Asian American / Asian Research Institute

MOCA TALKS –《与此同时 At the Same Time》英译诗集分享会
2025-11-01 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre Street, New York, NY, 10013
Reflecting on the hometown of Laozi, Wang Jiaxin, a highly representative contemporary Chinese poet, has perhaps transformed his many years of overseas experiences and reflections into clear and contemplative new poetry. The Museum of Chinese in America is once again collaborating with the North American Chinese Writers’ Association to promote Chinese-language works nurtured from the immigrant experience. This talk will focus on Wang Jiaxin, inviting him to share the publication process of the English translation of his poetry collection 与此同时 (At the Same Time), discuss the creative journey behind his work, and explore how personal experiences can be transformed into introspective literary expression, as well as the challenges and poetic possibilities encountered in the process of translating modern Chinese poetry. In addition, poet Li Cao, poet and writer Jialu Mi, Associate Professor at The College of New Jersey and Director of its China Studies Program; and poet and writer Ying Fan will also join the event to share in the conversation on writing and Chinese poetry.
The talk will be conducted primarily in Chinese, with English as a secondary language, and will feature selected readings from the English translation of the collection.

Author Talk: Playing Mahjong to Capture Family Stories with Nicole Wong
2025-11-01 13:00 - 14:00 | NY
Nicole will share how playing mahjong with her grandparents helped her preserve their Chinese New Zealand family history and cultural legacy. She will also share family stories and offer tips on how to start documenting your own stories.
NICOLE WONG is a writer and producer based in Oakland, California. She is the creator and founder of The Mahjong Project, her effort to preserve a small piece of her family history and bring more people into the joy of playing the game. She organizes pop-up mahjong nights in San Francisco and Oakland. Mahjong: House Rules from Across the Asian Diaspora is her first book. Her work has been featured by Vogue, The Washington Post, KQED, Axios, Forbes, and more.

YAMAN: Filipino cultural festival
2025-11-01 10:00 - 21:00 | New York Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway, New York, NY, 10036
YAMAN (treasure in Tagalog) is more than a cultural expo—it’s a movement carrying Filipino culture forward through indigenous craftsmanship, fashion, entertainment, food, and community. Experience the world of YAMAN, become a Heritage Guardian, and support Tboli master weavers whose ancient hands are running out of time—preserving the soul of our identity for generations to come.
Sign up now to make a cultural investment while participating in a 3-day cultural festival of all things Filipino, featuring a marketplace, inspirational talks with Filipino American trailblazers and celebrities, and more!

Maps That Speak: Asia, the Pacific, and Hawai’i with Jo-Ann Wong
2025-10-31 14:00 - 15:00 | NYPL Stephen A. Schwarzman Building – Lenox & Astor Room, 216, Fifth Avenue & 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10018
The Library’s Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division is one of the world’s leading collections, renowned for its size, scope, and unique holdings. Reference Librarian Jo-Ann Wong will showcase maps of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian communities, examining them from multiple viewpoints. She will highlight selections that spark deeper conversations about who has the authority to tell their stories, alternative approaches to mapmaking, and the enduring impacts of colonialism on cartographic representation.

Icons of Culture: Lucy Liu
2025-10-30 20:00 - 21:00 | Perelman Performing Arts Center, 241 Fulton Street, New York, NY, 10007
As an actress, producer, and activist, Lucy Liu has been blazing a trail and reshaping culture for almost 30 years. The proud New Yorker sits down with Josh Horowitz to breakdown her career, her art and advocacy, and her powerful new film, Rosemead.

Alpha Beta Blah – To The Grave
2025-10-30 19:00 - 20:30 | Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW), 18 West 21st Street, Suite 900, New York, NY, 10010, United States
The 2025 AAWW Margins fellows present “Alpha Beta Blah”, a new reading series that invites writers to come frat out with the fellows.
The third reading of this series will take place on October 30th at 7 pm ET. For “To The Grave”, send us your most bone-chilling stories about love. Tell us about a romance that still lives in your bones, exes you need to exorcise, and late night trysts that have taken over your psyche. Tell us how love possessed you, stalked you, and terrified you.

