Art & Action Benefit Dinner

Dian Dong is a 4th generation Chinese American and a proud New Yorker. In 2022, she was appointed as Artistic Director/Executive Director of Chen Dance Center, following the passing of her late husband H.T. Chen.

Ms. Dong graduated from The Juilliard School and danced professionally with companies in NYC before joining her husband in establishing Chen Dance Center. She attended the Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders-ARTS at Stanford Graduate School of Business, participated in the Kennedy Center’s Capacity Building Program led by Michael Kaiser, and helped lead Chen Dance Center through a series of expansion and renovation projects from 2009-2013.  

In the capacity of Education Director, Dian designs the education programs for CDC’s award-winning home based and residency programs. In 2021, she and H.T. developed a K-12 curriculum through Dance Education Lab for the NYC Dept of Education’s Tracing Footsteps Series titled Into the Heart of Chinatown – Hidden Voices.

Dian recently led the company through the restaging of company repertory, performances at the Ailey Theater, LaMaMa Theatre, touring to TN, MS, MA, CT, NJ, citywide in-school performances and follow-up workshops, and Early Childhood Dance classes at PS42M in Chinatown. In 2024, she received the Carmen DeLavallade Award presented by the New York Institute of Dance and Education.

Christine Toy Johnson is a Tony and Obie honored, Rosetta LeNoire, JACL, Actors’ Equity Foundation, and Asian American Arts Alliance award winning writer, actor, and advocate for inclusion. Her written work has been produced and/or developed by the Roundabout, Lortel, O’Neill, Abingdon, Greater Boston Stage, Florida Studio Theatre, Ars Nova, Barrow Group, Prospect, Weston Playhouse, Musical Theatre West, Goodspeed Opera House, and more, and is included in the Library of Congress’s Asian Pacific American Playwrights Collection. Published by NoPassport Press, Smith & Kraus, Rowman & Littlefield, Applause Books. Treasurer of the Dramatists Guild and host of the Guild’s podcast "Talkback" on Broadway Podcast Network. BMI, Writers Lab, Sarah Lawrence College alum, co-founder of AAPAC (Asian American Performers Action Coalition), founder of the Asian American Theatre Artists Collective, Inaugural Catalyst for Change fellowship through the Dramatists Guild Foundation. As an actor, Christine has appeared extensively on Broadway, Off-Broadway (“Shanghai Lils” with Pan Asian!), in regional theatres across the country and on television and film. Highlights include Season 2 of the Marvel/Netflix series “Iron Fist”, recurring as Linn Gaad on “The Americans”, as well as the First National/North American tour of “Come From Away”, the Broadway revival of “The Music Man”, the Guthrie, Williamstown, Huntington, Bucks County Playhouse. Insta/Threads: @CToyJ Details: www.christinetoyjohnson.com

George Takei is a civil rights activist, social media superstar, Grammy-nominated recording artist, New York Times bestselling author, and pioneering actor whose career has spanned six decades. He has appeared in more than 40 feature films and hundreds of television roles, most famously as Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek, and he has used his success as a platform to fight for social justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and marriage equality. His advocacy is personal: during World War II, Takei spent his childhood unjustly imprisoned in United States incarceration camps along with 125,000 other Japanese Americans.

He now serves as chair emeritus and a member of the Japanese American National Museum’s Board of Trustees. Takei served on the board of the Japan-United States Friendship Commission under President Bill Clinton, and, in 2004, was conferred with the Gold Rays with Rosette of the Order of the Rising Sun by the Emperor of Japan for his contribution to US-Japan relations.