The Center for Asian Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago will celebrate its Fifth Anniversary at Sunday's big shindig at Preston Bradley Hall. Nancy Tom, founder of the Center, has done wonderful things with the Center. Sunday's celebrity-studded event will include appearances not just by playwright David Henry Hwang, from New York; and singer Anna Fermin; but also by actress Lauren Tom, from Hollywood as a guest to show support for Tom. The gala will be emceed by TV broadcaster Linda Yu of ABC7, and Chicago actress Cheryl Hamada will host the auction. David Henry Hwang's presentation at The Art Institute's Fullerton Hall precedes the gala, on Sunday at 2 p.m. Open to the public at $15.00 each at the door.
The Center for Asian Arts and Media, celebrating its fifth anniversary on Sunday, November 17th, 4:30 p.m. - 8 p.m., at Preston Bradley Hall of the Chicago Cultural Center. The benefit event features playwright David Henry Hwang, whose updated version of the musical "Flower Drum Song" opened last month on Broadway, and Philippines-born-country-western singer Anna Fermin. The event also features more traditional fare: Taiko drumming by Ryan Toguri, classical music performed by the Chinese Fine Arts Society, and a pan-Asian food feast. Silent auction items include a trip to see Hwang's Flower Drum Song and meet the cast in New York; original art work by Michiko Itatani, Xu Bing, Helena Chapellin Wilson and others; and Asian silk screens, ceramics and jewelry. Playwright David Henry Hwang is best known as the author of M. Butterfly, which won the 1988 Tony, Drama Desk, John Gassner, and Outer Critics Circle Awards, as well as the 1991 L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award. Hwang will share his creative process in rewriting Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Flower Drum Song."
Founded in 1997 by art collector and activist Nancy Tom, the Center for Asian Arts and Media at Columbia College Chicago is dedicated to supporting, promoting and presenting arts and media programs by and about Asians and Asian Americans. It is the nation's first Asian arts and media center founded by a college or university. The Center has presented over 90 performing and visual artists/arts groups; organized "New World, New Art: The Asian Artist in America; inaugurated the Woman Warrior Festival; and presented the documentary photo exhibit "Traces of Memory: The Landscape of Asian Neighborhoods in Chicago" at the State of Illinois Building.