Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, DVAN Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network Our aim is to promote artists from the Vietnamese diaspora whose work in literature, visual art, film, and performance art enriches our communities and strengthens ties between Vietnamese across the globe. We undertake to support this body of work through cultural events, exhibits, conferences and publications that explore the connections between art and society. Unlike other Vietnamese art organizations, this organization is international in scope. It provides resources and promotes the works of Vietnamese artists in the United States, France, Canada, and Australia in particular, as these countries host the largest Vietnamese communities overseas. It also includes artists who have returned to Viet Nam and produce from that location. Our Advisory Board and Advisory Committee are constituted of academics, organizers and artists in the United States and in Viet Nam. All of us have ample organizing experience promoting literature, films and/or visual art. Our goal is to move beyond the boundaries of national identities and alleviate the pressures imposed by the institutionalization of art and the publishing or movie industries, which often showcase, for example, certain representations of identity over others. In implementing this objective, we will not privilege the work of art over the production of academic knowledge, or vice versa. We believe that theory and practice do not have to be opposed but rather, can be engaged in a dynamic formation of culture. In fact, most of our Board members are practitioners as well as scholars, which further sets our organization apart from other organizations in our particular emphasis on the fusion of criticism and creativity. Our primary concern is thus to create a space of support that contributes to an increased visibility and understanding of Vietnamese diasporic art, to move its social location from the margin to an international center, and to facilitate self-expressions in ways that are not restricted by external expectations and pressures, as, for instance, the constant pressure to discuss the trauma of war and displacement.