A Chinese Reformer in Exile: Kang Youwei and the Chinese Empire Reform Association in North America
2025-10-30 19:00 - 20:00 | Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre Street, New York, NY, 10013
How did a reform movement championed by imperial China’s most famous reformer take root across North America, and what can it tell us about the birth of modern Chinese politics? Join authors and scholars Robert L. Worden and Jane Leung Larson for an in-depth conversation on their new reference work, A Chinese Reformer in Exile: Kang Youwei and the Chinese Empire Reform Association in North America, 1899 to 1911 (Brill, 2025; Open Access PDF and hardcover).

Joe Wong Mandarin Stand Up Comedy – Deep Chat
2025-10-30 18:30 - 20:30 | China Institute, 40 Rector Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10006
Join us for a night of laughter and connection with the brilliant Joe Wong (黄西) as he brings his brand-new Mandarin stand-up special, Deep Chat, to China Institute in America.
In this fresh new show, Joe dives deep into the immigrant experience and the humorous cultural collisions that shape life in America. Through his sharp wit and warm storytelling, he explores the joys, struggles, and surprises of living between worlds, which reminds us that laughter is the best bridge across cultures.

Literary Thursdays: Anelise Chen, Author of “Clam Down: A Metamorphosis”
2025-10-30 18:00 - 19:00 | NY
In this wondrously unusual memoir, a woman retreats into her shell in the aftermath of her divorce and must choose between the pleasures and the perils of a closed-up life. Join us and learn more about this genre-defying transformation fable from an acclaimed “5 Under 35” National Book Foundation honoree!

People of the Book: Translating an Oral Tradition into Written Form in Lumad Mindanao
2025-10-30 15:30 - 17:00 | NYU Espacio de Culturas, 53 Washington Square S, New York, NY, 10012, United States
Over the past decade, a small Higaunon team devoted their free time to transcribing their core oral tradition, known as the Panud, into book form. The Higaunon are a Lumad (Indigenous) minority community on the island of Mindanao (Philippines), and the Panud is the story of their people from the earliest ancestors to the present. It takes the form of a genealogy, but the Panud also contains, among other things, their creation story, religious doctrines, customary laws, and a record of migrations, land claims, and wars. The first all-Higaunon book written by Higaunons, Su Panud Ta Baligiyan (2023) was quickly adopted for use in the local government’s Indigenous Peoples Education Program. This talk will present the history of the Panud project, and the challenges (logistical, political, and epistemic) our team faced in transforming this unique oral tradition into written form. Through the story of the Panud project, we will explore some of the core epistemic differences between oral and literary cultures. The process also reveals some of the dilemmas inherent to “preserving tradition” and heritage making, and the complexities of being a ‘culture bearer’ in a modern Indigenous minority community in Southeast Asia.

Remembering Asian America: Unearthing Hidden Histories to Build Solidarity & Diasporic Power
2025-10-30 14:00 - 15:00 | NY
Join us for a special virtual discussion of Remembering Asian America, featuring a panel discussion with nonprofit and academic leaders. This is a cross-regional dialogue on the importance of remembering the origins of Asian America and how communities are recontextualizing those histories to build power in solidarity
Panelists:

Cathi Choi, Executive Director of Women Cross DMZ
Dr. Connie Wun, Co-Founder and Executive Director of AAPI Women Lead
Janelle Wong, Professor of Government and Politics and American Studies at University of Maryland

3rd Annual NYC Human Rights Summit
2025-10-30 09:00 - 15:30 | Fordham University, 150 West 62nd Street, New York, NY, 10023
This annual event brings together advocates, educators, community leaders, and partners from across the city to explore innovative strategies for advancing human rights and equity in New York City. Attendees will hear from City leadership and community voices, and take part in sessions on:

Reimagining civil rights education and enforcement
Strengthening community-based responses to hate and bias
The intersection of art and advocacy

The Summit is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Seating is limited so please register by Friday, October 24, 2025, at 5:00 PM.

