Culture Pass

Beginning in 2006, A4 presented Eye on Asian American Arts: Culture Pass, an annual marketing and visibility initiative designed to heighten the profile of Asian American arts in NYC. Promoting a series of events by a select group of Asian American arts groups—groups that produce original work at a high artistic level, but lack the resources for adequate self-promotion—the Culture Pass program sought to develop audiences and maximize exposure for some of the best kept secrets in the New York art and performance world.

A key component of the Culture Pass program was the full-color brochure that included event descriptions; location, ticket, and contact information; and a dynamic photo. By offering discounts to multi-ethnic, multi-disciplinary arts events, A4 hoped to both draw new audiences and help artists and organization cross promote their work, enticing people to see exciting performances and exhibitions including: “Have You Eaten Yet?: The Chinese Restaurant in America”at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, and Pacifika 2005: New York Hawai’ian Film Festival. Subsequent iterations of the program presented Desipina’s “Seven Eleven,” a series of 11-minute plays by emerging South-Asian, East-Asian, and multi-ethnic writers; Trinayan Collective’s “Sakshi/Witness,” an interpretation of Odissi (an Indian classical dance form); and collaborative performances by East Winds, a Japanese taiko drum ensemble, and Min Xiao-Fen's Pipa ensemble.

More than 10,000 copies of the brochure were distributed each year through corporate affinity groups, arts partners, colleges and universities, professional networks, and community organizations, increasing the visibility of partner groups in a way that they simply would not have the capacity to do alone.

The campaign was created to not only to support struggling but superb artists and arts organizations, but to enliven New York City itself, bringing to light a rich but largely hidden resource—one that inspired, thrilled, and enlightened Asian American and New York audiences in general, offering us all a wider vista, and a broader, deeper sense of our city’s identity.