Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa for a webinar by Dr. Yuan-Hsin Tung and Dr. Ben Fairfield, professors in the Department of Ethnomusicology at UH-Mānoa. They will discuss the current status of the tradition they research and trends of the theatrical and musical forms in Southeast Asia and beyond. Dr. Ricardo D. Trimillos, Emeritus Professor in the department, will moderate the discussion.

Join the Brooklyn-based music nonprofit FourOneOne for a ca trù concert by Anh Vo, a Vietnamese choreographer and writer whose work is inspired by their experiences with Downtown New York experimental performance, Hanoi performance art, and Vietnamese folk ritual practices. Vo will give an unabridged performance of Tỳ Bà Hành (琵琶行 Pipa Song) by the Chinese poet Bai Juyi, a Tang dynasty poem that probes the parallel feelings of exile and loss of status experienced by a demoted government official and an aging female musician.

Join the Museum of Chinese in America and the New York Asian Film Festival for a screening of Yellow Rose, a coming-of-age musical drama that follows Rose Garcia (Eva Noblezada), a Filipina teenager growing up undocumented in a small Texas town. The screening is followed by a talkback with Director Diane Paragas, MOCA’s Curator Herb Tam, and NYAFF’s Executive Director Samuel Jamier.

Join the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University for a special presentation of A Life in Cinema, a cine-concert by Sundance Award-winning filmmaker Tony Bui, featuring the Hanoi Philharmonic Orchestra in a rare New York appearance. Bringing together scenes from decades of Vietnamese cinema, A Life in Cinema tells the story of Viet Nam through the lives, memories, and experiences captured on screen.

Join the High Line and the Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art for an in-depth conversation between Tuan Andrew Nguyen, the artist behind The Light That Shines Through the Universe, and Cecilia Alemani, Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Director and Chief Curator of High Line Art. This program will focus on Nguyen’s practice, the inspiration for his Plinth commission, and the sculpture’s symbolic rebirth, followed by a guided meditation focused on transformation.

Join Engage Thailand and 112WATCH for a typographic poster exhibition and fundraiser regarding political prosecutions in Thailand since 2020. This event features a thought-provoking art exhibit and a fireside chat with Pavin Chachavalpongpun on the state of political prosecutions in Thailand in the aftermath of the 2020 pro-democracy mass movement.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan for a talk by Christopher Rea, professor of modern Chinese literature at the University of British Columbia, who will discuss his and Julie M. Wang’s translation of The Crossing of the Boars by Malaysian-Taiwanese novelist Chang Kuei-hsing (Zhang Guixing).

Join Silverlens Gallery for the opening reception for State of the Nations, the first U.S. solo exhibition of renowned Philippine artist Geraldine Javier. Currently central to her practice is “eco-printing,” a laborious, hand-based technique of monoprinting by pressing the sap and pigment of leaves, roots, flowers, and bark directly into paper or fabric, which is then overlaid with intricate embroidery. Javier’s exhibition will be on view from September 10 through October 24, 2026.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University (NIU) for a talk by Richard M. Cooler, Professor Emeritus and Founding Director of the Center for Burma Studies and the School of Art and Design at NIU. The lecture will be followed by a presentation of silver artworks in the North Gallery, Art Museum.

Join the MIT Global Humanities Forum for a discussion about how art can become a force for solidarity and survival in times of displacement and oppression. Speakers include Alicia Stevens, Bart Was Not Here (a.k.a. Kyaw Moe Khine), Nathalie Johnston, Maung Day, and Sana Aiyar.

Join Asian CineVision for the screenings of Almost American, Homecoming and Going, Daily Worker, ITALIANO, Confucius Plaza, i see myself in you, and Cabbage Daddy as part of the Asian American International Film Festival. These shorts are contemporary films about immigrants from Asia.

Join Asian CineVision for the screenings of Back Then, Disease, Heart and Sol, Mother’s Recipe, Satkankul, Searching for Color, and A Story of Nanjing as part of the Asian American International Film Festival. These shorts are created by filmmakers under the age of 21.

Join Asian CineVision for the screenings of i saw you in the flood, Before You, Huong, The Boy with the Dinosaur Head, Whereabouts, and Yu & Me as part of the Asian American International Film Festival. These shorts show how filmmakers find the light in tragedies and overcome heartbreak through the help of their families and communities. This screening will be followed by a Q&A.

Join Asian CineVision for the NYC premiere of the Southeast Asian American Journeys documentary series featuring different refugee communities across the United States. This film is part of an in-person shorts-feature combination screening and will be preceded by the short film, Sea Song.

Join Asian CineVision for the screenings of Rice Run, Grandma’s Four Color Cards, Sonia Honey, Milk & Honey, Enough, and The Sale as part of the Asian American International Film Festival. These shorts examine the sacrifices that parents make for the sake of their children’s futures. The insecurities and tears are often unseen by those enjoying the care and comforts of the hard-won sacrifices. The screenings will be followed by a filmmaker Q&A.

