About Me — Meena Malik

I was born and raised in Japan to a Japanese mother and Indian father. As a mixed-race child growing up in a homogenous culture, I faced discrimination often and struggled to find a sense of belonging within my own culture, which I adored. If I don’t belong to this place, then where do I really belong? This was the question I asked myself often. Growing up grappling with those issues, being bullied, and carrying loads of generational trauma on my shoulders without knowing, I became shy and unsure about myself. I lost a sense of love for myself.

When I entered high school, I joined choir. I was assigned to the Alto 1 section, where I was lucky enough to stand next to my idol, Kiyoko. Kiyoko had the most beautiful voice and I looked up to her. She told me that I had a nice voice and that I should think about trying out for the vocal ensemble, which was a smaller sized choral ensemble that admitted singers by audition. To my surprise, I got in and after that, I really started to discover my love for singing. Not only was I good at singing, but it was the first time I felt like I could truly express myself. Through the discovery of my physical voice, I was able to find my inner voice, confidence, and strength. It was then that I saw the impact art can make on someone’s life.

After high school, I immigrated to the United States to pursue my Bachelor’s degree and then a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance. After graduating, I sang opera with local organizations for several years while working in arts administration. As I hustled from gig to gig, I grappled with the antiquated, discriminatory practices that were prevalent in the field and also my own reasoning of why I decided to pursue this career, which made me perform in roles that didn’t resonate with me at all.

I co-founded a band with two of my close friends called Voci Angelica Trio. We perform international folk music arranged for two voices, cello, and percussion. In the 13 years we have been performing together, we have toured nationally and internationally, released two albums, and have performed our educational program at over 60 schools. We are currently working on our newest project, Immigrant Voices, which will feature stories and music from 28 immigrants to the U.S.

Eventually, I went back to school and received a Master’s in Arts Administration and found myself in orchestra management then in philanthropy. Currently, I am the Program Manager of Theater at the New England Foundation for the Arts, where I am energized daily by the innovative ways that devised ensemble theater artists are creating paths for themselves. I struggle with the limitations working within a field that is steeped in white supremacy culture, but I understand that I have a responsibility to the artists that I serve to strive towards implementing the most equitable grantmaking processes possible and to continue rigorous evaluation of our goals and values, so that it continues to align with the needs of the community that we serve.

As I started to go on a long and slow journey of discovering my own identity as a woman of color in this country, I became particularly interested in gathering folx to come together to explore ideas of identity in different ways and to think about how we can liberate ourselves from the current systems we operate in. I believe in the idea of interdependence and the power of the collective, and gatherings can be starting points for relationship building. I regularly organize, curate, and produce gatherings, whether it is identity-based or field-based, and I am constantly inspired by the ideas and energy that are created through discussions and art sharing at these gatherings. In recent years, I have organized Beyond Orientalism: The Boston Forum, co-founded the API (Asian Pacific Islander) Arts Network of Boston, curated the National Theater Project Regional Convenings, and co-produced a Women of the Color in the Arts Town Hall.

I am an alumna of the artEquity facilitator training and work as an arts consultant and facilitator independently and also through the Aspire Group in Los Angeles. I am deeply committed to anti-racism and anti-oppression as the core value and guiding principle of all work both personal and professional. My hope for our work together is to create movement towards our shared liberation. I want you to examine where your privileges lie through deep self reflection, then feel empowered to use that knowledge towards making transformative and long lasting changes both in your personal and professional lives. Wherever you are on this journey, I am excited to support you. The work towards liberation is not easy and oftentimes, not linear. Let’s continue on this path together with authenticity, with empathy, and with love.