The Earth Commons-Georgetown University’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, and The Lab for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University.
Georgetown’s Earth Commons Institute is a hub for environmental and sustainability innovation, research and education to speed up motion on probably the most pressing problems with our earth. Assembling a team of interdisciplinary experts, researchers, leaders and students, the Earth Commons is transforming the university right into a living laboratory to develop scalable solutions for a greener, more sustainable world.
Caitlin Nasema Cassidy (Lead Artist, Ferry Tales Project) is an actor, director, and producer. Her practice is rooted in joy, embodied research, and (com)post-activism. She is committed to telling stories by/about/with women, the peoples and places from which she originates, and the more-than-human. She is the recipient of a 2022 National Performance Network Creation Fund Award. Caitlin serves as Co-Artistic Director of LubDub Theatre Co. and is the 2022-23 Artist-in-Residence at The Earth Commons-Georgetown University’s Institute for the Environment and Sustainability.
A joint initiative of the Theater and Performance Studies Program and the School of Foreign Service, the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University (The Lab) is led by Professors Derek Goldman and Cynthia P. Schneider. Constructing upon Georgetown’s strengths within the areas of theatrical performance and international politics, the Lab is a resource center that brings together in public dialogue an expansive global network of artists, policymakers, scholars, cultural organizations, embassies, faculty, students, and audiences.
Paula Brown Performing Arts Center
An completed dancer, singer, actress, choreographer, professor, creator and licensed Vaganova Instructor. Brown appeared on Broadway, television and film and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), American Federation of Television and Radio Association (AFTRA), and Actors Equity Association (AEA). In 2013, Brown established the Paula Brown Performing Arts Center (PBPAC) and Brown Ballerinas company. The mission is to uplift girls of color by addressing inadequate access to classical ballet training in minority communities. Promoting the study of classical ballet because the footing for PBPAC and her Brown Ballerinas company, she spread her wings into the Prince George’s County community as a facilitator of after school performing arts enrichment and community outreach programing in several public charter and personal schools. She is compelled by her love for her community to assist youth of the dance and performing arts in Prince George’s County Maryland.
Washington Improv Theater
Currently celebrating its twenty fifth anniversary season, Washington Improv Theater (WIT) is devoted to sharing the creative, collaborative power of longform improvisation in Washington, D.C. Because the District’s premier nonprofit improv theater, WIT is guided by the assumption that improv is for everybody.
Re-founded in 1998, they serve hundreds annually through reasonably priced or free performances. For the 2022-23 season, WIT is a resident company at Studio Theatre. This residency will include two debut shows: Not a Pyramid Scheme, which satires the scam-ridden multi-level marketing industry, and Tumbleweed!, a light-hearted Western.
WIT shares their craft locally via multiple community partnerships, offering after-school programming in partnership with DC Public Schools, Project Create, and Sitar Arts Center, in addition to classes for veterans and girls experiencing homelessness. WIT’s workplace training program WIT@Work teaches clients how the talents utilized in successful improv will help people within the workplace as well. Clients include nonprofits, corporations, and government agencies. Along with their multi-level eight-week classes, WIT runs regular Improv for All workshops; these free two-hour workshops are opportunities for newcomers to try improv in a protected environment.
Washington Jazz Arts Institute
The Washington Jazz Arts Institute (WJAI) was founded in 1998 by Davey Yarborough and his wife Esther Williams to further his dream of teaching music in a nurturing, mentoring atmosphere. A natural outgrowth of Davey’s success at The Duke Ellington School of the Arts in DC, this dream was born of a desire to encourage young people into careers in music.
Their mission and commitment is to the education, presentation and documentation of Jazz Music in and for the Washington, DC community. The Institute is dedicated to the preservation of the past, the promotion of the current and preparation for the long run of Jazz in DC. The Institute will work to firmly fix through oral and written history the contribution of Jazz music to the cultural and social development of Washington, DC, and the contribution of Washington musicians to the creation of this uniquely American music form. The Institute has developed a city-wide musical outreach and education program in support of a Jazz orchestra which is able to expand opportunities for the appreciation of live Jazz in the world and enhance the training and performance opportunities for young musicians.
