Asia-Pacific Who, What, Why: Jo Tiongson-Perez

Through a Sachs Arts grant, Jo Tiongson-Perez of the Penn Museum co-authored a compilation of mostly Indigenous folktales from the Philippines.

Jo Tiongson-Perez, chief marketing and communications officer at the Penn Museum, knew plenty of Greek myths and Hans Christian Andersen fairytales—the kinds she would recall to her daughter at bedtime. But why, she eventually mused with college friend Denise Orosa, didn’t she know any Indigenous Filipino stories?

Tiongson-Perez, who grew up in Manila, now engages daily with themes of cultural heritage preservation and storytelling at the Penn Museum. So, after seeing a call for applications in 2020 from The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation, which issued a slew of responsive grants in support of Asian, Asian-American and Pacific Islander Artists at Penn, she decided she could leverage this background to make a difference.

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