Who Is Diversity For?
Co-presented by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation
and Asian American Arts Alliance
Thursday, January 14, 2021
6 to 7:30pm EST
This event was held on Zoom
Clockwise: Sinêad López (Nathan Cummings Foundation), Diana Abouali (Arab American National Museum), Salem Tsegaye (New York Community Trust), and Andy Chiang (Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company)
Reflecting on current philanthropic practices, Who Is Diversity For? was a panel discussion featuring Diana Abouali (Arab American National Museum), Andy Chiang (Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company), and Salem Tsegaye (New York Community Trust), moderated by Sinêad López (Nathan Cummings Foundation). The conversation questioned who diversity serves and how diversity in the arts can truly be achieved at a time when culturally-specific organizations are becoming resegregated, and forced to compete against their own communities for seemingly limited resources. As the cultural sector has historically not succeeded in representing and serving communities from all socio-cultural backgrounds, many race- and ethnicity-specific organizations, like the Asian American Arts Alliance, were founded with the aim of achieving equal representation and opportunities in the arts. This panel was the third program of a three-part series co-presented by the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and the Asian American Arts Alliance.
Access Information: This event included live ASL interpretation and captioning.
Content Warning -
Please note that this recording has been edited for racially charged language. We regret if anyone was offended or harmed while listening to the live stream of the conversation. Our intention in providing this content warning and the statement from the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and Asian American Arts Alliance below, is to continue building trust, safety, and accountability within our community.
Statement from The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and Asian American Arts Alliance -
The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and Asian American Arts Alliance organized this series of panels to tease out the nuances of diversity and racialized dynamics among and between communities of color. Our hope is that the dialogue presented here provides meaningful insight into the challenges and possibilities that arise from direct exchange and discourse. We do not condone the use of racist language in any form. For this reason, within the following recording, a racist term is muted to prevent unnecessary harm.
For more information about the Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation’s values and policies, please click here https://www.the8thfloor.org/visit.
Statement from Andy Chiang -
Dear audience members and fellow panelists, I wish to apologize for my mistake on this panel. I sincerely regret that I uttered a hurtful word at the moment of recalling the story that told my experience working in a diverse environment. In the story, this word was said by a fellow African American and I told it as it happened. I should have replaced the word with a more appropriate expression for the audience. I accept personal responsibility for the word I uttered and I understand that hearing the word can be hurtful to people on the panel or in the audience. I understand that for many, the word should have never existed in the first place and I should have found another way to express the situation. I am truly sorry for this and I promise this will not happen again. As of today, I am enrolled in two workshops to deepen my personal sensitivity and I continue to explore opportunities to enrich my own experience and understanding. I welcome your feedback.
Click here to read the event transcript
Bios
Diana Abouali is the Director of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. She has worked in the higher education and cultural heritage sectors in the United States, Palestine, and Jordan and has a PhD in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University.
Andy Chiang, Executive Director of the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studied Kung-Fu in Wu Tang, and holds a black belt in Goju Ryu Karate. He spent two years in the Martha Graham School studying modern dance and ballet, learning the interconnection between Asian movement concepts and modern dance styles. His computer science career brought him extensive management experience in the for-profit world and he carried these ideas into his work with the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company. He has been the Executive Director of the Nai-Ni Chen Company since co-founding the company with his wife. Together, they created one of the most extensively toured Asian American dance troupes in the United States with both traditional and contemporary works. In New York, the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company collaborates with several community artists to produce the Chinese New Year celebration on main stage in Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan and work with the National Park Service on Ellis Island to produce the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month in the Great Hall of Immigration. Andy has served as adjudicator for the NEA in Dance, Education and Regional Arts organizations. He has served as Board of Trustee for ArtPride NJ, Mid-Atlantic Arts, and co-founded DanceNJ.
Sinéad López is a dedicated cultural worker with a deep commitment to social justice. As Senior Program Associate at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, she supports grantmaking in the Voice, Creativity & Culture and Israel programs, helping to partner with and resource artists, storytellers, journalists, faith leaders, grassroots community organizers, and civil society organizations advancing transformational change, domestically and abroad. Prior to joining the NCF team, she served as the Program Associate for Thriving Cultures at the Surdna Foundation, supporting grantmaking within the Artists Engaging in Social Change, Community Engaged Design, Artists & Economic Development, Teens’ Artistic & Cultural Advancement, and Radical Imagination for Racial Justice strategies. She brings a diverse arts background as a former fundraiser, gallery director, curator, researcher, and youth arts instructor who has worked in local, regional, and national contexts. Passionate about building a just and equitable third sector, she volunteers as a Steering Committee member of the Mosaic Network and of the New York Chapter of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy. Sinéad received a B.A. with honors in Art History from Northwestern University, where she also trained in the Creative Writing and Kaplan Humanities Scholar programs. Born and raised in Las Vegas, NV, Sinéad lives in New York City and is proud of her family roots in the American Southwest.
Salem Tsegaye oversees grantmaking in arts, culture, and historic preservation at The New York Community Trust. She also manages the Mosaic Network and Fund and formerly managed the New York City Cultural Agenda Fund and Fund for New Citizens. Salem has previously worked as a research administrator at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts, in development at the Queens Museum, and as a technical assistance provider to government agencies and small and mid-size nonprofits in Washington D.C. She has a B.A. from Duke University and an M.A. from Parsons The New School for Design.
The Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring greater representation, equity, and opportunities for Asian American artists and cultural organizations through resource sharing, promotion, and community building. Since 1983, A4 has sought to unify, promote, and represent the artistic and cultural producers of one of New York City’s fastest-growing populations. A4 comprises a diverse alliance of artists, organizations, and arts supporters who believe that working together as a pan-ethnic, multidisciplinary community is essential to nurturing the development of artists and arts groups. A4 serves as a thoughtful convener of the Asian American cultural workforce around issues of race, identity, and artmaking and provides a critical voice for this community. A4 is the only service organization in the country dedicated to the professional development of Asian American artists in all disciplines. www.aaartsalliance.org