Recording Academy Washington D.C. Chapter
The Washington, D.C. Chapter of the Recording Academy® engages the wide-ranging communities in Maryland, Virginia and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Working with varied genres including rock, Latin, hip-hop, R&B, go-go, gospel, folk, classical, and jazz, the D.C. Chapter is an important connection and touchstone for music makers throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Led by Executive Director Sharon Ingram and Chapter President Tamara Wellons the chapter offers skilled development and opportunities for its members. The Washington, D.C. Chapter works to further the Recording Academy’s mission of recognizing excellence within the recording arts and sciences, cultivating the well-being of the music community-at-large, and ensuring the music community stays an indelible a part of the culture.
Culture Caucus Members
SMYAL
Based in Washington, D.C., SMYAL supports and empowers LGBTQ youth ages 6 through 24. Since 1984, SMYAL has worked to satisfy the needs of LGBTQ youth through affirming programs, housing support, accessible mental health services, leadership training, and community outreach.
SMYAL’s modern programs are unique each locally and nationally. Little SMYALs, designed specifically for queer and trans youth under the age of 13, is certainly one of only a number of programs of its kind within the country. As the biggest LGBTQ youth housing provider within the region, SMYAL’s comprehensive housing program provides protected and stable shelter, food, case management services, crisis intervention, resource navigation, and community support for LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness. As well as, SMYAL also offers LGBTQ-affirming mental health counseling for free of charge to youth and families. Through youth leadership training and day by day drop-in programming, SMYAL creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to construct self-confidence, develop critical life skills, and interact their peers and community. Committed to social change, SMYAL builds, sustains, and advocates for programs, policies, and services that LGBTQ youth need as they grow into maturity.
Miss Chief Rocka
Angela Miracle Gladue aka Lunacee, is a nehiyaw (Cree)/Greek Interdisciplinary Artist from the Treaty 6 Territory of amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta) and is a proud member of Frog Lake First Nation. As a world artist, she has been invited to offer master classes, perform, lecture and judge in countless communities throughout the world and continues to share her love for dance in Indigenous Communities and schools across Turtle Island (North America).
Since 2016, Angela has toured as certainly one of the lead dancers for The Halluci Nation (Formally referred to as A Tribe Called Red) and has also performed alongside The Doors, Buffy Sainte Marie, Lido Pimienta, Jeremy Dutcher, and Cris Derksen to call a number of. She has opened up for major recording artists similar to TLC, Sean Paul, Lil’ Kim, Maestro, GrandMaster Flash, Busta Rhymes, and the America’s Best Dance Crew tour. Chosen accomplishments include: Performing and choreographing on the 2007, 2008, 2013 and 2015 Indspire Awards (formally the National Indigenous Achievement Awards), 2016 PoundMaker Lodge Pow-Wow – Iron Woman Champion, choreographing and acting at the 2017 Juno Awards, and 2016 PoundMaker Lodge Pow-Wow Iron Woman Champion.
Corazón Folklórico DC, Inc.
Corazón Folklórico Dance Company, based in Washington, DC, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in September 2017 dedicated to honoring and preserving the art of ballet folklórico, or traditional Mexican dance. Corazón promotes and celebrates the cultural diversity of Mexico through its dance performances all year long and by constructing a community of passionate dancers from the DMV area. Corazón seeks to create an area where anyone can take part in the enjoyment and art of Ballet Folklórico by offering free classes to adults held on the Spanish Education and Development Center in Petworth and on the Mexican Cultural Institute of Washington, DC.
Honoring the legacy of Mexican culture through dance is a privilege and a crucial responsibility for Corazón Folklorico. We’re committed to promoting the humanities and celebrating cultural diversity through folklórico dance performances within the DMV Metro Area. Alejandro Góngora, founder and Producing Artistic Director of Corazón Folklorico DC INC, teaches and choreographs ballet folklórico as a way to create community con corazón in DC. His mission is to create art with people and showcase Mexico’s wealthy cultural diversity and history through ballet folklórico.
District Running Collective
We exist where fitness, fun, and community collide. We support each other up every hill, across every bridge, and thru each painstaking mile. As a crew, we represent the perfect of every person who dedicates themselves to recovering, faster, and stronger daily.
We consider we are able to change the way in which people view running, while concurrently having a positive impact on town we call home. Open to all levels of runners, now we have built a community of individuals around a typical goal: pushing past perceived limits and becoming higher daily through running and supporting each other.
