Kayla Kim Votapek
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김난주
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Kayla Kim Votapek • 김난주 •
Kayla Kim Votapek 김난주
She/Her/Her | Korean American Adoptee
Multidisciplinary Artist, Consultant, and Creative Producer
Website: www.kaylakimvotapek.com/
About the Artist
Kayla Kim Votapek (김난주) is a Korean American adoptee whose life and work are shaped by the in-between, navigating cultural duality, transnational experiences, and the complexities of belonging. She embraces liminality not as a place of confusion but as a fertile ground for creativity, healing, and transformation. A multidisciplinary and multi-passionate visionary, Kayla leads with authenticity, deep-rooted values, and a commitment to radical love.
The Work
Kayla’s practice is rooted in storytelling across multiple forms, including dance, writing, producing, facilitation, and community building. She is the founder of In;Between Artistry LLC, a consulting and healing space dedicated to exploring identity, artistry, and belonging, and Scene | Unseen, an arts culture built on collective imagination and bold expression. Her work includes anti-racist consulting, facilitating affinity spaces for adoptees and mixed-race communities, and creating platforms that amplify marginalized voices in the arts.
Her leadership has been shaped by experiences ranging from organizing the Central for Change Walkout at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London to co-leading national calls to action with the Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists (CAATA). She has worked with organizations such as Theatre Communications Group, The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Equity Quotient, Crossroads Theatre Company, and artEquity, among many others.
Kayla’s artistry also reflects her personal journey of reclamation. In 2021, she returned to South Korea to explore racial joy, ancestral memory, and belonging, experiences that continue to inform her practice as a dancer, storyteller, and cultural worker. Now based in NJ/NYC, she serves as Executive Director of CAATA while developing interdisciplinary projects that reimagine art as a space for wholeness, justice, and collective liberation.
Why It Matters
Kayla’s work is a love letter to embrace complexity, to honor lineage, and to see the in-between as a place of possibility. She reminds us that art is not separate from healing, that identity is not something to prove but something to embody, and that collective imagination can build cultures of care.
At Scene | Unseen, we honor her as a founder, leader, and artist whose vision makes space for others to be fully seen, fully heard, and fully human.
Kayla Kim Votapek’s Work
Medium, 나에게 (Dear Self)
Arts Blog, American for the Arts, If You Aren’t Including The AAPI* Experience Within Your Anti-Racism Efforts, Are You Truly Practicing Anti-Racism?
LinkedIn, A Love Letter to Everyone Who is Struggling During The COVID-19 Crisis
Vital Voices & Vision: New Jersey Arts and Culture Administrators of Color Blog Series, Heart Family: How A Group of Theatre Artists Can Give You a Sense of Belonging
Medium, Why Some Adoptees Have Mixed Feelings on Their Birthday
Medium, Hiraeth: homesickness for a home to which you cannot return; a home which maybe never was
Medium, Identity: Who You Are. Where You Belong. How You Are Unique But Still Fit In.