Tsai Yi-Wei was by no means formally launched to conventional hand-glove puppetry. As an alternative, the artwork type was deeply intertwined together with his upbringing in Taiwan, the place he was raised by puppeteers who managed a touring troupe. Nonetheless, it wasn’t till he took an internship on the Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum that he started pursuing the apply on his personal.
As a puppeteer and curator, Tsai’s work focuses on bridging conventional puppetry with up to date practices as a way of cross-cultural alternate and collaboration. Subsequent 12 months, he plans to additional develop his apply by means of the New York-based nonprofit Asian Cultural Council’s (ACC) Particular person Fellowship, an annual grant that goals to foster cultural alternate and worldwide dialogue between the US and Asia, in addition to inside Asia itself.
At the moment, ACC introduced 37 awardees hailing from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, the Philippines, and Taiwan as this 12 months’s grant recipients. They may obtain a complete of $920,371 in funding to pursue initiatives that develop their practices spanning visible arts, music, performing, writing, dance, structure, choreography, filmmaking, multimedia design, and curation. A whole record of recipients is included on the finish of this text.
The cohort consists of 18 grantees for the Particular person Fellowship, which awards various quantities that vary as much as $35,000 for self-directed initiatives inside Asia and the US, and 16 grantees for ACC’s New York Fellowship, a six-month immersive program based mostly in New York and the better United States that awards $35,000 to recipients. It additionally contains three grantees from the Philippines who will obtain $15,000 by means of ACC’s Graduate Fellowship, which funds journey and dwelling prices associated to educational examine within the US.
Taiwanese puppeteer and curator Tsai Yi-Wei performing with conventional hand-glove puppets (photograph courtesy Tsai Yi-Wei)
“This project aims to strengthen cultural dialogue between Taiwan and Indonesia, and to explore new possibilities for cross-cultural collaboration and innovation in puppetry,” Tsai stated.
Filipino filmmaker and animator Maria Estela Paiso, who was chosen for the New York Fellowship, informed Hyperallergic that she plans to make use of her grant to analysis the historic use of blended media in visible arts and cinema, particularly by wanting into printmaking in animation.
“Over the course of my three short films, I’ve engaged in a never-ending journey of exploring different media, most recently involving printmaking as moving image,” Paiso stated.
Nonetheless from Maria Estela Paiso’s 14-minute quick movie “Ampangabagat nin talakba ha likol (It’s Raining Frogs Outside)” (2021) (picture courtesy the artist)
“[This fellowship] will give me dedicated time to deepen my understanding of mixed media animation, as well as opportunities to reach out and learn from printmakers, printshops, and animators in and around New York,” Paiso continued.
Since its founding in 1963, the ACC has helped foster cultural alternate and worldwide dialogue between the US and Asia, and inside Asia, by offering over $100 million in funding to artists, cultural professionals, students, and organizations.
See the whole record of 2025 grant recipients beneath.
. . .
New York Fellowship
Joed Balsamo, Musician (Philippines)
Caro Chan, Actress and Literary Translator (Hong Kong)
I-Hsuen Chen, Visible Artist (Taiwan)
Florence Cheong, Director and Choreographer (Macau)
Joyce Sahagun Garcia, Video Artist and Multimedia Designer (Philippines)
Yuuki Horiuchi, Visible Artist (Japan)
Serene Hui, Visible Artist and Researcher (Hong Kong)
Karl Alexis Jingco, Theater Director and Curator (Philippines)
J-mee Katanyag, Theater Artist and Playwright (Philippines)
tsu-tsu, Dancer and Performer (Japan)
Wataru Mukai, Composer and Performer (Japan)
Maria Estela Paiso, Filmmaker and Animator (Philippines)
Chen Wei Chen, Visible Artist (Taiwan)
Evelyn Yang Ling, Movie Author and Director (Taiwan)
Yen Yu Ting, Visible Artist (Taiwan)
Zhang Ruyi, Visible Artist (China)
Particular person Fellowship
Tomomi Adachi, Composer and Performer (Japan)
Chen Jie, Curator (China)
Summer season Cat, Literary Scholar (Hong Kong)
Kenji Chiga, Visible Artist (Japan)
Shao Chun, Visible Artist (China)
Anna Kuroda, Dancer and Choreographer (Japan)
Mo Lai Yan Chi, Director, Screenwriter, and Actor (Hong Kong)
Elspeth Mary Lee and Donn Holohan, Architects (Hong Kong)
Cynthia Leung, Architect (Hong Kong)
Esther Lu, Curator (Taiwan)
Lai Ping So, Visible Artist and Editorial Designer (Hong Kong)
Haruko Kumakura, Curator (Japan)
Tsai Yi-Wei, Puppeteer and Curator (Taiwan)
Toby Tse, Musician (Hong Kong)
Peng Wen, Visible Artist (China)
Ye Wuji, Visible Artist (China)
Xiao-Xiong Zhang, Dancer and Creator (Taiwan)
Zhu Ning, Architect (China)
Graduate Fellowship
Alain De Asis, Musician (Philippines)
Aina Ysabel Ramolete, Puppeteer and Theater Artist (Philippines)
Alexa Andrea Torte, Dancer (Philippines)
