Public Programs

Musical Journey on Summer's Eve
Award-winning Pianist Xiayin Wang

Thursday, June 19, 7:30 p.m.
Meyer Auditorium
Freer Gallery of Art
12th Street and Independence Avenue, SW
Metro: Smithsonian or L'Enfant Plaza

Come join us for a summer evening featuring Xiayin Wang, an award-winning young Chinese pianist, recently heralded by the New York Times: "Even for the most gifted young pianist, it takes a lot to be noticed. Xiayin Wang, is clearly doing something right."

Wang will perform a variety of classical, Asian, and contemporary Asian American compositions, including selections from her newly released Naxos CD featuring the works of Russian composer Alexander Scriabin.

The program also includes the first Washington, DC-area performance of "My Wounded Head (dreams of moths)," written by noted composer Marc Chan for Wang. In March 2008, Wang world-premiered Chan’s piece at Carnegie Hall; the work is part of a series based on a set of pitches from Bach’s "St. Matthew Passion." Other pieces Wang will perform include the works of Chopin, Ravel, and James Hong.

The Vietnamese American Experience on Film
The Anniversary by Ham Tran

Thursday, June 26, 6:30 p.m. –  8:30 p.m.
Lecture Hall
S. Dillon Ripley Center
1100 Jefferson Dr., SW
Metro: Smithsonian

Award-winning filmmaker, Ham Tran, returns to the Smithsonian with his first film, The Anniversary, a 28-minute short film about two brothers separated by the Vietnam War, that began as Tran's UCLA graduate school thesis project. The auspicious debut film went on to make the short list for a 2004 Oscar in the category of "Best Live Action Short" and won some 30 awards.

Following the screening, Tram will be joined by Professor Linda Trinh Vo, Chair of the Asian American Studies School at University of California, Irvine, and Dr. Bich Nguyen, linguistics expert, to discuss the Vietnamese American experience captured on film, past, present and future.

Film Screening
Passing Poston: An American Story

Saturday, July 12, 2008, 1:30 p.m.
Rasmuson Theater
National Museum of the American Indian
Fourth Street & Independence Avenue, SW
Metro: L'Enfant Plaza (all lines except Red); exit Maryland Avenue/Smithsonian Museums

Passing Poston, a new documentary by Joe Fox and James Nubile, tells an emotional, poignant story of four former detainees of the Poston Relocation Center during World War II.

Poston was among the 10 War Relocation Authority (WRA) concentration camps built to imprison Americans of Japanese descent in remote areas away from West Coast shores. These prison camps were scattered from inland California to faraway Arkansas. 

The WRA imprisoned over 18,000 Japanese Americans at Poston Relocation Center between 1942 to 1945. The prison was built on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation – the result of a unique agreement between the WRA and the Office of Indian Affairs (OIA). The U.S. Government was aware that many Japanese Americans were skilled farmers – and the government quickly figured out how to capitalize on those skills.

While interned, these Japanese Americans cultivated the surrounding lands, transforming the dry arid landscape into productive fields. After the war, Native Americans from surrounding smaller reservations migrated to the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation to continue to develop the now-productive land.  Their descendants continue to live and farm there today.

Come join us to learn more about this little-known part of American war history. The filmmakers are scheduled to be in attendance to answer audience questions after the screening.

For more information about the film, click here.

South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival (SALTAF™) 2008

Saturday, November 15, 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Baird Auditorium
National Museum of Natural History
10th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW
Metro: Smithsonian or Federal Triangle

Save the date for SALTAF™ 2008, which returns anew this fall, marking the fifth year that the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program joins forces with the Washington, DC chapter of the Network of South Asian Professionals (NetSAP-DC) to bring you another memorable event.

Currently in the throes of planning what has become a highlight annual fall event at the Smithsonian, the SALTAF Committee is thrilled to announce four confirmed literary stars thus far:

Tahmima Anam, whose luminous debut, A Golden Age, is a regional winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Europe and South Asian for Best First Book;

Indra Sinha, whose 2007 Booker-shortlist novel, Animal's People, is also a regional winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Europe and South Asia for Best Book;

Manil Suri, whose much anticipated follow-up, The Age of Shiva, to his critically acclaimed debut, The Death of Vishnu, appeared earlier this year to much praise;

and Naeem Murr, whose latest novel, The Perfect Man, was last year's Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Europe and South Asia for Best Book, as well as a 2006 Booker long-lister.

Other fabulous surprises are in the works. So watch this space for regular updates!