The Green Zone
The Green Zone is DC’s first and only standalone Middle Eastern Cocktail Bar. The winner of several local awards and recipient of national acclaim, what began as a pop-up in 2014 has now been a everlasting DC establishment for over 4 years, representing the flavors and cultures of the Middle East through its drinks, food, decor, music, and entertainment.
Taking inspiration from owner Chris Hassaan Francke’s heritage and travel experiences within the region, The Green Zone shines a highlight on the wealthy and varied flavors, scents, and sounds of the Middle East through its cocktails. Even the design of the bar was heavily influenced by the region. The partitions downstairs feature vintage Arabic and Turkish coffee pots and travel posters, the bartop showcases Moroccan zellij tile. Upstairs, the partitions are covered in framed Arabic, Turkish, and Persian records.
True to the bar’s roots as a pop-up, not only does it host others, but The Green Zone’s important type of promotion is to travel and hold events across the country and world wide, with pop-ups and takeovers from Recent York to Recent Orleans, San Juan to London.
Congress Heights Arts and Cultural Center
Congress Heights Arts and Culture Center is a 501 (c)(3) organization with a mission to show, encourage + educate each youth + adults to the wealthy arts + cultural opportunities, specifically in Wards 7 + 8, from a historical and modern-day prospective.
CHACC was established to the explore arts + culture of individuals of the African Diaspora, specifically, communities of African Americans, residing East of the Anacostia River. CHACC’s purpose is to develop and expand cultural and artistic opportunities for his or her residents and certainly one of the very best priorities is to weave children and youth into the material of the economic revitalization occurring within the communities inside Wards 7 and eight. CHACC isn’t just a house to East of the River creatives but home stuffed with legacy. Formerly the residence and business space of the Executive Director’s father, the humanities and culture center serves as a tangible example of black ownership, generational success and cultural legacy
Latinx History Project
In 2000, the Latinx History Project, formerly referred to as the Latino GLBT History Project, was founded to gather, preserve, and share Latinx LQBTQ history. The Latinx History Project now celebrates over twenty years of meaningful service to the Latinx LGBTQ community, and a serious milestone because it launches recent Latinx Education Workshops with a Digital Resource-hub. We proceed to be a pillar for his or her community in D.C. because the organization that hosts all DC Latinx Pride events and festivities during pride month in addition to various other gatherings and events all year long. Because the Covid-19 Pandemic disproportionately affected their community, the organization also stepped up within the last three years to boost funding for and construct unity amongst grassroots Latinx LGBTQ organizations spanning the continental United States and various Latin American countries as their third program area.
Visionaries of the Creative Arts
Visionaries of the Creative Arts (VOCA), a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC, was established in July 2019 by Michelle Banks, the visionary leader and Artistic Director and Nayte Paxton, co-founder and Associate Artistic Director, in response to the critical must support the works of the D/deaf and hard-of-hearing BlPOC artists locally and nationwide. After Banks directed Gallaudet University’s spring 2018 production, she realized what was missing–a everlasting home for local artists. When Banks shared her vision to present a platform for D/deaf and hard-of-hearing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color artists to create, collaborate, and showcase their culturally distinct work through theater, dance, poetry, music, film, and storytelling in American Sign Language (ASL) and Black American Sign Language with Nayte Paxton, each of them eagerly agreed to make the vision come true by embarking on the establishment of VOCA. In consequence, Visionaries of the Creative Arts -VOCA was born! The Deaf/HHBIPOC community and its artists have been ignored and underrepresented in mainstream Deaf culture, a type of social injustice that VOCA stands to redress.
Shanthi Chandrasekar
Shanthi Chandrasekar is an Indian-American multimedia, multidisciplinary artist based in Maryland. She has an instructional background in Physics and Psychology, and has been trained in the standard art types of Kolam and Tanjore-style painting. While a lot of her works are influenced by her Indian heritage, her true inspiration comes from the mystery and majesty of the world round her; her muse lives where the scientific overlaps with the spiritual.
Shanthi has won quite a few awards for her work including Individual Artist Awards and grants from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, in addition to the Maryland Traditions Folklife Apprenticeship Grants to show Kolam. She designed the Kolam concept for the 2021 Kolam Project that involved community participation from across the USA, to put in a 1,950-tile Kolam in front of the Capitol Constructing in Washington, D.C.
