From the Director: Jack Garrity, Asia Society Washington
Welcome to Asia Society in Washington.
We had an active year in 2008-09, punctuated by the transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration at mid-year. Asia Society highlighted the occasion with an Inaugural Gala in January, which honored the role that Asian Americans have played in the political process. It was a successful event that included many, notable government, congressional, and diplomatic figures among an overflow crowd of more than 400 people, who greatly enjoyed the company of President Obama’s sister Maya Soetoro-Ng and her husband Konrad Ng, as well as Ambassador Holbrooke, Congressman Honda, and many other dignitaries.
In June we hosted our 22nd Annual Awards Dinner honoring Secretary of Energy Steven Chu; Seung-Yu Kim, Chairman and CEO of Hana Financial Group; architect I. M. Pei; and John Wood, founder of Room to Read. More than 350 guests attended the event held at The Fairmont Washington, which brought together distinguished guests including Senator Dianne Feinstein, Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, Richard Holbrooke, Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Jim Wolfensohn, former head of the World Bank, and a host of diplomats and dignitaries from around the world.
Since January 2009, Asia Society has held over 40 policy, business, environment, education, and cultural events in Washington. Notable winter and spring events included luncheons with Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, and Thai Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij; a discussion with executives of Roshan Telecom, the largest telecommunications provider in Afghanistan; three Asia Society taskforce report launches on Capitol Hill including: US-China Cooperation on Climate Change and Energy; A Strategy for Stabilizing Afghanistan and Pakistan; and Water Security in Asia.
We also hosted the Asian Development Outlook report with Asian Development Bank Acting Chief Economist Jong-Wha Lee; and an update on the state of India’s media with new Washington Post Managing Editor Raju Narisetti. In June, as part of the Asia-Pacific Strategic Challenges Series, we organized a program for Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, who discussed recent developments in US-Asia relations based on his recent trip to Asia,. A few weeks later we hosted a luncheon for David Kilcullen, Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor to General David Petraeus in Iraq, the noted counter insurgency specialist and author of The Accidental Guerrilla.
We also held several book discussions with notable authors, including journalist Pico Iyer, who discussed the Dalai Lama’s life with former NPR correspondent Eric Weiner; Liaquat Ahamed, who discussed his book on the global economy; journalist Ahmed Rashid, author of Descent into Chaos; and Anil K. Gupta, author of Getting India and China Right. In May we continued our successful Indian concert series with a performance by Grammy award-winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. In June we hosted a sold-out Vietnamese dinner with Bravo channel’s “Top Chef” Hung Huynh.
Our series for Young Professionals continued with a “diplomatic dialogue” with the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indian Embassy, Ambassador Arun K. Singh, a “Bringing Everyone to the Table” dinner focused on several hot-button issues, and a couple of lively happy hours.
In other news, we finalized our Memorandum of Understanding with the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler Galleries of Art and look forward to working with them on film screenings, performances, discussions, and young professionals’ events. Additionally, we are in the final stages of preparing for an office move in September to the Women’s National Democratic Club building in Dupont Circle. This should reduce our rent cost considerably and provide a new home for Asia Society’s future programs.
We started another busy year in September, as the Obama administration got into full swing and economic, political, and military issues across Asia continued to be on the forefront of the American policy agenda.
Please join us and get a deeper understanding of the culture, issues, and people behind the increasingly important activities among Asian countries, as well as the critical drivers of ongoing U.S. - Asian relations.
Best regards,
Jack Garrity
Executive Director
Asia Society Washington, DC