Chinatown Art Brigade

The Chinatown Art Brigade (CAB) is a diverse coalition fueled by the belief in the transformative potential of cultural expressions. Composed of visual artists, media creators, writers, educators, and activists from Asian American and Asian diasporic backgrounds rooted in Manhattan’s Chinatown, CAB collaborates to harness art as a force for community-driven movements combatting gentrification and displacement.

Central to CAB’s ethos is their partnership with the Chinatown Tenants Union (CTU), a program of CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities. Founded in 2005, CTU empowers residents to unite against unjust evictions and advocate for stronger tenant protections. These grassroots endeavours not only inform CAB’s work but also served as the foundation for the Here to Stay project, initiated in 2015 by CAAAV and co-founders Tomie Arai, ManSee Kong, and Betty Yu. This initiative aimed to bolster support for the Chinatown Working Group Plan and CTU’s

City

New York

Country

United States

Region

North America

Year of Creation

2015

Featured Project

Here to Stay NYC

“The ‘Here to Stay’ project, in collaboration with CAAAV’s Chinatown Tenants’ Union (CTU), featured year-long large-scale outdoor mobile projections addressing gentrification, displacement, and community resilience in NYC’s Chinatown. Artwork from oral histories and workshops was projected onto buildings, raising awareness about tenant rights and community-led campaigns. “

https://www.chinatownartbrigade.org/hts-nyc

References

Yu, B. (2017). Chinatown Art Brigade: Resisting gentrification through the power of art, culture and stories. Visual Inquiry: Learning & Teaching Art, 6(2), 173-178.

Low, J. (2020). Dear Chinatown, DC: Exploring New Ways of Public Engagement (Doctoral dissertation).

Wong, D. (2021). Promiscuous care in movement-based research: Lessons learned from collaborations in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement, 14(2), 1-11.

Cole, J. L. (2022). Global Contemporary Art by Way of Chinatown: Chinese American Art in New York City, 1970-2000 (Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon).

More Information

https://www.chinatownartbrigade.org

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