Happy Family Night Market

Community / Culture & Heritage / Curation / Public

Happy Family Night Market is an annual, one-day festival in New York, which celebrates the Asian diaspora through food, art, music and education. I joined the team in 2019 as Food Curator, bringing together a diverse group of food vendors, from established restaurants to emerging chefs. The food programming sought to shed light on stories of migration and assimilation with Malaysian, Iranian, Iraqi, Afghan, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, Thai, Filipino, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese and Bengali flavors all represented. With almost 2000 attendees at its home in the Abrons Art Center, Lower East Side that year, the festival sought to deepen cross-cultural exchange and reimagine what it is to be Asian American through seven thoughtfully curated programs: a food and film festival, live and electronic music, workshops, panels, site-specific and participatory artworks and a makers marketplace.

Deepest gratitude to my happy family - our close-knit team of co-curators and directors - and an experience that challenged my understanding of, and deepened my connection to my own identity as an Australian-born Chinese woman.

A Happy Family Night Market is an annual, one-day festival celebrating the Asian diaspora through food, art, music and education. I joined the team as Food Curator, bringing together a diverse group of food vendors, from established restaurants to newcomers and emerging chefs. The food programming intended to shed light on stories of migration and assimilation with Malaysian, Iranian, Iraqi, Afghan, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, Thai, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese and Bengali flavors. With almost 2000 attendees at its home in the Abrons Art Center, Lower East Side that year, the festival sought to deepen cross-cultural exchange and reimagine what it is to be Asian American through seven thoughtfully curated programs: a food and film festival, live and electronic music, workshops, panels, site-specific and participatory artworks and a makers marketplace.

Deepest gratitude to my happy family - our close-knit team of co-curators and directors - and an experience that challenged and broadened my understanding of my own identity as an Australian-born Chinese woman.

Photos by Janice Lim, Stephan Yang and An Rong Xu.

Photos by Janice Lim, Stephan Yang and An Rong Xu