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GREAT LEAP : INFO : ABOUT US
About Great Leap, Inc.Great Leap is a non-profit performing arts organization dedicated to the principle of deepening race relations and promoting harmony between the diverse cultural groups of America. Founded in 1978 by artistic director, Nobuko Miyamoto, Great Leap’s mission is to create, present and produce works that give expression to the multicultural experience through performances and workshops. Great Leap has been a pioneering organization for 22 years, rooted in the Asian American community, reaching nationwide audiences of 50,000 people each year. Committed to reaching youth, we have worked with Upward Bound for 5 years to develop an intensive “Arts and Yoga for Youth” residency program for at-risk youth and in the youth detention camps. Great Leap is named as a “Promising Practice” on the President’s Initiative on Race, and received the President’s Award from the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission. Great Leap’s previous stage works include “Chop Suey,” “Best of Both Worlds,” “Talk Story,” “Talk Story-2,” "Joanne is My Middle Name,” and “A Slice of Rice.” Several of our films and videos, such as “Gaman” and “Arts Alive” video have been distributed through educational media organizations for cable and public broadcasting television stations. Great Leap also collaborates with Bindu Records to produce CDs and children’s products. “A Slice of Rice, Frijoles and Greens” is a fun-filled mix of contemporary stories that give expression to the Asian, Latino, African and Deaf American experience and has become our most popular touring production for children and adults. In 2000, our national touring schedule includes colleges such as UCLA, University of Michigan, University of Texas, Indiana University and University of Nebraska. Locally, we tour children’s shows to schools throughout Southern California through the Music Center on Tour, and will produce an exclusive two-week engagement at East West Players in Little Tokyo in September 2000. Nobuko Miyamoto’s one-woman show, “A Grain of Sand,” is a multi-media piece about finding one’s voice. It is a historical chronicle of the Asian American movement in the from the 60s to the 90s, crossing borders into the Latino, African and Native American communities. Since 1997, we have also been touring the “A Grain of Sand Reunion Concert” original music from the 1973 album recorded by Nobuko, Charlie Chin and Chris Iijima. “To All Relations” is part of a residency project featuring concerts of global rhythms, storytelling, song and dance. This event has been successfully produced at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, Japan America Theatre, CSUN, Pomona College, and Senshin Buddhist Temple as part of the World Festival of Sacred Music. In 2000, Great Leap produced “To All Relations 2000” a three-week residency as part of the Connecting Communities project presented by ASU Public Events at Arizona State University. Other residency projects include an Obon Japanese folk dance project with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange at the Skirball Museum in 2001, the American Theatre Festival Project at Appalshop and with the New WORLD Theater in Massachusetts. Great Leap is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, City of Los Angeles, Cultural Affairs Department and Edison International, as well as many other generous donors and funders. For more information about Great Leap, please call (310) 264-6696. |
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