Opening for Hawai‘i is not the United States, but it is your Future
2025-10-29 18:00 - 20:00 | 20 Cooper Square – NYU, 20 Cooper Square, New York, NY, 10003, United States
A solo exhibition by Sean Connelly (2025 Artist-in-Residence), Hawai‘i is not the United States, but it is your Future invites viewers to consider the built environment as oceanic, an interconnected system requiring collective cultural efforts to sustain.
Join us for the opening on Wednesday, October 29, which will feature brief remarks from the artist and special reading of creative works.

Forum on “Lights, Camera, Filipinnovation: Groundbreaking Filmmakers”
2025-10-29 17:30 - 20:30 | Philippine Center in New York, 556 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10036
The Philippine Consulate General in New York brings back our quarterly Filipinnovation series—this time shining a spotlight on Filipino filmmakers in the US Northeast.

This forum, “Lights, Camera, Filipinnovation: Groundbreaking Filmmakers” will explore how Filipinos are breaking barriers, building careers, and thriving in the film industry.

Rednote 101: How to Win on the Next Big Platform for Multicultural Marketing
2025-10-29 14:00 - 15:00 | NY
Some brands are already seeing huge success on Rednote — do you want to know how they did it? Join us for a 30-minute insider session where AC Marketing and Rednote experts reveal how brands are turning cultural connection into real business impact.
Get an exclusive look at high-performing Rednote campaigns, learn how the platform’s content engine drives visibility, and uncover the strategies that help brands win with multicultural audiences.
Speakers

Henry Xiao, CEO, AC Marketing
Lara Luo, Rednote Account Manager, AC Marketing
Special Guest: Helena He, Rednote Influencer

30-Minute Agenda

Opening & Case Study Highlights – 5 mins
Real campaign results and performance figures that prove Rednote’s impact.
Platform Walkthrough: Rednote Interface & Functions – 7 mins
A quick demo of how brands and creators engage on Rednote.
The Traffic Logic: How Rednote Drives Visibility – 10 mins
A deep dive into the algorithm and audience behaviors.
Winning Strategies & Key Takeaways – 5 mins
Actionable insights tied back to the opening case studies.
Q&A

Exclusive Takeaway:

All attendees will receive the Rednote Starter Kit, a practical guide to launching your first Rednote campaign.

Film: The Joy Luck Club with Executive Producer Janet Yang
2025-10-28 18:00 - 21:00 | Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre Street, New York, NY, 10013
Based on Amy Tan’s bestselling novel, The Joy Luck Club unfolds the stories of four Chinese American women and their immigrant mothers, weaving together memory and generational experience to reveal the challenges of identity, love, sacrifice, and belonging. Directed by Wayne Wang, the film was groundbreaking as one of the first major Hollywood productions to center Asian American lives and feature a predominantly Asian cast. More than thirty years later, it continues to resonate as a touchstone for Asian American representation in cinema.
Earlier this year, MOCA proudly presented a screening of Wayne Wang’s Chan Is Missing (1982), widely considered the first Asian American feature film to gain national recognition. With this special screening of The Joy Luck Club, MOCA continues its commitment to preserving and advocating for the legacy of Asian American cinema, offering audiences an opportunity to revisit and reflect on this landmark work.
Following the screening, Janet Yang—one of the film’s executive producers and a trailblazing figure in the industry—will join us for a post-screening conversation about the making of the film and its enduring impact on Hollywood and Asian American storytelling.

