HONOREES BAAYORK LEE ACTOR | DANCER | CHOREOGRAPHER Baayork Lee has performed in a multitude of Broadway shows and created the role of Connie in A Chorus Line. Her directing and choreography credits also include: The King and I, Bombay Dreams (national tours); R&H’s Cinderella (NYC Opera); Barnum (Australia); Carmen Jones (Kennedy Center); Porgy and Bess, Jesus Christ Superstar (European tours); Gypsy; and A New Brain. She has also choreographed shows including: Miss Saigon (KC Starlight); Mack and Mabel (Shaw Festival); Animal Crackers, South Pacific(Helen Hayes nominations), Coconuts, Camelot, and Damn Yankees all at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. She was the resident choreographer for the Washington Opera; Goya with Plácido Domingo, Sly with José Carreras, and The Merry Widow are just a few of her opera credits. Through her nonprofit organization, National Asian Artists Project (NAAP), Baayorks’ vision includes educating, cultivating, and stimulating audiences and artists of Asian descent through the many programs the company offers. The organization has produced Oklahoma!, Carousel, Hello Dolly!, OLIVER!, and Honor (NAAP’s first collaboration with Prospect Theatre Company) with all Asian American casts. Baayork has made it a large part of her mission to educate aspiring artists in musical theater. She has created musical theater schools in Seoul, Korea and Tokyo, Japan, as well as a theater club at the Yung Wing Elementary School (PS 124) in Chinatown, NYC. Most recently, Baayork was the recipient of the 2017 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award. ROBERTA UNO THEATER DIRECTOR/WRITER | CULTURAL ORGANIZER Roberta Uno is a theater director, writer, and national arts leader. She is the Director of Arts in a Changing America, a national project on changing demographics and the arts based at the California Institute of the Arts. She was the Program Officer and then Senior Program Officer for Arts and Culture at the Ford Foundation from 2002-2015. From 1979-2002, she was the founder and Artistic Director of the New WORLD Theater, a theater dedicated to the work of artists of color, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a Professor of directing and dramaturgy in the university’s Department of Theater. As a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, she directed, produced, presented, and dramaturged over 200 works at New WORLD Theater. Her publications include The Color Of Theater: Race, Culture, and Contemporary Performance (Continuum Press, 2002) and Unbroken Thread: Plays by Asian American Women (UMass Press, 1993). She is the editor of new editions of Monologues for Actors of Color: Women and Monologues for Actors of Color: Men (Routledge, 2015) and the recently released Contemporary Plays by Women of Color: An Anthology (Routledge, 2017). She was inducted into the College of American Theater Fellows in 2014 and has been recognized for her leadership at New WORLD Theater through numerous awards including from the Association for Performing Arts Presenters, the Association for Theater in Higher Education, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Her efforts in philanthropy to build a diverse American arts sector have been recognized by awards from 651 Arts, Chen Dance, Cornerstone Theater, the First People’s Fund, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, and the National Black Theater. 4 AWARDEES JYOTHI NATARAJAN 2017 WAI LOOK AWARD Jyothi Natarajan is an editor and writer based in Brooklyn. She is Editorial Director at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, an alternative arts space devoted to literature at the intersection of race, migration, and social justice. At AAWW, she oversees the editorial direction of AAWW’s online magazines and manages The Margins Fellowship for emerging Asian American creative writers. Her writing has appeared in the anthology Good Girls Marry Doctors (Aunt Lute, 2016) as well as in The Caravan. For the past eight years, Jyothi has volunteered with and served on the board of IndyKids, a volunteer- led social justice-oriented youth journalism initiative. Since 2016, she has served as IndyKids’ director. ABOUT THE WAI LOOK AWARD Established in 2011, the Wai Look Award for Outstanding Service to the Arts is a tribute to the life and work of Wai Look, who served on the Asian American Arts Alliance’s board of directors from 1999 until her death in December 2010. She spent most of her career in the arts, as an administrator and in artist services, and devoted herself to helping others. Ms. Look also strongly believed in the importance of volunteering, which was reflected in both her personal and professional life. The award is given annually to an Asian American who is making a significant contribution to the arts by demonstrating a commitment to outstanding service, advocacy, and/or leadership. SHOEY SUN 2017 JADIN WONG AWARD Shoey Sun was born in China and moved to Houston, TX when she was 8, where her parents encouraged her take dance lessons. Shoey studied Political Science and Chinese Language at NYU; during this time, she co-founded a hip hop dance team, EPIC Motion Dance