Since its inception in 2006, the AWGC has raised and distributed over $430,000 in funding to arts and social change projects. This year, 120 individuals pooled their money and voted to make project grants totaling $55,000 to the nine projects described below.

The 2012 AWGC project grantees are:

Beth Morrison Projects (BMP) – The Thumbprint of Mukhtar Mai: A $5,000 project grant to support this chamber opera by composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Susan Yankowitz, inspired by the story of Mukhtar Mai, a Pakistani woman who was gang raped as a child and became the first woman in her country’s history to bring her rapists to justice. The opera will premiere in 2013-2014. www.kamalasankaram.com and www.bethmorrisonprojects.org

Chang-Jin Lee – Comfort Women Wanted: A $8,500 project grant for visual artist Chang-Jin Lee’s video based on interviews with Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Indonesian, Filipino, and Dutch women survivors of Japanese WWII “comfort stations.” The project aims to connect this historical atrocity to the continuing sexual exploitation and trafficking of Asian women today. www.changjinlee.net

Domestic Worker Oral History Project – Domestic Worker Oral History Project: A$7,000 project grant to support community activists Dao Tran and Sarah Macaraeg, who are creating the first-ever multimedia collection of oral histories by US domestic workers, many of them Asian women, will be available online and published by the nonprofit Haymarket Books, with royalties going to domestic worker organizations. Home to approximately 200,000 domestic workers, NYC workers will represent the bulk of those interviewed. www.haymarketbooks.org

Lenora Lee Dance – Rescued Memories: NY Stories: A $5,000 project grant to support an interdisciplinary dance work that is inspired by stories of women who sought refuge from human trafficking in Lutheran and Presbyterian missions in NY Chinatown in the early 20th century, and links their experience to their counterparts today. It will premiere at San Francisco’s de Young Museum fall 2013 and the Baryshnikov Arts Center in NY in 2014. www.LenoraLeeDance.com

ManSee Kong – What Happened to Danny (Working Title): A $10,000 project grant to support director/producer ManSee Kong’s documentary about Private Danny Chen, whose death by gunshot suicide in the wake of brutal hazing by fellow soldiers in Afghanistan, drew national attention. Kong, who was granted unprecedented access to Chen’s family, tracks the investigation into Danny’s death and the family and community’s efforts to seek justice and call for military reforms. http://about.me/mansee

Moving Earth Productions – Formosa: A $3,000 project grant to support a solo show by poet, playwright, filmmaker, and activist Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai. The piece examines cultural identity, beauty and globalization through the history of Barbie doll manufacturing in Taiwan. Tsai plays four characters: a Spanish explorer in mid-1600s Formosa; a modern-day female hip hop mc whose plastic surgery implants revolt on her; a young Chinese adoptee girl; and a Mattel factory worker. The show will premiere March 2013 at NYC’s HERE Arts Center. www.yellowgurl.com/category/projects

People’s Theatre Project – College Eye D: A $6,000 project grant to support a documentary theater piece led by award-winning playwright, actor, and filmmaker Christine Toy Johnson that addresses issues of identity and depression among Asian Pacific American (APA) and other women of color. The piece will be performed in conjunction with three colleges in the NYC area in 2013. www.christinetoyjohnson.com and www.PeoplesTheatreProject.org

The Muslims Are Coming! – The Muslims Are Coming!: An $8,000 project grant to support this documentary feature directed and produced by comedian and filmmaker Negin Farsad, which follows a group of Muslim-American comedians as they perform standup shows, street actions, meet locals and explore Islamophobia in big cities, small towns and rural villages and foster understanding between Americans of all backgrounds through the lens of comedy. www.themuslimsarecoming.com and www.neginfarsad.com

Q-Wave – QAPI Collaborative Writing Workshop: A $2,500 project grant to support four writing workshops led by women writers in the fall 2012 led by Q-Wave in collaboration with Gay Asian and Pacific Islander Men of New York and the South Asian Lesbian & Gay Association of New York City. The project will culminate in an October 2012 public reading event, exploring issues of ethnicity and sexuality. www.q-wave.org

See press release: www.asianwomengivingcircle.org/news.htm