Asian American Writers' Workshop Launches Open City Project

The Asian American Writers' Workshop celebrated the launch of the Open City Project on July 27. The Open City Project is a community-based writers fellowship that brings together writers and community groups to document the past, present, and future of three New York City neighborhoods, which are home to the city's Chinatowns: the Lower East Side in Manhattan, Flushing in Queens, and Sunset Park in Brooklyn. Five fellows have been chosen and will begin orientation and training, kicking off the content development portion of the project in August. Ultimately, they will produce a blog, which will feature oral histories, offer commentary about gentrification and neighborhood change, and present new creative works inspired by these ideas.

The kickoff event featured a discussion by two New York City activists, artist Fay Chiang and professor Peter Kwong of Hunter College. They spoke about their own experiences in the Chinatown/Lower East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan, as well as the transformation this area continues to go through.

"People are almost desperate for forums to talk about issues that matter to them," said Open City Project Director, Lena Sze. "It's great that an arts organization can make that happen."

The Open City Project was made possible in part by a Charles E. Culpeper Grant, which the Asian American Writers' Workshop was awarded in 2009.

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