Company, now celebrating its 10th year. Shoey has featured in shows for Icona Pop, Pharrell, McQ by Alexander McQueen, APAP Dance Festival, and has studied and worked with choreographers Rhapsody James, Fatima Robinson, Brice Mousset, Dana Foglia, Nadine Bommer, and more. In 2015, she co-founded | vessels |, a project based movement-theater company with long time collaborator Kris Seto. Their work has been featured in Mare Nostrum Element’s Emerging Choreographers Series, White Wave Dance Festival, Idaco NYC dance festival, New York Fashion Week, and INSITU Dance Festival. Shoey is a dance lecturer at LaGuardia Community College. ABOUT THE JADIN WONG AWARD Established in 2014, the Jadin Wong Award is intended to recognize an emerging Asian American dancer whose work shows strong potential for greater achievement and who hopes to make a significant impact on the Asian American artistic community as a whole. This award is a tribute to the life and work of renowned Chinese American actress, dancer, and comedienne Jadin Wong (1913–2010). Ms. Wong, a pioneer and innovator of Asian American performing arts, had performed at San Francisco’s legendary all-Asian nightclub, Forbidden City; toured throughout America, Europe, and Asia; appeared on Broadway; and founded Jadin Wong Management to help cast more Asian talent in significant roles. The award is administered by the Alliance with support from the New York Community Trust. 5 VAN LIER FELLOWS PAWAN BENJAMIN 2017 VAN LIER FELLOW IN MUSIC PERFORMANCE Pawan Benjamin, a saxophonist, flautist, and composer, started his musical training at a young age in Madison, Wisconsin, receiving guidance and mentorship from jazz luminaries such as bassist Richard Davis, saxophonist Hanah Jon Taylor, and AACM founder Roscoe Mitchell. In 2006 he left Wisconsin to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he plunged headfirst into the diverse music scene of New York City, performing and recording with musicians from around the globe and across genres, ranging from jazz, hip hop, Nepali folk, and Indian classical music. Pawan has collaborated with artists such as Roscoe Mitchell, Ranjit Barot, Taufiq Qureshi, Marc Cary, Rez Abbasi, Bill T. Jones, and many others. His performance credits stretch across the globe at venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), the Rose Theater, Celebrate Brooklyn, the National Center of Performing Arts in Mumbai, India, the Bimhuis in Amsterdam, and countless other venues. ROB RUSLI 2017 VAN LIER FELLOW IN MUSIC COMPOSITION Robert Rusli is an artist, film composer, and rap music maker. He has written music for many films, including the feature Good Game, which won Best Original Score at the 2015 IndieCapitol Film Festival; as well as two new feature films: Corridor Four, being released in 2017, and Moko Jumbie, which recently premiered at Los Angeles Film Festival 2017. He collaborated with artist Casey Tang on a Sinofuturist soundscape for his Untitled (Rivers) video installation, exhibited at the Queens Museum, and frequently collaborates with poet and drag performer Wo Chan. He composed music and sound design for Wo Chan’s WHITE FLAG/WHITE FACE; and together they created I <3 U ALWAYS 4EVER, a performance art piece combining pop music, drag, and an emotional soundscape threading interviews with people of color about loss and separation, which premiered at BAM Next Wave Festival. Rob has worked on various experimental rap projects that have been featured on Tinymixtapes, Okayplayer, BBC6, Earmilk, Twitch, and Said the Gramophone. Through his most recent rap project, OHYUNG, Rob released an EP titled Yellow Jesus. He has performed at SOB’s, Trans-Pecos, and collaborated with rapper Kool AD on his 2016 mixtape Peyote Karaoke. ABOUT THE VAN LIER FELLOWSHIPS The Van Lier fellowships aim to develop the careers and creative practice of early-career, individual Asian American artists living in New York City, age 30 or younger, whose work shows outstanding promise. With support from the New York Community Trust, the Alliance will grant Van Lier fellowships to artists in the disciplines of Theater (Acting and Directing), Music (Performance and Composition), and Visual Art (Artmaking and Curation) over the next three years; in 2017-18, the Alliance is recognizing music artists in the categories of Performance and Composition. Created by the will of Sally Van Lier, the Trust carries out Edward and Sally Van Liers’ legacy of arts appreciation by supporting arts groups and training programs to provide education, training, or other support. 6 EMCEE ELENA CHANG Elena Chang is the Associate Director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (ED&I) at Theatre Communications Group. There she supports TCG’s Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Initiative, including work with theaters of color, facilitating conversations within the ED&I National Institute and co-organizing screenings around the Legacy Leaders of Color Video Project. Previously, Chang served as program director of the Asian American Arts Alliance, where she was responsible for the development, design/communications, and management of all artist- focused programs.