Black Box Presents: Art in Action with Asian Americans United

April 24th at FREE Doors at 6:30PM

For the first event in the Black Box Presents: Art in Action series, join Asian Americans United and Vox Populi for a screening of video works exploring community organizing, migration histories, and the ongoing impacts of U.S. imperialism across Asian American communities in Philadelphia and beyond.

The program features the Wrecking Ball music video produced by the Save Chinatown Coalition; Episode 4: Taking Root on Washington Ave from Taking Root, a community-produced documentary series amplifying the stories of Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Laotian refugee communities in Philadelphia following the U.S. wars in Southeast Asia; and Flora After by Brandon Aquino Straus, which examines how traces of U.S. colonial rule in the Philippines persist within Philadelphia’s institutional archives.

Following the screening, Lan Dinh, Debbie Wei, and Sonia Mak will join for a panel discussion and conversation with the audience.

Asian Americans United was founded in 1985 by a small group of volunteers seeking to create an organized response to rising issues of anti-Asian violence, substandard housing and the need for educational services for non-English speaking Asians in the city.  Since that time, Asian Americans United’s mission has been to grow leadership in Asian American communities to build our neighborhoods and unite against oppression.

Made possible through lead support by the People’s Media Fund, Black Box Presents: Arts In Action is a yearlong screening and conversation series at Vox Populi exploring the role of the arts in movements for social change. Across four programs in 2026, community organizers will present films and media alongside facilitated dialogues on urgent issues including immigrant justice, queer liberation, health access, and community self-determination. 

The series is presented in collaboration with community partners, Asian Americans United, SEAMAAC, Hot Bits, and Batikh Batikh, bringing together artists, organizers, and community members for shared learning and dialogue. By centering community-led storytelling as a catalyst for organizing, Arts in Action highlights how cultural spaces can strengthen networks, spark conversation, and help build collective power. The series will culminate in a community forum and a freely available arts-and-social-change toolkit sharing strategies and stories from the year.

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Host or Publisher Vox Populi