W.O.W. Project staff gather with local residents at Thomas Paine Park to reflect on the history of the land. 

231202 WOW-MakingPossibility-KaleMays-113 web

231118 WOW-PictureDay-202-2 web

What happens when you try something outside of what is supposed to be business or nonprofit work? I think crossing those imaginary boundaries can lead to something generative.

The W.O.W. Project’s focus on the arts was inspired by Wing on Wo’s inventory of porcelain objects imbued with history. 

240111 WOW-PowerAsInfinite-28 web

“I feel like we’re at this moment in Chinatown when organizations are popping up, galvanizing young people to come back and contribute something,” Lum said when reflecting on W.O.W.’s partnership with organizations like the Chinatown Art Brigade and CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities.

210612 WOW-JessxSnowUnveiling-808 web

In a sense, there is a symbiotic relationship between Wing on Wo as a store and the W.O.W. Project as an organization: the store is home to programming, while the programming helps the spirit of the store live on.

200208 WOW-StreetBattle-40 web

Out of a historic storefront, with arts as their armor, Mei Lum and the W.O.W. Project are fighting forces of unwanted change in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

The W.O.W. Project

​​​​​​​​​For the sake of the neighborhood, the W.O.W. Project is blurring the lines between storefront and arts center in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Performer Tuxedo Masc stands outside Wing on Wo.

230114 WOW-LNY-Abrons-553 web

The Hard-Won Beauty of Staying Put 

Artists as Catalysts

Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image

Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Borderlands Cultures

In portrait orientation, an aerial view of a major highway running parallel to a large border wall set on a hilly landscape

Civic Engagement

A man in a brown jacket stands in front of blue bulletin board that is covered with papers and advertisements  

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

An interior room filled with audio and video equipment 

Monuments and Memory

A multicolored painted totem pole set in front of a foggy forest landscape

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 

Related