Washington, D.C. and Tokyo, Japan September 6, 2021: The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC) is delighted to announce a collaboration with Panasonic Corporation and the Panasonic Center TOKYO (PCT) (3-5-1 Ariake, Koto-ku,Tokyo) in support of the U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship Program. This announcement confirms JUSFC and the PCT’s commitment to public-private partnerships that enhance U.S.-Japan cooperation.

In 2019, the JUSC and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) selected five U.S.-Japan artistic teams for the 2020 U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship Program. Each team has collaborated on a project that reflected the themes of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This is the first time since the program’s inception that artists were selected as a U.S.-Japan team to produce a joint work to present to the public. This collaborative team approach reflects the spirit of unity that animates the Games, and highlights the enduring U.S.-Japan bilateral partnership.

As part of this special partnership project highlighting U.S.-Japan artistic collaboration, Philadelphia-based muralist Ben Volta and Oita-based artists, the Chara Rimpa Project (Cho Kuwakado and Yasuyuki Sakura) are working as a team with youth in the United States and Japan on a project that will culminate in a beautiful collaborative public work of art. This jointly designed three-dimensional art will be displayed at the Panasonic Center TOKYO from Fall 2021 to Spring 2022.

The Panasonic center TOKYO is a Corporate Global Communications Hub for Panasonic, which focuses on fostering the creativity in children, providing engaging learning experiences for the future with its creative museum AkeruE, where the artwork will be displayed. AkeruE (Eureka in Greek) provides children with hands-on learning experiences, and creating works and solutions as a space to develop children’s intellectual curiosity and their inspiration.

“We are extremely honored and glad to provide a platform for the U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship Program and its artists who we are sure will contribute to the support of youth’s creative actions and next-generation development, the same way our creative museum AkeruE aims to provide better creative learning experiences through seeing, making and communicating to create a better world.” said Alex Ikenouchi, Panasonic Center TOKYO, Director.

“We thank the Panasonic Center Tokyo for their continued support and willingness to cooperate on the U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship Program,” said Paige Cottingham-Streater, Executive Director of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission. “PCT is a state-of-the-art educational hub and international venue for learning, and we appreciate the opportunity to partner on this important U.S.-Japan artistic project.”

As part of the collaboration with Panasonic, in addition to the art work presentation, several workshops with the artists and children from the United States and Japan will take place at the PCT, to help foster youth’s creativity.

The Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission was established as an independent federal government agency by the United States Congress (P.L. 94-118) in 1975 to strengthen the U.S.-Japan relationship through educational, cultural, and intellectual exchange. Since 1978, JUSFC and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) have worked with the Government of Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkacho) and the International House of Japan (I-House) to organize the U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellowship Program.

Learn more about the project.