MOCA CINEMA – The Joy Luck Club
2025-10-28 18:00 - 21:00 | Museum of Chinese in America, 215 Centre Street, New York, NY, 10013
Based on Amy Tan’s bestselling novel, The Joy Luck Club unfolds the stories of four Chinese American women and their immigrant mothers, weaving together memory and generational experience to reveal the challenges of identity, love, sacrifice, and belonging. Directed by Wayne Wang, the film was groundbreaking as one of the first major Hollywood productions to center Asian American lives and feature a predominantly Asian cast. More than thirty years later, it continues to resonate as a touchstone for Asian American representation in cinema.

Inspiring Change: Dr. John J. Chin on Community, Equity & Hope | EWIE
2025-10-28 16:00 - 16:30 | NY
In this episode of Film Lab’s Elevating Women in Entertainment interview series, hosts Jennifer Betit Yen, Gina Matos, and Anoushka Sharma sit down with Dr. John J. Chin, Interim Dean of the Asian American / Asian Research Institute at CUNY.
Dr. Chin shares how immigrant voices, community power, and fearless leadership can build a more just and hopeful future.

Dismantling the Stigmas Around Mental Health
2025-10-27 18:30 - 20:00 | The Town Hall, 123 West 43rd Street, New York, NY, 10036
The event addresses how stigma—characterized by societal prejudice and discrimination—profoundly influences psychiatric care. The discussion will cover how deeply embedded stigma creates barriers to timely recognition and treatment of mental health disorders, leading to delayed care, worsened outcomes, and a diminished quality of life for patients and their families.

The Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture: This is Not War
2025-10-27 18:15 - 20:00 | The James Chapel at Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway, New York, NY, 10027
Rashid Khalidi will deliver the Fall 2025 Edward W. Said Memorial Lecture titled This is Not War.
Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor Emeritus of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. He received a BA from Yale University in 1970 and a DPhil from Oxford University in 1974, and has taught at the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, and the University of Chicago. He was President of the Middle East Studies Association, and was co-editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. He served as an advisor to the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid and Washington Arab-Israeli peace negotiations from October 1991 until June 1993.

Screening - The Paradox of Seabrook Farms: Shattered Dreams, Restored Hopes
2025-10-27 18:00 - 20:00 | The Japanese American Association of New York, 49 West 45th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY, 10036
The moving and complex story of Seabrook Farms in New Jersey where 2,500 Japanese Americans worked and settled after being released from World War II Incarceration Camps. There they were joined by people of around 21 other nationalities including Eastern European refugees fleeing persecution and African Americans escaping the Jim Crow laws in the Deep South, to form an interwoven global community. Both men and women worked grueling rotating 7 day shifts at what was the largest frozen food processing farm and factory in the United States in the mid-20th Century. Despite all the hardships they still found ways to keep and celebrate their cultural traditions, share them with members of the larger community, and give their children a happy childhood despite the injustices they had suffered through. It is a story of immigrants and migrant workers overcoming hardship and exploitation, which continues to this present day.

This free film screening will be followed by a Q&A and a reception with food and refreshments.

The panel will include: the film’s director Helga Merits, John Seabrook (Grandson of Seabrook Farms founder Charles F. Seabrook), plus Helle Gawrylewski and Theodora “Teddy” Yoshikami whose families worked and lived at Seabrook Farms when they were children. The discussion will be moderated by George Hirose (from JAA-NY, JACL-NY & ZAJA).

Please RSVP to george.hirose@gmail.com by October 25th, 2025 with “RSVP Seabrook” in the subject line.

Reimagining the Prose Poem: A Generative Workshop
2025-10-26 13:00 - 14:30 | NY
In this generative workshop, we’ll discuss and experiment with a variety of daring approaches that writers today are taking toward the prose poem. These approaches allow each writer to get closer to truths at once difficult and strange.

