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Gayle Isa

Gayle Isa is the founder and former Executive Director of Asian Arts Initiative, a multi-disciplinary arts center in Philadelphia that engages artists, youth, and people of all ages and backgrounds to create and present art that addresses our social context and imagines and effects positive community change. She was the first Asian American appointed to serve on the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and has served on the Philadelphia Mayor’s Commission on Asian American Affairs and the Mayor’s Cultural Advisory Council, and the boards of organizations including the National Performance Network and the Consortium of Asian American Theaters and Artists. In 2014 she helped to organize and host the National Asian American Theater Festival and Conference in Philadelphia. After celebrating Asian Arts Initiative's 25th anniversary in 2018, she recently relocated back to her hometown of Los Angeles. 

 

Organizing Home
Essay

Organizing Home

Building Asian American Community in Philadelphia

8 October 2014

I was inspired to believe in the power of the arts to mobilize people and sway emotions and opinions and build community in ways that petitions and protests couldn’t. I decided that I could use my skills to pro-actively organize through and for the arts, and became an intern at the Painted Bride and have been with Asian Arts Initiative since then as it has grown into an independent multi-disciplinary community arts center.