WMU Asian Initiatives earns Arts Council ‘Epic Award’  

KALAMAZOO, Mich.— The Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo recognized WMU Asian Initiatives this month for its ongoing contributions to arts, culture and community engagement. 

Housed within the Haenicke Institute for Global Education at Western Michigan University, WMU Asian Initiatives works to enhance scholarship and disseminate knowledge about East Asia on campus and throughout the region.

A signature event of WMU Asian Initiatives is Spring Gala. The event brings together nearly 200 local artists, students and community performers to take the stage at Miller Auditorium. The event brings crowds close to 1,000 each spring.

WMU Asian Initiatives was honored with the Epic Award, which celebrates an organization or program in the Kalamazoo community that is of high artistic quality and enhances the life in our community through the arts. 

"We are absolutely honored and deeply grateful to the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo for this Epic Award," says Dr. Ying Zeng, senior director of WMU Asian Initiatives. 

"This recognition is not just for the team at WMU Asian Initiatives. It belongs to our partner organizations, student volunteers, family audiences, every community performer and all the collaborators who show up alongside us year after year."  

WMU Asian Initiatives received support for the Spring Gala last year from the Arts Fund of Kalamazoo County. The funds, managed by Arts Council, recognize community efforts to remove barriers, increase access and celebrate culturally vibrant and historically excluded communities.  

WMU Asian Initiatives grew from a desire to create more opportunities for the public to engage with Asian arts and cultures through firsthand experiences, says Zeng. What began with lectures, workshops and classroom visits expanded through partnerships with schools, libraries, cultural organizations and community groups.  

"The Spring Gala is truly the heart of our community work, and collaboration is the reason it succeeds," Zeng said.  

The gala has featured partnerships with organizations including the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Junior Symphony Orchestra, Kalamazoo Children's Chorus, Michigan Hiryu Daiko and other local arts groups. 

"I truly believe the arts are one of our most gentle and powerful tools for cross-cultural connection, because art speaks before words do," Zeng says. "When children create alongside peers from different backgrounds, they build curiosity instead of assumptions."  

The Community Arts Awards ceremony will take place Dec. 8. All are invited to the 2026 event at Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s Dale B. Lake Auditorium. The reception begins at 6:30 p.m. Early registration is encouraged.