NichiBei Creative Artists

LANGUAGE

EN
JP

KATA -Karate x Digital Technology

Street Dance Meets Japanese Contemporary

The Journey Itself Home

Artistic restaurant exploring sustainability

NichiBei Kids Public Art Project

空手× デジタルテクノロジー「KATA」

2021.09.05

動画公開：KATA（特別編集版）

日米ダンス合作：
ストリートとコンテンポラリー

2021.05.01

アーカイブ動画公開 (Cameron)

旅はすみか - The Journey Itself Home

2021.08.09

展示レポート (marksearch)

サステナビリティを探究するアートレストラン

2021.08.31

動画公開：A SENSE OF PLACE

日米キッズ・パブリック・アートプロジェクト

2021.09.05

動画公開：United By Emotions

Introduction

日米芸術家交換プログラムは、日米友好基金（The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission）と全米芸術基金（The National Endowment for the Arts）の主催のもと、日本の文化庁と国際文化会館の協力を得て、1978年より実施されています。

以後41年間に渡り、毎年米国を拠点とするアーティストが選出され、日本で文化・芸術の研修が行われてきました。2020-21年のプログラムでは発足以来初の試みとして、日米のアーティストがチームを組んで作品をつくり、2021年のオリンピック・パラリンピック開催時期に合わせて東京で展示・上演します。アートを通して長きに渡る日米の友好関係を記念する特別企画です。

Projects

01

空手 × デジタルテクノロジー「KATA」

2021年9月5日

動画配信

02

日米ダンス合作：コンテンポラリーとストリート

TBA

TBA

03

旅はすみか The Journey Itself Home

2021年7月27日-8月8日

世田谷美術館

04

サステナブル・アートレストラン

2021年8月31日

動画配信

05

日米キッズ・パブリックアートプロジェクト

2021年9月5日

動画配信

News

2021.09.06: プレスリリース：日米友好基金とパナソニック株式会社が「日米芸術家交換プログラム」におけるパートナーシップを発表
2021.08.24: オンラインプレゼンテーションのお知らせ
2021.07.20: 展覧会のお知らせ（7/27-8/8）：旅はすみか —Journey Itself Home
2021.06.14: 東京公演（7/31）中止のお知らせ：コンサート「KATA」

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San Francisco-based artist Jesse Schlesinger (@je

San Francisco-based artist Jesse Schlesinger (@jesse_____singer) and Kyoto-based chef @masayofunakoshi are collaborating on a Nichi Bei Creative Artists project that examines themes of sustainability through the lens of food and agriculture. Though the team originally planned to present the culmination of their project - a temporary, experimental restaurant - in Japan this summer, pandemic travel restrictions have inspired them to adapt their plans. In the middle of this month, Funakoshi will join Schlesinger in the United States to continue their collaboration. “Masayo and I will work here in Northern California on the land where I have lived throughout the pandemic,” said Schlesinger. “August will be a bountiful time in the garden, and I anticipate a wide variety of crops will be ready for harvest during her visit.” The Nichi Bei Creative Artists team members will share video of their time together through a virtual event targeted to coincide with Japan’s “Yasai no Hi” (the Day of the Vegetable) which occurs at the end of August. To see examples of Schlesinger’s work, visit jesseschlesinger.com and bit.ly/Schlesinger_StudioAhead; for a glimpse of Funakoshi’s Kyoto restaurant @farmoon_kyoto, visit bit.ly/Farmoon_ANA and instagram.com/masayofunakoshi. To learn more about Schlesinger’s and Funakoshi’s project—and other Nichi Bei Creative Artists collaborations—visit bit.ly/NichiBeiArtists_Projects. The Nichi Bei Creative Artists Program is funded by @japanusfriendship, @neaarts and @i_house_japan. Support is also provided by Arts Council Tokyo, the Asahi Shimbun Foundation, the United States-Japan Foundation, the Government of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkacho), Setagaya City, and Setagaya Art Museum. Learn more at nichibei-artists.org/en/

Following the year-long postponement of the Olympi

Following the year-long postponement of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, five teams of Nichi Bei Creative Artists are reaching the culmination of their international collaborations. The projects were created by Japanese and American artists working together, despite the great challenges presented by the pandemic. Their works include a performance that combines music, brain scan technology, and martial arts; an original dance composition that embodies Japanese and American friendship; interactive sound sculptures that broadcast a message of peace and resilience; an exploration of sustainability through the lens of food and agriculture; and public murals created from the artwork of American and Japanese students. Many of the projects have evolved substantially over the last year, as the artists have adapted their goals and processes to the realities of the global pandemic. Some project results have already been shared via public art displays, and more will be presented both virtually and at sites in Japan in the coming months. “Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, these determined artists, with support from the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission and the NEA, are wonderful proof of the value of cultural and artistic exchange between the U.S. and Japan, and the power of the arts to unite us and foster resilience,” said JUSFC Executive Director Paige Cottingham-Streater. To learn more about the Nichi Bei Creative Artists collaborations, visit bit.ly/NichiBeiArtists_Projects. The Nichi Bei Creative Artists Program is funded by @japanusfriendship, @neaarts and @i_house_japan. Support is also provided by Arts Council Tokyo, the Asahi Shimbun Foundation, the United States-Japan Foundation, the Government of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkacho), Setagaya City, and Setagaya Art Museum. Learn more at nichibei-artists.org/en/.

