Testimonials from clients, colleagues, and peers
“While Tran’s public art addresses social justice it is not mired in it as the sole message - her work also illuminates beauty, joy, and unity within community.”
CANDELARIA SILVA-COLLINS
Arts Consultant and Author
Photo by Loi Huynh
“A GIFTED FACILITATOR”
TOM LIVINGSTON
Owner, Livingston Associates
As Interim CEO in 2018-19 for the Association of Independents in Radio, I worked closely with and supervised Tran for several months. She is a natural leader (including a loyal team member and effective advocate for causes and people), powerfully mission-focused, is highly competent, and a quick study in just about everything we took on as a team. She is a great networker and focused project manager. On my first couple of days on the job, I sat in on a workshop Tran had organized for twenty diverse, emerging content producers.
Tran had managed the entire process, from recruiting and facilitating the selection of the fellows to organizing and facilitating the curriculum and training.
It was flawless (did I say she is a gifted facilitator?) During our time together, in the beginning, she was an invaluable guide as I got integrated into the place. I highly recommend Tran and look forward to watching her be successful at whatever she takes on.
“Tran's commitment to a genuine understanding and promoting of diversity, inclusion, and equity (…) is a constant.”
AN UONG
Writer & Editorial Strategist
I have worked with Tran for over two and a half years. We have collaborated closely on projects for AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, to serve independent producers and journalists nationally and internationally.
During her time as Program Director, Tran expanded all of AIR's core programs, training, and workshops to reach more people and offer more resources. After identifying key weaknesses in programming, Tran introduced changes and initiatives that have pushed our offerings to new levels.
She managed and continues to manage a host of contractors to bring AIR's training to life. Tran has handled projects with lots of moving parts, working in a timely manner to bring every aspect together smoothly despite logistical obstacles.
Now, as Deputy Director, Tran continues to grow AIR's programming while also focusing on bigger opportunities to serve AIR's membership. Tran is a rare person who has both the intuition for large vision and the structured resourcefulness to manifest her visions successfully.
As a manager, Tran leads with compassion yet sets tangible expectations and goals for her reports. Her communication is always clear, and she approaches constructive criticism from a place of support. She is unafraid to take risks, though knows how to calculate outcomes and takes necessary precautions.
Tran's background as an artist and community organizer come through in the office as she combines those skillsets with her handling of large-scale projects.
Most importantly, Tran's commitment to a genuine understanding and promoting of diversity, inclusion, and equity (not just in the workplace but in the arts/nonprofit/public media landscape as a whole) is a constant.
She drives meaningful conversation about making our environment and ecosystem more accessible and equitable for underrepresented voices, and continues to work toward that goal with every project that she takes on.
“Tran has a talent for asking critical questions through art and for applying her experiences and knowledge to collaboratively teach others.”
BRAD TONEY
Area Coordinator, University of Alabama
Tran and I shared many classes together during our time at Brown and both served as Minority Peer Counselors during our sophomore year. I was humbled by how Tran indiscriminately gave back to both the Brown and Providence communities without losing her ability to be compassionate towards sometimes conflicting priorities from multiple community representatives and leaders.
I still continue to witness Tran apply her interest in community development to expand her own leadership talents and find nuanced ways to use visual and written arts to assist in the creation of spaces for collaboration and dialogue that may not have previously existed.
Tran has thoughtful bravery in tying histories of injustice with modern political movements to illuminate the possibilities of how systems can improve. Tran’s style of boundary-breaking relies on leading with questions followed by a willingness to try something different. This non-intrusive approach helped me to find my own artistic voice in college and by extension, it helped to foster a unique environment of warmth and critical reflection.
One of the best applications of this talent was seen during our senior year when Tran was one of the student organizers of an intensive 4-day orientation program for incoming freshmen that gets Brown’s community to dialogue about often difficult topics surrounding identity expression and belief formation.
Tran has a talent for asking critical questions through art and for applying her experiences and knowledge to collaboratively teach others.
“I would recommend Ngoc-Tran and her leadership skills to any position without fail.”
DANIEL WOODRIDGE, MD, MPH, MS
Faculty, UC San Francisco - UC Berkeley Joint Medical Program
Ngoc-Tran is a focused leader and amicable supervisor. Her leadership skills shined as TWTP Coordinator as she made each member of our group feel welcome and empowered behind the overall mission of Brown University's Third World Center.
I would recommend Ngoc-Tran and her leadership skills to any position without fail.
“Tran is someone who grounds us in the present with an opportunity to remember where we have come from and to envision our next steps forward.”
TOSHI REAGON
Musician, Producer, Curator
Ngoc-Tran Vu is a multi-disciplinary artist, organizer, gatherer, and producer. Our paths crossed at a meeting for artists participating in the ParablePath Boston residency in collaboration with ArtsEmerson. This is a path I initiated to travel alongside and around the opera Octavia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower which I co- created and composed. Tran is connecting all of the fluid lines between her many skill sets. I imagine that she can be specific in each area. When she communicates you feel the motion of her wings stirring the air. The past. The future. The what we don't know yet. Tran is someone who grounds us in the present with an opportunity to remember where we have come from and to envision our next steps forward.
“Tran is capable, diligent, disciplined, and committed to the work she does as an artist and social justice advocate. Every project that she has taken on, she has completed.”
CANDELARIA SILVA-COLLINS
Arts Consultant and Author
Photo by Isabell Scheithauer
“Tran, being a socially engaged, community-connected artist, brings authenticity and complexity into her art and cultural storytelling as well as makes her programs inclusive and approachable to our diverse participants. I enjoy working with Tran and am looking forward to more future collaboration opportunities!”
AKEMI CHAYAMA
Japan Program Manager, Boston Children’s Museum
Photo by Heather Henriksen