Singha Hon, Lorraine Lum, Joy Mao, Juliet Phillips, and Denise Zhou worked to expand The W.O.W. Project’s capacity both as a space for art making, and for collective dreaming, connection, and action. They led art and community centered programs while also setting and experimenting with internal operations, such as streamlining marketing processes and setting up the W.O.W. studio space.

Through “From Chinatown, With Love,” the artists developed close relationships with local Chinatown businesses, creating one-of-a-kind art pieces about their stories, aimed at driving traffic to businesses during Lunar New Year. They also worked with W.O.W. on their “Trusting Our Tides” program, where the artists wrote, directed, and performed a play alongside invited community members. The artists also led community centered workshops in the W.O.W. Studio space, at Abrons Arts Center, and in Columbus Park. Their second year concluded with a program called “Springs From Below,” featuring ceramics, block-carving, kite-making, and film-screenings, all exploring the pressing issues affecting Chinatown’s community and how art-making spaces can lead to further dialogue, action, and empowerment.

The W.O.W. Project is a queer and trans youth-led, community-based initiative that works to sustain ownership over Chinatown Manhattan’s future by growing, protecting, and preserving Chinatown’s creative culture through arts, culture, and activism. Their core mission is to create space for conversations that cross generational gaps to seed intergenerational understanding.