From a presentation of traditional Sufi devotional music to poems discoverable by a QR decoder on a cell phone, the Asian American Arts Alliance\u2019s Locating the Sacred Festival promises all New Yorkers a chance to glimpse the sublime and the sacred in everyday life.<\/p>\n
The 25-event, 12-day festival\u2014which takes place in all five New York boroughs from 12 September to 23 September 2012\u2014is a vibrant collaboration between artists of all disciplines with traditionally and non-traditionally sacred spaces all across the city, exploring together the meaning of the word \u201csacred\u201d and its relevance in their communities. The festival opens on Tuesday, 12 September, 2012 at 8 p.m. at the Church of the Ascension in Greenwich Village with an innovative program of transcendental music bringing together new music artist Bora Yoon with the South Asian Sufi devotional musicians of Riyaaz Qawwali. The festival is coordinated by the Asian American Arts Alliance, a non-profit organization that for 30 years has supported individual artists and small arts groups in New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis amazing festival showcases the diversity and talent of the Asian American community, which now makes up more than 1 million people in New York, or 13% percent of the population,\u201d said Andrea Louie, executive director of the Alliance. \u201cThe festival aims to promote artists as agents of change, demonstrating the power of art and culture to unleash imagination, break down barriers, and connect communities together for the greater good.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to such events as Chang-Jin Lee\u2019s giant inflatable Buddha installation on the East River, Dana Leong\u2019s sundown concert in the Skyroom at the New Museum, and Kelly Zen Yie-Tsai\u2019s 9\/11-inspired spoken word theater world premiere, the festival will feature three panel discussions: \u201cThe Power of Sound: An Interfaith Exchange,\u201d \u201cDamn It, I Want to Be Enlightened! Yoga, Meditation, and the Search for Balance\u201d and \u201cMaking the Memory Sacred: Art, Human Rights, and Community.\u201d Other festival components include a sacred spaces map to which the general public can contribute, an online dialogue\/blog, \u201cMaking the Memory Sacred: Art, Human Rights, and Community,\u201d and a team of filmmakers who will trade tasty treats from a food truck in exchange for recipes and family stories.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe festival acts as a vehicle for the active collaboration\u2014artistic, logistical and financial\u2014of hundreds of artists, spaces and partners across the city\u201d said Nico Daswani, Festival Director for the Alliance. \u201cWe now turn it over to all New Yorkers to share in the exceptional work that has been created through this process and to explore what is sacred to us all.\u201d<\/p>\n