08/20/2026
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What does it mean to tell stories on our own terms?
Chinatown Media and Arts Collaborative (CMAC) was founded by six leading Asian American organizations in 2017 with the conviction that communities facing displacement and racism must have the ability to tell their own stories, on their own terms.
For 4 years, CMAC tested that vision through its first initiative, Edge on the Square (800 Grant Ave.), running programs on community-owned property that liberated narrative and land use, supported artists and cultural practitioners, and drew more than 40,000 visitors across annual festivals, exhibitions, and programming.
In 2026, CMAC announced the acquisition of the historic Empress of China building. Together, these two properties now anchor the first phase of the first community-owned integrated arts and cultural campus of its kind in the country, an unprecedented model for what self determination can look like ahead.
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