Asian and Asian American Arts and Culture Program
The Asian and Asian American Arts and Culture Program is the nation’s longest-running university series dedicated to the performing arts and cultures of Asia and the Asian diaspora. It presents the living arts of Asia and the Asian American experience to foster cultural awareness, intercultural dialogue, and social justice. Through dance, music, theater, and interdisciplinary performance, the program honors traditional practices while highlighting contemporary narratives of identity, belonging, and resilience across Asia and the diaspora. It remains a cornerstone of the Fine Arts Center’s mission to celebrate the richness, diversity, and ongoing evolution of Asian and Asian American arts and culture.
Sunny Jain
Thursday, February 19, 8 p.m.
The Drake
Wild, Wild East, the latest project from the founder and leader of Brooklyn’s undefinable Red Baraat draws from Sunny Jain’s identity as a first-generation South Asian American and as a global musician. And it finds Jain sourcing musical inspiration from the scores of Bollywood classics and Spaghetti Westerns, Indian folk traditions, jazz improvisation, and rollicking psychedelic and surf guitar styles.
Hiroaki Umeda
Wednesday, March 11, 7:30 p.m.
Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall
UMass is one of just five stops on Japanese dancer/choreographer Hiroaki Umeda’s 2026 U.S. tour. Hioaki’s program includes two brand new works, Moving State 1, which will be performed by dancers from Umeda’s Somatic Field Project; and assimilating, Umeda’s own solo performance.
Mystical Arts of Tibet
Monday, April 6 – Friday, April 10
Opening ceremony: April 6, 12 p.m.
Viewing, April 6, 7 and 9, 1–7 pm.; April 8, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Closing ceremony: April 10, 12 p.m.
Old Chapel
Experience Tibet’s vibrant culture, profound spirituality, and captivating artistry with the Mystical Arts of Tibet. As Buddhist monks from the Drepung Loseling Monastery create an intricately designed sand mandala from more than a million grains of colored sand, visitors will have the opportunity to observe the process and learn about Buddhism through sacred art.
News and Highlights
Hamed Sinno: Poems of Consumption
Hamed Sinno opened the Fine Arts Center’s Next50 series on October 9 with their newest song cycle, Poems of Consumption, an immersive, boundary-pushing performance that set the tone for a series devoted to artists reimagining their mediums. Known to many as the former frontperson for Mashrou’ Leila, Sinno, a Lebanese American, brought to the stage their evolving R&B-inflected compositions, lush string arrangements, live electronics, and brilliant multimedia visuals. Drawing from Amazon product reviews, Poems of Consumption transformed the language of consumer culture into a powerful commentary on surveillance capitalism, heartbreak, and Orientalism.
Lea Salonga: Stage, Screen & Everything In Between
One of Broadway’s biggest and most beloved stars delivered an extraordinary evening on December 4, drawing a packed house of fans from across the state. A native of the Philippines, where she got her start on stage at age seven, Salonga burst onto the international stage in 1989, winning multiple awards for her performance as Kim in Miss Saigon. From Broadway favorites to Disney classics and iconic pop hits, Salonga’s Stage, Screen & Everything In Between was pure joy.
Afong’s Room
Afong's Room grew out of collaborations among faculty, administrators, artists and students through lead support of the UMass Fine Arts Center Asian and Asian American Arts and Cultures Program (AAAACP) in collaboration with other UMass Amherst programs, including the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, Office for Equity and Inclusion, and Asian/Asian American Certificate Program, as well as the Five College Asian/Pacific/American Studies Certificate Program.