Think!Chinatown's Chinatown Arts Festival, now in its ninth year, has one week left, and the nonprofit has packed it with free and donation-based events: a jazz score for a 1916 silent film, a story slam, a bilingual swing dance night in Sara D. Roosevelt Park, a traditional Chinese dance class, and a closing party on October 27 where its annual mooncake tin art show opens.

The festival started October 9. Its curators, Yin Kong, Amy Chin and Ling Tang, built it to put Chinatown folk artists side by side with emerging Asian American artists, and to point audiences to cultural events run by other neighborhood groups. Earlier weeks brought a Min (Fuzhounese) opera to Sara D. Roosevelt Park, a variety show on Pell Street and dough figurine workshops at the Think!Chinatown studio. Here is what remains.

Tuesday, October 20: a silent film with a live jazz score

Composer, saxophonist and singer Stephanie Chou leads a jazz quintet with erhu player Andy Lin from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Elizabeth Street Garden, on Elizabeth Street between Prince and Spring Streets. The first set is jazz arrangements of Chinese folk songs and Chou's own compositions. Then the band plays a live score for The Curse of Quon Gwon, a 33-minute silent film directed by Marion E. Wong in 1916. Think!Chinatown describes it as the earliest known Chinese American feature film, partly lost, and one of the first films directed by a woman in the United States. The story follows a Chinese family in America who are cursed for becoming too westernized. The event is free and outdoors; organizers ask people to sign up so they get updates if weather forces a change.

Wednesday, October 21: Code-Switch Story Slam

Vietnamese Boat People, a nonprofit founded in 2018 that collects and shares stories of the Vietnamese diaspora, brings its seventh annual Story Slam to the Think!Chinatown studio at 1 Pike Street from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Five storytellers, chosen through an open call, will perform live on this year's theme, code-switching. Entry is by RSVP with a donation.

Saturday, October 24: Chinatown Swing Out

The festival's second headline event takes over the area known as The Pit in Sara D. Roosevelt Park at Broome Street (135 Forsyth Street) from 6 to 9:30 p.m. It opens with a swing dance class at 6 p.m. taught in both Mandarin and English, then a practice set from DJ YiuYiu of Chinatown Records. At 7:30 p.m., a jazz band led by pianist and violinist Victor Lin takes the stage with vocalist Annie YuRong Yu, whose repertoire runs from traditional Chinese songs to Chinese pop standards and who has performed at Flushing Town Hall and the Flushing Library. Instructors will also give a dance demonstration. The night is part of Nights in Sara Roosevelt Park, a free evening series from FABnyc (Fourth Arts Block). It is free; RSVP on the Think!Chinatown site.

Sunday, October 25: open dance class with Red Silk Dancers

Dance teacher Margaret Yuen leads a free traditional Chinese dance class from 2 to 3 p.m. at the volleyball courts at the north end of Seward Park, near Essex Street. Participants warm up, move to music and learn to use traditional props like ribbons and fans, and the Red Silk Dancers will perform a short piece. No experience is needed. RSVP is free.

Tuesday, October 27: closing party and MOONSquare

The festival wraps up from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Think!Chinatown studio, 1 Pike Street, with drinks, desserts, a live doodle jam with artists and a sing-along DJ set from Chinatown Records. The party also opens MOONSquare, the nonprofit's yearly open-call group show in which community members turn empty mooncake tins into artwork. The tins are offered in an auction, and the party is the first chance to see them and bid. The evening also looks ahead to Think!Chinatown's 10th birthday. Entry is by RSVP with a donation.

About Think!Chinatown

Think!Chinatown is a nonprofit focused on arts, storytelling and neighborhood engagement in Manhattan's Chinatown. Besides the arts festival, it runs Chinatown Nights (formerly the Chinatown Night Market), the Chinatown Block Party and the Chinatown Storytelling Festival. Its studio at 1 Pike Street hosts exhibitions, cultural and food workshops, small performances and talks.

Getting there

The Think!Chinatown studio at 1 Pike Street is near the F train at East Broadway, which also serves Seward Park. For Sara D. Roosevelt Park at Broome Street, take the B or D to Grand Street or the J or Z to Bowery. Elizabeth Street Garden is closest to the 6 at Spring Street. Sign-up links for every event are on the Think!Chinatown happenings page.

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