Democracy Center Announces the 2025 Irene Yamamoto Arts Writers Fellows

Editors please note: JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation; programs will continue on the JANM campus and at other locations at janm.org/OnTheGo. 

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy (Democracy Center) has awarded the third annual Irene Yamamoto Arts Writers Fellowship to Heven Haile and Joyce Kwon, and the Jurors’ Award for Special Recognition to Syd Westley. 

A rare funding opportunity for arts writers, the annual Yamamoto Fellowship encourages diverse cultural and political perspectives that enrich and broaden arts writing as a practice and profession. The 2025 Fellowship recognizes two emerging writers of color who write critically about music. Each fellow will receive a $5,000 award to support their work over a six-month period.

Heven Haile (she/they) is a Brooklyn-based arts and culture critic. Currently, she is an editorial operations manager at GQ and Pitchfork. She loves all genres of music, but is particularly passionate about the works of Black queer individuals. Her work has been featured in GQ, Pitchfork, The New York Times, i_D, Reductress, and The Face. She received a BA in American Studies from Columbia University.

Joyce Kwon is a Los Angeles-based artist, traversing time and space with her bossa nova voice and traditional Korean gayageum to reclaim decolonized futures. In her multidisciplinary practice, she has blogged extensively about toilets and extramusical considerations in NYC jazz clubs and self-published a book to accompany her Jungian concept album, Orange Hour. She creates songs and writing that subvert linear modes of thinking, empowering audiences toward expansive discourse. Kwon’s recent work has been supported by the California Arts Council, New Music USA, and the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. She holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music and UC Berkeley.

Syd Westley (they/them) is a poet, critic, and artist living in Oakland, California. Their poems can be found in Berkeley Poetry Review, the Adroit Journal, Michigan Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. As an independent music critic, Westley has written over 700 album reviews at https://sydboyxxxmusic.blogspot.com. Their awards include a 2024 Djanikian Scholarship from the Adroit Journal, 3rd place in the 2021 Frontier Poetry New Voices Contest selected by Donika Kelly, and a 2019 Justin Chin Scholarship selected by Alexander Chee for Lambda Literary. Westley received their BA in Comparative Literature from Stanford University and an MFA in Poetry from Washington University in St. Louis.

The Irene Yamamoto Arts Writers Fellowship is made possible through a gift from Sharon Mizota to honor Irene Yamamoto. Yamamoto (1937–2020) was a lifelong lover of the arts. Born in Los Angeles, she was incarcerated with her family during World War II in Gila River, Arizona. Upon returning to Los Angeles, she attended UCLA and had a long career as a production artist for several design and advertising agencies. In her free time, Yamamoto loved to draw, learn new languages, visit museums, and travel. 
The Fellowship is also supported by Critical Minded, an initiative to invest in cultural critics of color cofounded by The Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Ford Foundation. More information on the Yamamoto Fellowship is available at janm.org/democracy/arts-writer-fellowship.

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About the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy (Democracy Center)

The Democracy Center is a place where visitors can examine the Asian American experience, past and present, and talk about race, identity, social justice, and the shaping of democracy. It convenes and educates people of all ages about democracy to transform attitudes, celebrate culture, and promote civic engagement; educates and informs the public and public officials about important issues; creates strength within and among communities to advocate for positive change; and explores the values that shape American democracy. The Democracy Center looks for solutions that engage communities in self-advocacy, explore the evolving idea of what it means to be an American, and result in actions that bring everyone together. JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation; Democracy Center programs will continue on the JANM campus, throughout Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Southern California, and beyond from early January 2025 through late 2026. For more information, visit janm.org/OnTheGo or follow us on social media @democracyjanm.