Her artwork is within the DC Art Bank, Montgomery Public Art, and other collections. Shanthi has exhibited, participated and presented her work at several galleries and institutions including Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Gandhi Memorial Center, the Smithsonian and most recently at American University’s Katzen Center and the Art on Paper 2022 NYC. Aside from exhibiting her artwork, Shanthi also illustrates books and teaches art. Juxtaposing various fields like science and math, with abstract and traditional arts, and experimenting with media to speak her thoughts and concepts to audiences from all walks of life is the essence of Shanthi’s work.
The 1882 Foundation
Established in 2012, the 1882 Foundation’s founding mission is to coach the general public in regards to the Chinese Exclusion Laws, their history, and their continued significance to all Americans. The Foundation fulfills this mission through 4 program areas: collecting oral histories of Chinese and Asian Americans and preserving their story sites; developing curriculum and resources for public educators; promoting collaboration and best practices amongst Asian American museums and historical societies; and providing a platform for literary and artistic exploration amongst Asian American youth.
The Foundation emerged from a successful national grassroots effort by a coalition of 5 national Asian American organizations calling for a Congressional apology for the Chinese Exclusion Laws and related racist provisions. Though the Senate and House unanimously passed resolutions of regret in 2011 and 2012, respectively, anti-Asian sentiment and discrimination proceed today, especially within the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Chinese and Asian Americans face recent challenges, the 1882 Foundation is committed to increasing the visibility of Asian American communities and celebrating their achievements as integral constituents of the USA. Locally, the Foundation addresses the changing needs of Chinese and Asian Americans around Washington, D.C., by working to construct and support D.C.’s Chinatown as a vibrant cultural and academic hub for thinkers, creators and activists. Nationally, the 1882 Foundation is a number one voice of efforts in AAPI curriculum inclusion, the popularity of landmarks and monuments of Asian American history, and the mobilization of museum and other archival organizations to form a dynamic network that brings Asian American stories and experiences to the American public.
Conflux Programing
Join the Arab America Foundation (AAF) and the Kennedy Center as we have fun Arab heritage and highlight the contributions of Arab Americans to America with three days of performances, art, and film screenings.
Taking Back Our Narrative
Presented in collaboration with the Arab America Foundation, Taking Back Our Narrative speaks to the fullness and variety of the Arab American experience, values, and cultural landscape throughout the USA. “The foundation causes of racism directed against Arab Americans are linked heavily to orientalism, colonialism, popular literature, stereotyping in movies, misrepresentation in textbooks, negative coverage within the mass media, and political rhetoric.” says Warren David, co-founder of the Arab America Foundation, “There may be a fundamental need for this marginalized community to take back their narrative and to extend awareness of their accomplishments and the contributions of Arab Americans to America.”
Program Details
Conflux Presents: The National Arab Orchestra
The Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
Friday February 17 at 8:00pm
Founded in 2009, the National Arab Orchestra, (NAO), a nonprofit, is devoted to elevating and preserving Arab culture and musical traditions in the USA and beyond through performance, education, outreach, and collaboration. Under the leadership of founder and Music Director Michael Ibrahim, the NAO creates memorable, high-quality musical experiences that keep Arab culture alive and thriving. These live shows bring the fantastic thing about Arab music to completely recent and diverse audiences.
Conflux Presents: Emad Batayeh
Millennium Stage Grand Foyer
Saturday, February 18 at 6:00pm
Emad Batayeh is certainly one of the leading Arab vocalists in the USA. Batayeh can also be a musician and producer. Born to a Jordanian family in Detroit, Emad inherited his musical talents from his parents who encouraged him from a young age to pursue music as a profession. He became referred to as a musical genius as a child. He now performs at Arab American cultural events across the U.S.
Conflux Presents: Arab Film & Media Institute Film Screening
Justice Forum on the REACH
Sunday, February 19 at 3:00pm
The Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI) is a non-profit organization founded by the team behind the biggest and oldest Arab Film Festival in North America. AFMI goals to be an entire ecosystem to seek out, nurture, and showcase Arab talent in the USA. Starting with organizing school screenings, and growing into offering filmmaker services and original programming, AFMI is the place for Arab cinema and its fans, and the house of the Arab Film Festival.
