Locating the Sacred Festival

September 12 - 23, 2012

The Asian American Arts Alliance’s vibrant, innovative Locating the Sacred Festival celebrates three decades of the community that was forged together and, importantly, breaks new ground. Even in its nascent stages, the festival has been a triumph of community building, reaching out across New York to new partners for uncommon, exciting collaborations.

Two years in the making, the festival has brought together hundreds of artists, arts workers and cultural activists to create more than twenty events over twelve days in churches, museums, cultural centers, botanical gardens and theaters across the city. We have come together around a shared vision: to re-connect with the sacred and bring our communities closer together.

From the beginning the proposition was unusual: Asian American Arts Alliance asked artists and partners to join together as active collaborators—artistically, logistically, financially—in making this festival possible. Their participation required them to reach beyond their regular activities and work together, in many cases for no pay, to explore the legacies, contradictions and inspirations drawn from the sacred. They received 250 applications—far beyond their greatest hopes—including some exceptional work, highlighting the deep histories and creativity of our diverse Asian American community, and presented at this festival thanks to the spirit of kindness of the artists and of the many collaborating space hosts and producing partners.

With more than twenty other performances, exhibitions and talks celebrate compassion and love, take this opportunity to re-connect—with your breathing, with friends, with the city—and to draw comfort, strength and inspiration from new people and new places you encounter at the festival. Come together on locating what is sacred to us all.