Spreading The Love: Community Edition
Asian Arts Initiative
Happy July! This month we’d like to share a bit about the Asian Arts Initiative (AAI), a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that encourages cultural expression as a tool for social change. Located in North Chinatown, this arts center is a home for communal gathering through exhibitions, youth workshops, performances, and more. This community is surrounded by people from ethnically and socio-economically diverse backgrounds through celebration, expression, and acceptance. Their venues can be rented out – a place to host community gatherings, theatrical productions, banquets and more!
Our clinicians, Vida Manalang and Hanna Lee, recently partnered with Asian Arts Initiative to host a powerful and inspiring art therapy workshop — and it was truly a meaningful experience.
Participants were guided through a creative process using collage-making as a tool to explore and express their emotions. Through selecting, layering, and arranging images, colors, and textures, individuals were able to give shape to complex feelings that can sometimes be difficult to put into words.
Collage-making is a particularly powerful medium in art therapy — it allows for spontaneous expression, invites personal reflection, and often reveals emotional insights that are both surprising and healing.
This workshop offered a safe, affirming space where community members could connect with themselves and one another through creativity. We’re so grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with AAI and witness the impact of art as a pathway to emotional wellness.
Continuing through November, Sound Type, is a dual Music Festival and Writers Residency monthly event, pairing musicians with writers. This multi-part series of live concerts is followed by public seminars with the writers where you can provide critical feedback after the performance or join a private workshop. Come join their upcoming performances with Mars Kurami x Alex Smith on July 11th and Yu Su x Elissa Suh on August 15th.