Play - Spring Fever Hotel
2025-10-25 - 2025-10-26 | Abrons Art Center, 466 Grand St, Manhattan, United States
Get ready for a night of mistaken identities and chaotic romance as we take you on a journey back to Hong Kong and Macau in the early 20th century. In a shabby love hotel, a group of confused couples, jealous spouses, and eccentric hotel staff stumble through a whirlwind of misunderstandings. Packed with sharp wit, slamming doors, and outrageous twists, it’s a timeless comedy that promises non-stop laughter!

Breaking Through: Emerging Filipino Filmmakers
2025-10-24 19:00 - 20:30 | NYU Espacio de Culturas, 53 Washington Square S, New York, NY, 10012, United States
Breaking Through: Emerging Filipino Filmmakers showcases NYU student filmmakers from across the United States and around the world who are rising visionaries telling powerful stories about the Filipino experience. Presented by Likha Labs, in collaboration with Sulo: The Philippine Studies Initiative at NYU, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Espacio de Culturas, and New York Southeast Asia Network, this program highlights and celebrates the work of these emerging storytellers before their films premiere on the festival circuit and beyond.

Agbayani Worship: Mythmaking, Colonial Mentality, and the Problematics of a Filipino Captain America
2025-10-24 18:00 - 19:30 | Asian American / Asian Research Institute, 25 West 43rd Street, Suite 1000, New York, 10036, United States
Vina Orden will present on her essay in CUNY FORUM Volume 11:1, examining how narratives in popular media can perpetuate or challenge existing power structures and colonial mentalities.

Conversation and Lunch with President Frank Wu
2025-10-24 14:00 - 15:00 | NY
The Mills Institute is pleased to welcome President Frank Wu of Queens College, a distinguished legal scholar and a nationally respected higher education leader, for a special conversation on his remarkable career journey. Following his remarks, Christie Chung, Executive Director of The Mills Institute at Northeastern University, will moderate an engaging Q&A.
This event will be livestreamed – join us online from anywhere!

NYSEAN Conference on Intellectual Freedom in Southeast Asia and the United States
2025-10-24 09:00 - 17:00 | NYU Wagner – Main Event Space, Room 101, 105 East 17th Street, New York, NY, 10003
Join NYSEAN and the Southeast Asia Coalition for Academic Freedom for a conference examining attacks on intellectual and academic freedom in Southeast Asia and the United States. Scholars, journalists, and activists will gather to look at how universities and intellectuals often become the first target of rising authoritarianism, the costs and benefits of collective action, and the strategies for resistance. The conversation will address the impact of funding cuts, strengthened immigration enforcement, and assaults on higher education in the United States as well as the lessons learned from crackdowns in Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Turkey.

Asian American Career Ceilings: Asian American Women in the Law
2025-10-23 17:00 - 18:30 | NY
This Committee of 100 Asian American Career Ceilings Initiative will feature insights from four trailblazing Asian American women who have both witnessed and personally experienced the challenges of breaking through the “career ceiling” in the legal profession. Despite decades of advancement in education and representation at entry levels, Asian American women remain underrepresented in leadership roles across law firms, the judiciary, and corporate legal departments.

"Know Your Rights" Workshop Series Session 3: Rights of the Undocumented
2025-10-23 16:30 - 17:30 | NY
Session 3 of CACF x FALDEF “Know Your Rights” Workshop Series will cover the Rights of the Undocumented. Participants will be provided information about the rights and protections for undocumented individuals, to help bring awareness and highlight available resources. Participants are encouraged to bring their questions! This session will be facilitated by Angela Torregoza, Esq.

South Queens Job Fair (Queens Borough President)
2025-10-23 14:00 - 17:00 | Ozone Park Library, 92-24 Rockaway Blvd, Ozone Park, NY, 11417
Join Borough President Donovan Richards for a Job Recruitment Fair, featuring a wide variety of local employers looking to hire Queens residents today. Participating employers include the Council for Airport Opportunity, the NYC Department of Veteran Services, the NYS Department of Civil Services, New York Life, Queens Workforce 1 Career Center, the U.S. Army, Urban Upbound and more.
In partnership with Queens Public Library.
