Events

FREE ALL DAY

Join us for a celebration of Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month and JANM’s exhibition, hapa.me – 15 years of the hapa project. Crafts, performances, storytelling, and other activities will explore themes of identity and personal heritage.

ALL DAY ACTIVITIES:

SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES

11:15 a.m.–12 p.m.: Storytelling Theater
Multicultural theater troupe We Tell Stories performs Proud to Be Me, a series of interactive stories geared toward reinforcing self-esteem. Reserved seating for members.

12:30 p.m.–1:30 p.m.: Poetry Writing Workshop
Spoken word artists and community organizers Stephanie Sajor and Eddy M. Gana, together known as Steady, will help you learn to express yourself through poetry.

1 p.m.–2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.–3:30 p.m.: Amy Tangerine Scrapbook Workshop
Create colorful pages that save and share your memories in this scrapbooking workshop with Amy Tangerine. Bringing photos from home is optional. Mini booklets will be supplied. Space is limited; please sign up at the information table. Reserved seating for members.

2 p.m.–2:30 p.m.: Improv with Cold Tofu
Enjoy a performance by Cold Tofu as they improvise scenes and games based on audience suggestions. Reserved seating for members.

3 p.m.–3:30 p.m.: Infinite Flow Dance
Infinite Flow – An Inclusive Dance Company and Infinite Flow Kids will perform and invite families to dance along with them. Reserved seating for members.

JANM Free Family Day: Identity, My-dentity is presented in partnership with Kizuna. American Sign Language interpreters will be present for select performances.

FREE

During and shortly after the US-Allied Occupation of Japan, the Japanese women who fraternized with soldiers often met opposition from their families and were shunned by other Japanese. Many mixed-raced children faced severe prejudice for being “impure” and born from the former enemy.

This symposium brings together various stakeholders to tell the stories of the war brides and their children. By focusing on the memories, realities, and legacies of this community, this groundbreaking gathering will create opportunities for listening, discussing, healing, and empowering attendees.

RSVPs are required using the link below. Click here for event schedule.

Presented in partnership with the Hapa Japan Project at USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture.

Join exhibition creator Kip Fulbeck for a gallery tour of hapa.me. Space is limited to 25 participants.

RSVP by July 3 using the link below. You can also contact memberevents@janm.org or 213.830.5646.

This historical drama is based on the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose 1958 arrest for interracial marriage in Virginia began a legal battle that would end with the Supreme Court’s historic 1967 decision that invalidated state anti-miscegenation laws.

Panel discussion to follow screening, moderated by hapa.me creator Kip Fulbeck and with panelists Ken Tanabe and Catherine Leung of Loving Day, the world’s largest network of multiethnic community celebrations. Tanabe is its founder.

Included with museum admission. RSVPs are recommended using the link below.

In the Tateuchi Democracy Forum

Members at the Sustaining level and above and VIPs are invited to preview hapa.me before it opens to the public. Program with light reception to follow. Invitations were mailed in March.

In this new exhibition, artist Kip Fulbeck continues his project, begun in 2001, of photographing persons who identify as “Hapa”—of mixed Asian/Pacific Islander descent—as a means of promoting awareness and positive acceptance of multiracial identity. hapa.me pairs the photographs and statements from the groundbreaking 2006 exhibition, kip fulbeck: part asian, 100% hapa, with contemporary portraits of the same individuals and newly written statements, showing not only their physical changes in the ensuing years, but also changes in their perspectives and outlooks on the world.

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

12 p.m.–2 p.m.: Mixed Spices Workshop
Join artist and community organizer Genevieve Erin O’Brien for her “Mixed Spices” workshop, in which she translates the ethnic and cultural heritages of mixed race people into unique flavor and spice combinations.

12 p.m.–2:30 p.m.: Portrait Drawing
Draw a portrait of yourself that represents your unique identity.

12 p.m.–3 p.m.: Multiracial Coloring Projects with MASC
Take part in multiracial coloring projects hosted by Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC). MASC creates activities and designs programs to educate, advocate for, and promote social justice for the multiracial community and to increase awareness and understanding about multiracial/multiethnic issues.

12 p.m.–3 p.m.: Mixed Marrow
Learn about the need for bone marrow and blood cell donors of mixed races from Mixed Marrow, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding such donors for patients of multiethnic descent.

12 p.m.–5 p.m.: hapa.me Gallery Activity
Become a part of hapa.me by having your portrait taken with our instant camera in the exhibition gallery. Write a statement describing how you identify yourself and then add the photo and your words to the gallery walls. (Note that this activity will be available every Saturday, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m., while supplies last.)

12:15 p.m.–12:45 p.m.: Performance by Summer Swee-Singh
Enjoy a performance by pianist Summer Swee-Singh, who is featured in hapa.me. Reserved seating for members.

1 p.m.–1:30 p.m.: Velina Hasu Houston Reading
Be moved by Velina Hasu Houston as she reads excerpts from her plays and a selection of her poems about mixed heritage identity. Houston is an internationally celebrated writer with more than 24 commissions in theater and opera. She is also resident playwright at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. Reserved seating for members.

1 p.m.–3 p.m.: Airbrush Tattoos
Get an airbrush tattoo that helps express who you are. Provided by Party Face Magic. Express line for members.

2:30 p.m.–2:50 p.m.: Performance by Travis Atreo
Pop singer Travis Atreo will perform a mix of original music and cover songs. Reserved seating for members.

3 p.m.: hapa.me Program
Listen to exhibition creator Kip Fulbeck as he talks about The Hapa Project and hapa.me. His remarks will be followed by a lively discussion with several individuals Fulbeck has photographed for The Hapa Project. Also participating will be three of the hapa luminaries who contributed essays to the exhibition catalog: Velina Hasu Houston; Cindy Nakashima, who has researched, written on, and taught about mixed race for over 30 years; and Paul Spickard, a UC Santa Barbara professor who has written 20 books on race and ethnicity.

4 p.m.: hapa.me Catalog Signing
Get your hapa.me catalog signed by Fulbeck, catalog essay contributors, and portrait subjects. Catalogs will be available at the JANM Store.

All activities are included with museum admission. Check back for updates.

In the George & Sakaye Aratani Central Hall

In conjunction with JANM’s hapa.me – 15 years of the hapa project exhibition, scholar Richard Keao NeSmith will discuss the origins and evolution of the word hapa, the Hawaiian interpretation of the English word “half.” His talk will address varying perspectives on who is hapa, who can or should rightfully use the term, and what linguists call the etymological process of conversion.

NeSmith has written an essay included in the hapa.me catalog (available at the JANM Store after April 7); he will sign copies following the program.

Included with museum admission. RSVPs are recommended using the link below.