Join the Asian Art Museum after hours to experience the largest bronze ever cast in Southeast Asia, enriched by spotlight talks and followed by a dance performance, a short film screening, and an artist conversation. This event celebrates their exhibition Vishnu’s Cosmic Ocean!

Join the Southeast Asia Digital Library to celebrate the launch of their newest collection, Hanoi Grapevine's Finest, with a discussion on Audience-led Archives and Contemporary Vietnamese Art. Speakers include Nguyễn Tú Hằng, Director of Hanoi Grapevine; Emily Zinger, Southeast Asia Digital Librarian, and Đỗ Tường Linh, Director of the Nguyen Wahed Gallery and Art Curator Vincom Center for Contemporary Art.

Join PEN America’s World Voices Festival for a panel of prominent international writers discussing how literature champions a diversity of cultures and reflects the multiple heritages, customs, and traditions. Speakers include Tash Aw, author of The South; Susan Choi, author of Flashlight, and Madeleine Thien, author of The Book of Records. PEN America President Dinaw Mengestu will moderate the discussion.

Join PEN America’s World Voices Festival for a discussion exploring the craft of writing comedy that stings and how humor can illuminate betrayal, grief, and the messiness of life. Speakers include Benedict Nguyễn, author of Hot Girls with Balls and a USA Today national bestseller, and Katie Yee, author of Maggie; or A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar. Writer and arts administrator Jared Jackson will moderate the conversation.

Join Joseph O. Legaspi in celebrating Amphibian, his third poetry collection which explores queerness, belonging, and the meaning of home through the lens of a Filipino American. Legaspi will be in conversation with acclaimed writers Jessica Hagedorn and Sarah Gambito. Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

Join the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU for a talk by Dr. Anissa Rahadiningtyas, curator of Islamic Aesthetics in Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asia at the National Gallery Singapore. This presentation aims to rethink the established categorical boundaries of Islamic art through the works of Arahmaiani (b. 1961, Indonesia), Shooshie Sulaiman (b. 1973, Malaysia), and Zarina Muhammad (b. 1982, Singapore).

Join Difference Engine, a Singaporean comics collective, for a webinar about production and circulation in Southeast Asia, from envisioning comics projects, soliciting ideas from and collaborating with comics creators, to publishing and distributing Southeast Asian comics regionally and worldwide. Speakers include Difference Engine’s Publisher and Co-Founder Felicia Low-Jimenez and Senior Editor Aditi Shivaramakrishnan.

Join NYSEAN and GETSEA for a screening of Sotong and Against This Messy World,  two short films highlighting the challenges to art and expression in Malaysia’s complex political, legal, and societal landscape. The documentary screenings are followed by an online discussion with the filmmakers.

Join the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU for a talk by Geok Yian Goh, Associate Professor of History at Nanyang Technological University, who will discuss the archaeological record and everyday life of Singapore and Bagan, Myanmar, which are two urban centers that overlapped in time.

Join the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University and the Columbia Journalism School for a panel on how Vietnamese diaspora storytellers shape American culture through film, literature, and performance. Speakers include actor/director Dustin Nguyen, filmmaker Dužan Duong, Budapest-born Vietnamese singer Hien, and novelist Kevin Nguyen.

Join Sonic Bloom and Berlin NYC for a concert featuring distinct R&B voices from the Asian Diaspora: Jereena Montemayor, Filipino American R&B/Pop artist from Southern California; Mark Natama, Indonesian artist blending traditional R&B with contemporary elements, and Dhyan Rajamani, recording artist hailing from Maryland.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University (NIU) for a talk by Wan Juliana Emeih Binti Wahed, NIU Fulbright Visiting Scholar and Senior Lecturer at the College of Creative Arts, MARA University of Technology Sarawak Branch, Malaysia. In this lecture, Dr. Wahed will discuss the aesthetic design of Pua Kumbu, a traditional patterned multi-coloured ceremonial cotton clothing created and occasionally worn by the Iban people of Sarawak, West Kalimantan in Indonesia, and Brunei.

Join the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at UCLA for a lecture by Dr. Supeena Insee Adler, the curator and conservator of the World Musical Instrument Collection at UCLA and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Ethnomusicology, where she directs the Music of Thailand ensemble. In this lecture, Dr. Adler will discuss the efforts of the Thai performing arts community in preserving cultural heritage and strengthening social bonds in Southern California’s Thai diaspora.

Join NYSEAN and Sulo: The Philippine Studies Initiative at NYU for a talk by Gina Apostol, acclaimed author who teaches writing at the Fieldston School, Barnard College, and The New School; and Neferti Tadiar, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Barnard College.