Hosted by Juju Chang, the Emmy Award-winning anchor of ABC News Nightline, Voices Rising: What’s Next for Asian Americans in the Arts? delves into the pressing issues and opportunities Asian American artists face today.

Featuring in-depth conversations with distinguished panelists; including BD Wong, David Henry Hwang, Rosalind Chao, Jose Antonio Vargas, Qian Julie Wang, and Mira Jacob; and interspersed with performances by Naomi Funaki, Mikiya Ito, and Pooja Reddy; this special comes at a crucial time when anti-Asian hate is on the rise, yet there is also a remarkable celebration of Asian American talent at the national level. 

Voices Rising: What’s Next for Asian Americans in the Arts? is a co-production of ALL ARTS, Exploring Hate, and The Serica Initiative.

Watch at ALL ARTS.

It was the kind of movie theater that didn’t have a marquee. Grand Avenue Cinemas was located on a dismal stretch of Long Island, sandwiched unceremoniously between a liquor store and a Dollar Tree. The four of us had driven there from Jones Beach, the sun waning in the sky, on the kind of perfect summer day that seemed to signal that the summer was coming to an end.

My dad insists he’d been taking me there since before I could walk, but my memory only goes as far back as 1994—the summer Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa, Major League Baseball went on strike, and my parents were still married, if only on paper.

It’s 9PM on Christmas Eve and you arrive at Tae’s door with a six-pack of Guinness, a phone charger, and a pair of fleece-lined pajamas. Her studio is a third-story walk-up, located halfway between a billiards bar and a 24-hour bodega on the Lower East Side. From the outside, it has the kind of dense granite façade that could almost require a doorman, but inside, the stairs creak, and the peeling paint on the banister has gathered in a pool of pastel green on the landing.

It is 8 o’clock on the dot and the asphalt is spread out like a giant blackened fish – yellow stripe down the middle, white markings on either side like scales. The street is dark, save for an errant streetlamp and the light reflecting off the neon sign from the carpark across the street.