Woman on Top

Josie Natori shares her thoughts and feelings as the new chairperson of the Asian Cultural Council

- Chit L Lijauco

For 60 years before 2023, the Asian Cultural Council, a revered institution for cultural exchange, has had only three chairpersons. The first was Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller, the wife of the founder, John D Rockefeller III; Elizabeth McCormack, a former nun and trusted friend of Blanchette, who headed the Rockefeller family’s Philanthropic Office; and Wendy O’Neill, grandniece of JDR III.

This year, however, the ACC did a first. When it elected its fourth chairperson, it chose a Filipina with no familial ties to the Rockefellers. The announcement read: “We are pleased to announce that Josie Cruz Natori was elected Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Asian Cultural Council at our May Board meeting.”

The ACC started in 1963 as the Asian Cultural Program established by JDR III “to support cultural exchange in Asia and the United States through grants to individuals and organisations working in the visual and performing arts”. It was managed mainly by a founding director. After JDR lII’s death in 1978, the ACP became the Asian Cultural Council, a nonprofit foundation that would continue the founder’s vision. A board of trustees, led by the chairman, was put in place.