In late July and early August, works by a Nichi Be

In late July and early August, works by a Nichi Bei Creative Artists team will be highlighted in the Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL via a new exhibition at the Setagaya Art Museum. The featured works, a series of unique sound monument sculptures, were created by Oakland-based artists @marksearchoakland (Sue Mark and Bruce Douglas) and Tokyo artists @hiroyukiab and @natsukaendo to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of the 311 Fukushima Disaster. The artist team recorded the voices of young adults in Japan’s Tōhoku region, who told personal stories of safety, strength, and hopes for the future. The artists then combined the recorded stories into a sonic haiku that is stored and played for spectators via three mobile sound monuments. The monuments were designed to evoke the aesthetic and meaning of traditional “tsunami stones” that stand vigil along the Tōhoku region’s coast and warn of natural disasters. Learn about the Setagaya Art Museum exhibition via Nichi Bei Creative Artists, at bit.ly/SoundMonument_Exhibition; to learn more about the Tokyo Tokyo FESTIVAL, visit tokyotokyofestival.jp/en. Earlier this summer, the sound monuments were displayed at Tokyo locations including International House of Japan and Akasaka Hikawa shrine, and along streets in Kuhombutsu; see the full schedule and pictures of the exhibitions at journeyitselfhome.com/Interaction-Procession-Info. For more on the Nichi Bei Creative Artists Program - made possible with support from @japanusfriendship, @neaarts and @i_house_japan - visit nichibei-artists.org/en/.

Nichi Bei Creative Artists fellow Cameron McKinney

Nichi Bei Creative Artists fellow Cameron McKinney, founder of @kizunadance, was recently featured in a @dancemagazine article that examines the challenges and opportunities of premiering creative works during the pandemic. The article highlights McKinney’s new film “Muted Lows”, and his experiences of sharing choreography with the public via digital platforms. He describes how online premieres sometimes lack the sense of community and shared experience that in-person performances offer, and how audience feedback from digital performances differs from in-person spectator reaction. “Online, people just put up an emoji and move on,” he says. “I really don't know what stuck out to people or what resonated.” At the same time, McKinney notes that premiering works online can offer choreographers and dancers new possibilities and artistic control. "You have the ability to really direct what the audience sees,” he says. “If you're onstage and you have an ensemble, the audience can choose to look at one person, or the whole stage, or they can look away. In film, whatever is on screen is what you want them to see.” To watch “Muted Lows” (choreographed and composed by McKinney, and performed by Rohan Bhargava), visit bit.ly/Muted_Lows; and read the full Dance Magazine article (which also features choreographers and dancers from @alvinailey @abtofficial) at bit.ly/Virtual_Dance. For his Nichi Bei Creative Artists project, McKinney is collaborating with Japanese choreographer Toru Shimazaki on a work of contemporary dance that features dancers from Japan and the United States; the piece will explore the bond of friendship shared by the two countries. To learn about McKinney’s and Shimazaki’s collaboration, visit bit.ly/NichiBei_Dance; follow McKinney online at instagram.com/kizunadance. And for more on the Nichi Bei Creative Artists Program - made possible with support from @japanusfriendship, @neaarts and @i_house_japan - visit nichibei-artists.org/en/.

Now through August, one of the Nichi Bei Creative

Now through August, one of the Nichi Bei Creative Artists teams is displaying their collaborative creations — a series of interactive sound monuments — at locations in Tokyo. @journeyitselfhome (journeyitselfhome.com) is a project created by American artist team @marksearchoakland (Sue Mark and Bruce Douglas) and Japanese artist family Hiroyuki Abe and Natsuka Endo to honor the tenth anniversary of the 311 Fukushima Disaster. Inspired by carved “tsunami stones” that stand vigil in Japan’s Tohoku region and warn of natural disasters, the artists created a trio of original monuments that include solar panels, speakers, and internal computers; the monuments play sonic haiku that explore themes of hope, resilience, and healing, and were created from the recorded voices of young adults who survived the Fukushima disaster. The Journey Itself Home team first displayed their sound monuments publicly at the historic Akasaka Hikawa Shrine in central Tokyo; visitors of all ages interacted with the monuments and experienced the poetic sounds and words of 311 survivors. Future displays will include public showings on Tokyo streets and on the grounds of the Setagaya Art Museum. Follow the project online via @journeyitselfhome, and learn more at bit.ly/NichiBei_Journey. And for information about the Nichi Bei Creative Artists Program - made possible with support from @japanusfriendship, @neaarts and @i_house_japan - visit nichibei-artists.org/en/.

One of the Nichi Bei Creative Artists teams recent

One of the Nichi Bei Creative Artists teams recently unveiled the latest results of their international artistic partnership: a beautiful mosaic mural, installed at Lumbini Kindergarten in Saiki, Japan. This collaborative work of public art is made of multi-colored tiles and was designed by young people from Philadelphia’s Bache Martin Elementary School, and from Saiki’s Lumbini Kindergarten and Tsuruoka Children's Club. In a series of workshops, the Nichi Bei Creative Artists team members (muralist Ben Volta, educator Cho Kuwakado, and artist Yasuyuki Sakura) guided the children to create art inspired by Olympic athletes and the creative movement of sports; out of the hundreds of drawings created by the children, team members then selected several that could be translated into the form of a tile mural. To see pictures of the finished work at Lumbini Kindergarten, visit instagram.com/benvolta. On June 17 in the U.S. (June 18 in Japan), Volta, Kuwakado, and Sakura will speak with former Asian Cultural Council executive director Miho Walsh about their project and the process of collaborating internationally. The virtual discussion, “United by Energy and Emotion,” is the latest in a series of online events that introduce Nichi Bei Creative Artists and team members to the public. The event is free and pre-registration is required; visit bit.ly/Creativity_RoundTable to sign up and attend. Learn about the project at bit.ly/NichiBei_PublicArt. And for more on the Nichi Bei Creative Artists Program - made possible with support from @japanusfriendship @neaarts and @i_house_japan - visit nichibei-artists.org/en/.

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