Chaw Ei Thein is a painter and performance artist whose work stems from her contrasting experiences of growing up in a politically oppressive Burma and then shifting to a very different landscape in the United States. Chaw Ei's emotionally charged work addressing these conflicts in her native country has earned her critical acclaim, awards, and residencies in the U.S. and abroad. 

Refugee Nation is an interdisciplinary theater performance about a young generation struggling to understand their history and the silence of an elder generation still healing from the traumas of war. Refugee Nation tells the stories the Laotian refugee community created by a U.S.-led secret war in Laos. Since 2005, collaborators Leilani Chan and Ova Saopeng have been collecting oral histories from family and community members across the country to create an interdisciplinary theater performance that explores a growing part of the Asian American Diaspora that is yet to be included as part of the American experience. 

ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS & NETWORKS 

freeDimensional advances social justice by hosting activists in art spaces and using cultural resources to strengthen their work.  Based on the belief that creative expression fuels social justice movements, freeDimensional works with the global arts community to identify and redistribute resources, and support meaningful relationships between art spaces and activists.

Arts-Policy Nexus is a cross-cutting initiative of the World Policy Institute, directed by Senior Fellow Todd Lester.  It strives to connect socially engaged artists and policy-makers in order to create wider audiences which push for changes in individual behavior and public policy on issues that are crucial to our collective future

New Tactics in Human Rights helps human rights defenders work more effectively so they can achieve their goals and better address human rights violations around the world. They develop and share a range of online materials, including resources focused on arts and culture, offer trainings and mentoring, and facilitate a peer-to-peer on-line conversation that strengthens the global community of human rights advocates.

Article 19 envisions a world where people are free to speak their opinions, participate in decision-making and make informed choices about their lives. They campaign with people, monitor, research, publish, advise and advocate around the world to ensure the right to freedom of expression and each person's right to information.

FREEMUSE is an independent international organization which advocates freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide.  

Legacies of War raises awareness about the history of the Vietnam War-era bombing in Laos and advocates for the clearance of unexploded bombs. The organization uses art, culture, education, community organizing and dialogue to bring people together and create healing and transformation out of the wreckage of war.

Theatre Without Borders (TWB) is a network of international artists, theatres and organizations that share a common interest in international exchange. TWB advocates for theatre artists who see themselves as members of a global community as well as citizens of their respective nations and cultures.

Creative Resistance Fund provide small distress grants to people in danger due to their use of creativity to fight injustice. These situations may include verbal threats, imprisonment or legal persecution, violent attack, professional or social exclusion, or harassment. The fund may be used to evacuate a dangerous situation; to cover living expenses while weighing long-term options for safety; or to act on a strategic opportunity to affect social change.

Art Spaces Hosting Activism is a tactical notebook produced by freeDimensional with New Tactics in Human Rights that recounts the creative and collaborative process developed by freeDimenstional for using surplus resources to provide individual assistance and strengthen community engagement.  

Acting Together is a collaboration between the Peacebuilding and the Arts Program at Brandeis University and  Theatre Without Borders that explores the terrain where artists and peacebuilders engage people in creative acts of courage and moral imagination. They have produced Acting Together on the World Stage, an award-winning documentary, Acting Together: Performance and Creative Transformation of Conflict, a two-volume anthology about peacebuilding performances in regions beset by violence and internal conflicts, and Tools for Continuing the Conversation.