In the 1960s, a parcel of land in Boston’s Chinatown was cleared to make way for a highway on-ramp. Hundreds of residents were displaced. Decades later, that parcel was again up for development, this time with 10% set aside for community use. Residents jumped at the chance to reclaim a piece of their neighborhood as a space to gather and perform.
In 2017, the Pao Arts Center opened its doors at 99 Albany Street.
“Our mission is to uplift AAPI stories, artists, and to nurture individual and social well-being through arts and culture,” said Sophia Chen, the center’s communications and development manager, on Boston Public Radio Friday.
The center was created as a collaboration between the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center and Bunker Hill Community College. It is the first community arts center in Chinatown’s nearly 150-year history, a project that Chen says emerged from community meetings around what to do with that parcel of land.
“People wanted an arts and cultural center,” she said. “They wanted recreation, they wanted things to do for cultural events, performances, to bring that type of livelihood back to Chinatown.”
On Saturday, the center will put on “Asian Glow: Unapologetic Diaspora” — a show combining magic, comedy, performance art and music. It’s the latest installment in a performance series that brings together Asian artists, said Jane Park, the show’s curator.
For Felice Ling, who will bring her talents as a magician to the stage on Saturday, her foray into the art of illusion began as a child. Like most magicians, Ling said, it all started with a magic kit. But performing in “Asian Glow” is a different experience for Ling, who often performs at Faneuil Hall.
“It was because of Jane and Jane’s show that I got the chance to perform in front of a majority Asian American audience,” Ling said. “That’s never happened before.”
Pao Arts Center also has dance and exercise classes for Chinese immigrants and elders in the neighborhood, including a “tennis ball tai chi” dance class, as well as ongoing galleries and a multimedia surrealist opera coming next month.
“I’ve learned so much about what a community arts center can do,” Chen said. “We offer free spaces for elders to gather, especially since to pandemic, to ease those feelings of isolation.”
The offerings depend on what the community is creating and gives support and platforms for new AAPI artists.
“We want to be that connecting dot, honoring cultural heritage but also recognizing that culture is not static and continues to be created,” Chen said.
WATCH: Jane Park performs “Kettle” and “Parade,” and Felice Ling performs magic live at the Boston Public Library
