The Asian Cultural Council supports cultural exchange between Asia and the United States in the performing and visual arts, primarily by providing individual fellowship grants to artists, scholars, students, and specialists from Asia for study, research, travel and creative work in the United States. Some grants are also awarded to Americans engaged in similar activities in Asia and to arts organizations and educational institutions for specific projects of particular significance to Asian-American cultural exchange. In addition, the Council awards a small number of grants in support of regional exchange activities within Asia.

The ACC’s geographic purview covers an extensive area of Asia ranging from Afghanistan to Japan. Because the Council’s grant funds are limited, however, priority consideration is currently being given to applicants from that area of Southeast and East Asia extending eastward from Burma through Japan.

Grants are made in the following fields: archaeology, architecture (design, theory, and history), art history, art and architectural conservation, crafts, dance, film, museology, music, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, theater, and video.

Asian Art and Religion Fellowship Program
This fellowship program focusing on the relationship between the artistic and religious traditions of Asia was established with an endowment gift from Laurance S. Rockefeller. The program enables American scholars, specialists, and artists to conduct research and undertake projects in Asia involving the interdisciplinary analysis of religion and the arts. The Council awards up to five research fellowships or travel grants each year through this program. Asian Art and Religion Fellowships have supported research in India on the iconography of Hindu deities, in Indonesia on the relationship between tantric religious thought and masked performance, and in Thailand on Buddhist architecture of northern Thailand.

Humanities Fellowship Program
Intended primarily to support American scholars and graduate students, the Council's Humanities Fellowship Program was initiated with a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and matching funds from The JDR 3rd Fund and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The program assists American scholars, doctoral students, and specialists in the humanities to undertake research, training, and study in Asia in the following fields: archaeology; conservation; museology; and the theory, history, and criticism of architecture, art, dance, film, music, photography, and theater. Fellowship grants range in duration from one to nine months. The program also supports American and Asian scholars participating in international conferences, exhibitions, visiting professorships, and similar projects.

Japan-United States Arts Program
The Japan-United States Arts Program of the ACC provides grants to individuals and institutions in Japan and the United States for exchange activities that encourage the study and understanding of Japanese art and culture. This program is made possible with funds contributed by the Seibu Saison Group and provided to the ACC through an endowment gift from the Japan Foundation. Since 1989, the Saison Foundation has contributed annual supplementary funding for the program, and additional support is provided through the ACC's Blanchette H. Rockefeller Fellowship Fund in Japan. Individual fellowship grants enable Japanese artists, scholars, and specialists to travel to the United States for research, observation, and creative work and allow their American counterparts to visit Japan for similar purposes. The Council also provides limited assistance for performances, exhibitions, and other projects of unusual importance for the development of Japanese-American cultural exchange. In 2005, the program supported thirteen individuals and fourteen institutional projects.

Philippines Fellowship Program
The Philippines Fellowship Program of the Asian Cultural Council was formally inaugurated in 2000 in association with the ACC Philippines Foundation, a new foundation established in Manila to collaborate with the ACC in raising funds and making grants for Philippines-U.S. cultural exchange. Through the ACC Philippines Foundation a range of donors in both countries are contributing to the Philippines Fellowship Program, which emphasizes support for artists, scholars, and specialists from the Philippines undertaking research, study, and creative work in the United States. Some grants are also made to Americans pursuing similar activities in the Philippines and to institutions engaged in Philippines-U.S. or Philippines-Asia exchange projects.