New York – Committee of 100 will honor filmmaker Ang Lee, Serica Initiative founder Anla Cheng, and three national organizations – the American Civil Liberties Union, APIAVote and the Philadelphia Orchestra – at its awards ceremony on Sept. 28, 2026 in Washington, D.C.
The ceremony is part of the Chinese American leadership organization’s 2026 gala, “Forging America’s Promise,” which coincides with the 250th anniversary of the United States. It’s the first major convening held under the new board chair, Janet Yang, the former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
“It’s a joy to honor two Chinese Americans who have contributed so powerfully and visibly to this country, as well as to thank organizations whose work in the courts, at the ballot box and on the concert stage has benefited our community and so many others,” Yang said.
Ang Lee will receive the Legacy Award, 遠 (Yuan), given to leaders and organizations whose far-reaching vision has an impact that extends well beyond their immediate field. Lee, born in Taiwan, became the first Asian director to win the Academy Award for Best Director for “Brokeback Mountain” in 2006, and won a second directing Oscar in 2013 for “Life of Pi,” the first 3D film to earn the award.
His 2000 film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film. The Directors Guild of America gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024. Over four decades, Lee’s films, including “The Wedding Banquet,” “Eat Drink Man Woman” and “Sense and Sensibility,” have built a body of work that moves fluidly between Chinese and American stories, helping open Hollywood to filmmakers telling both.
Anla Cheng will receive the Inspire Award, 啟 (Qi), given to innovators, entrepreneurs and pioneers who create what did not exist before. Cheng is founder, chair and chief executive of the Serica Initiative, an Emmy Award-winning nonprofit that advances the impact of the Asian diaspora in America through storytelling, mentorship and public events; in 2025 alone, it staged more than 45 events reaching over 2,000 attendees.
Before founding Serica, Cheng built a career in global finance at Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Robert Fleming, then founded the Asia-focused investment firm Centenium Capital Partners. She serves as a trustee of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and vice chair of both the Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific board and the China Institute, and has been a C100 member since 2005. She received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2023.
The ACLU, APIAVote and the Philadelphia Orchestra will together receive a special Impact Award, recognizing three organizations whose work has shaped the country in different but equally consequential ways.
- The ACLU represented plaintiffs in the successful Supreme Court challenge to a 2025 executive order restricting birthright citizenship, which the court struck down in June 2026; the organization also sued Florida over a state law restricting property ownership by Chinese nationals and other immigrants, and pressed the Justice Department to end its “China Initiative,” a program that investigated Chinese American scientists for alleged espionage before it was shut down in 2022.
- APIAVote, founded in 1996 and independent since 2007, is a nonpartisan organization that registers and mobilizes Asian American and Pacific Islander voters and trains AAPI civic leaders through its Norman Y. Mineta Leadership Institute; in the 2020 election, voters it reached turned out at 75%, 15 percentage points above the national average.
- The Philadelphia Orchestra became the first American orchestra to perform in China in 1973, at the invitation of Premier Zhou Enlai following President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit, and has returned 13 times since, more than any other American ensemble, most recently completing a tour marking the 50th anniversary of that first trip.
The awards will be presented by C100 members and other prominent Chinese American and Asian American individuals.
###
About Committee of 100
Committee of 100 empowers Chinese Americans and bridges America and China, leading with vision and purpose. For over 30 years, we have been the preeminent non-profit leadership organization of distinguished Chinese Americans, advancing full participation in American society and constructive U.S.-China relations through groundbreaking research, policy analysis, leadership development and civic engagement. Learn more at committee100.org.
Contact: Sam Jones, Communications Specialist, sjones@committee100.org
