10,000 Dreams for Artistic Legacies

Phil Chan, celebrated arts advocate and author/co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, leads a conversation with arts leaders and scholars in Minnesota to discuss Asian and Asian American representation in the performing arts. Panelists will discuss the 75th anniversary of Singaporean choreographer Choo San Goh’s birth, three decades of artistic work at Theater Mu, and The SEAD Project’s work to grow the next generation of Southeast Asian arts leaders and advocates. Professor Josephine Lee’s academic work in Asian American Theater and Literature, as well as the University of Minnesota’s place in the Twin Cities—which hosts the second largest urban Hmong population in the country—provide essential context as we celebrate legacies in our artistic and geographic communities and look joyously toward the future.

Presenters:
Josephine Lee: associate dean for arts and humanities and professor of English and Asian American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Anh-Thu Pham: managing director at Theater Mu
Kaysone Syonesa Schneider: co-executive director at The SEAD Project

Moderated by Phil Chan: co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface and the President of the Gold Standard Arts Foundation.

About the Presenters

Josephine Lee is currently the Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities and Professor of English and Asian American Studies in the College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She is the editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Asian American Literature and Culture. Her other books include Race in American Musical Theater, Oriental, Black, and White: The Formation of Racial Habits in American Theater, The Japan of Pure Invention: Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, Performing Asian America: Race and Ethnicity on the Contemporary Stage, and the edited collection Milestones in Asian American Theatre.

Anh-Thu Pham is the managing director at Theater Mu. She is Vietnamese American with a background in finance and activism. As a refugee from Vietnam, she immigrated to Minnesota in 1975 and has since dedicated herself to community organizing and art. Pham joined Theatre Mu after working in finance for 22 years at the University of Minnesota. She has sat on the boards of Pangea World Theater, Ananya Dance Theater, and the New Arab American Theater Works.

Kaysone Syonesa Schneider (she/her) is the Co Executive Director at The SEAD Project, an organization that aims at growing empowerment in the Southeast Asian diaspora community through storytelling, language, and arts advocacy. She has a unique background and multidisciplinary experiences that include community and youth development and engagement, facilitative leadership, theatre, and dance. She is a performance storyteller at her core, and flourishes at interconnecting creativity and community to continuously approach her work with an artistic and justice lens.

Moderator

Phil Chan is a co-founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, and author of Final Bow for Yellowface: Dancing between Intention and Impact, and the President of the Gold Standard Arts Foundation. He is a graduate of Carleton College and an alumnus of the Ailey School. He has held fellowships with NYU, the Manhattan School of Music, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and is currently a fellow at Harvard University, Drexel University, and the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art in Paris. As a writer, he served as the executive editor for FLATT Magazine and contributed to Dance Europe Magazine, Dance Magazine, Dance Business Weekly, and the Huffington Post, and currently serves on the advisory board of Dance Magazine. He served multiple years on the National Endowment for the Arts dance panel and the Jadin Wong Award panel presented by the Asian American Arts Alliance.

Reviews & More

“Phil Chan is fighting racism in America, one ballet company at a time.”—The Salt Lake Tribune

“Rather than just offering knee-jerk reactions to offensive material, Phil clearly explains why caricatures and stereotypes can be harmful—both to the dance field and our society at large. This book changes the conversation from, ‘How can we be politically correct and avoid offense?’ to, ‘How can we truly invite everyone into our world?’”—Jennifer Stahl, Editor-in-Chief, Dance Magazine

“It feels like a real gift Phil has given us: in a safe place like a book, to start to work on understanding these challenging ideas around diversity and inclusion, making our minds more flexible. This conversation really helped me take the next step to be a better ally and advocate.”—NYCB Principal Dancer Megan Fairchild

Related Links

• Final Bow for Yellowface
• Gold Standard Arts Foundation
• Theater Mu
• The SEAD Project (The Southeast Asian Diaspora Project)

Videos

• Final Bow For Yellowface
• 30 Years Of Theater Mu

The University of Minnesota Spotlight Series is a collaborative partnership between the Institute for Advanced Study and Northrop to present lectures, conversations, performances, exhibits, and other events around timely topics of interest throughout the academic year. The six-part 2023–2024 series will focus on racial and social justice. Events may be attended in Northrop’s Best Buy Theater or online via Zoom. Q&A sessions will follow each event.