Social Practice Residents
Cristal Truscott, PhD
Cristal Chanelle Truscott, PhD is a culture employee, scholar, educator, playwright, director, founding father of the touring ensemble Progress Theatre, and creator of “SoulWork” – a generative method for making performance, training artists, engaging communities and framing analytical research that’s rooted in generations-old African American cultural practices, theories and performance traditions. She is a recipient of the Doris Duke Impact Artist Award–given to those “influential in shaping powerful creative movements in contemporary arts”–the Creative Capital Award, MAP Fund, NPN Creation Fund and NEFA National Theatre Project grants.
Through SoulWork Studio, she offers training to empower artists and humanities educators to have interaction the fullness of their identities by cultivating creative power through an inclusive and socially-conscious performance practice. With Progress Theatre, she writes and directs acapella musicals called “NeoSpirituals,” that span and straddle time between histories and the current to explore identities, inheritances/legacies and cultural movements to encourage connection, consciousness and healing. Her plays – PEACHES, ‘MEMBUH: Confessions of The Only Generation, The Burnin’ and, work-in-progress, Plantation Remix – mix popular culture and academic conversations, fusing genre from Negro Spirituals and Folklore to Blues, R&B, and Hip Hop to supply performances that engage communities across race, class, gender, and spiritual identity.
Elizabeth Rule, PhD
Elizabeth Rule, PhD (enrolled citizen, Chickasaw Nation) is a author, public scholar, and advocate for Indigenous communities. She holds a Social Practice Residency on the Kennedy Center and is an Assistant Professor of Critical Race, Gender, and Culture Studies at American University. Rule’s time on the Kennedy Center is being dedicated to the event of an Indigenous feminist television screenplay, Moon Time. Rule is founding father of the Guide to Indigenous Lands Project and creator of the Guide to Indigenous DC (2019), Guide to Indigenous Baltimore (2021), and Guide to Indigenous Maryland (2022) digital maps and mobile applications.
Rule’s work has received support from the Henry Luce Foundation, MIT Solve, Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, Center for Black, Brown, and Queer Studies, and more. In 2021, she was recognized as an AT&T Women’s History Month Honoree, was named among the many National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s “40 Under 40,” and received the Library Company of Philadelphia’s Innovation Award. Prior to joining American University, Rule served as Director of George Washington University’s Center for Indigenous Politics and Policy. Rule received her Ph.D. from Brown University, and B.A. from Yale University.
Kristina Wong
Kristina Wong is a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Drama. She’s a performance artist, comedian, author and elected representative who has been presented internationally across North America, the UK, Hong Kong and Africa. She currently is a 3 12 months Artist-in-Residence at ASU Gammage culminating in 2026. Her work has been awarded with grants from Creative Capital, The MAP Fund, Center for Cultural Innovation, National Performance Network, a COLA Master Artist Fellowship from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, nine Los Angeles Artist-in-Residence awards, Center Theatre Group’s Sherwood Award, and the Art Matters Foundation.
Her recent “Kristina Wong for Public Office” is concurrently an actual life stint because the elected Sub-district 5 representative of Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council and rally campaign show. Kristina founded Auntie Sewing Squad, a national mutual aid network of volunteers that sewed cloth masks for vulnerable communities in the course of the Covid pandemic. Her role within the Auntie Sewing Squad is the topic of her currently touring “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord”- a “Recent York Times Critics Pick” that premiered off-Broadway at Recent York Theater Workshop. The show won the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards for “Outstanding Solo Performance”.
Millennium Stage
Millennium Stage is a manifestation of the Kennedy Center’s mission and vision to welcome all to have fun our collective cultural heritage in probably the most inclusive and accessible way possible. Millennium Stage offers free live community performances, streamed live Wednesday-Saturday each week and Sunday matinee film screenings within the Justice Forum.
The series goals to eliminate financial and geographical barriers to the humanities and have fun the human spirits and humanities in our society, hopefully, ultimately resulting in intercultural understanding. The programs are varied with artists from many alternative communities and mediums of performing arts in order that we’re showcasing the story of our country and our world.
For more information, please visit the Social Impact page on the Kennedy Center website.