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

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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. 

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“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.

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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.

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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.

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The Hard-Won Beauty of Staying Put 

Artists as Catalysts

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Beyond Incarceration

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Civic Engagement

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Evolving Higher Education

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Expanding Public Knowledge

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Monuments and Memory

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Multivocality

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Power of the Word

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Public Places‚ Public Stories

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Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

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University Everywhere

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History

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