ENRICH.
EDUCATE.
ENTERTAIN.
Our Mission
Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to fulfill our core tenets to Enrich, Educate, Entertain and promote the importance of cultural performing arts to youth and adults in our community. Over the past era we have aspired to empower and strengthen our youth by offering them an opportunity to learn, study and experience the history, movement and beauty of African Diasporic dance, music and culture at its highest level. Our programs are designed to ensure that our youth understand the roots and value of culture in the arts, which we hope will inspire and propel them to become strong leaders capable of preserving and elevating our culture and communities in the future.
Our Mission
Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to fulfill our core tenets to Enrich, Educate, Entertain and promote the importance of cultural performing arts to youth and adults in our community. Over the past era we have aspired to empower and strengthen our youth by offering them an opportunity to learn, study and experience the history, movement and beauty of African Diasporic dance, music and culture at its highest level. Our programs are designed to ensure that our youth understand the roots and value of culture in the arts, which we hope will inspire and propel them to become strong leaders capable of preserving and elevating our culture and communities in the future.
A letter from Our Executive Director:
We’re proud to announce our milestone 25th Anniversary celebration, (2026-2027) themed “We Strive to Thrive.” Over the past two and half decades our Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn based nonprofit organization, Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation has been dedicated to preserving and promoting African diasporic arts and culture through dance, music, educational programming to our youth and communities.
We have always believed in the power of art not only as performance, but as language, identity, and responsibility. We were inspired to create a space where young people find confidence. Where culture is not just a reference but is lived. Where creativity becomes a pathway, not an accessory.
Yao Ababio, my brother and a master Djembe drummer established Asase Yaa as a concert dance company that evolved into the award-winning Asase Yaa African American Dance Theater in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. About a year later, he asked me to join him. Together we created the Asase Yaa Entertainment Group, and I became its Executive Director. Yao has served as the Artistic Director of the dance company for the past 24 years.
We officially established our Asase as a foundation in 2012, and later as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Foundation in 2015. Under the Foundation’s umbrella and in addition to the African American Dance Theater, we have developed several additional core programs, Children’s Summer Arts Camp for youth 4-13, (2006) School of the Arts, (2011), Arts Outreach Program and Youth Ensemble, (2012) and the Asase Yaa Theater Company 2023). We have also hosted and produced multiple annual music, dance, and cultural events, including the Rhythms & Movements and Art Is Alive Festivals. This year we’ll host our 2nd Annual Dreams In Action Gala, which serves as our largest annual fundraising event, May 12, 2026. Please take time to browse through our website to get a more in-depth view of our programs, services, and history.
To all our artists, teachers, and staff, thank you for continually and unselfishly bringing your brilliance, discipline, and truth to everything we do. To our many supporters, partners and donors who have given and plan to give, we thank you. for investing in a vision that continues to grow. We sincerely appreciate The Howard Gillman Foundation, Con Edison, The Mosaic Fund, NYC Department Of Cultural Affairs, Council Member Chi Osse, NY State Assembly Member Stefani Zinnerman, and the Matisse Foundation for investing in our vision to continue our growth. Most importantly, we thank our community, families, and wider audience for being part of our living legacy. At its core, art is an exchange and we look forward to engaging in more exchanges with all of you.
As we embark on that chapter, we remain profoundly grateful to our African and African American ancestors for their inspiration and feel blessed to be able to enlighten and empower our youth with the beauty, excellence, and numerous ways that African and African American art and culture have historically influenced, shaped, and elevated contemporary culture worldwide.
We encourage and welcome you to experience our core live 25th Anniversary performance events throughout the year. Additionally, we hope you will consider donating to our ambitious fundraising initiative, $500,000, of which 35% has been raised. Your donation, whether small or large, will help us fulfill our commitment to expand our imprint in our communities, provide more exemplary education, and empower our youth with the tools they need to achieve artistic excellence.
As we honor our 25-year journey this year, let us be reminded of the simple, yet powerful truth: Culture moves. Art evolves. Legacy lives through people.
Sincerely,
-K. Osei Williams
Executive Director, Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation
ASASE YAA’S TOP 25TH ANNIVERSARY LEGACY ACHIEVEMENTS
EDUCATE
School of the Arts
CHILDREN’S ARTS CAMP
ARTS OUTREACH PROGRAM
Our School of the Arts Outreach Program is one of the most robust in-school cultural arts programs in the city. Over the past five years, we’ve served some 10,000 students and presented live performances and teaching residencies in over 100 schools (K – 12) throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.
ENTERTAIN
THE Asase Yaa AFRICAN AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
Our African American Dance Theater was the first US-based African dance company in history to be nominated for the highly-coveted Bessie Award for our production of the “Djembe in the New Millennium” (2014). In 2017, we shared our first Bessie Award with several other dance companies for our performance in Abdel Salaam’s play, “Healing Sevens,”which won for Outstanding Production. Since the inception of the Asaye Yaa African Dance Theater program we have self-produced and presented 18 original productions featuring dance and drums including our most recent production, “It Was All Dream” (2022). Over 1000 performers have graced our stages and we’ve collaborated with nearly two dozen of the most prestigious African dance companies in the nation. Many of our alumni have launched successful careers on Broadway and in other entertainment mediums, including actors Shahadi Wright-Joseph, Chinua Payne, and dancer/entertainer Vianka Winborne.
