JANM Breaks Ground on Pavilion Construction

Editors please note: JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation; programs will continue on the JANM campus and at other locations at janm.org/OnTheGo. 

LOS ANGELES, CA – Today JANM launched an exciting new chapter with its groundbreaking ceremony that marks the start of construction for the Museum’s renovation and new core exhibition, In the Future We Call Now: Realities of Racism, Dreams of Democracy. The special event featured remarks from JANM’s leadership, a reception, and behind the scenes tours of JANM’s reimagined gallery spaces in the Pavilion.

“This is an epoch-defining moment for us. It feels as though we are now about to enter the next phase of where JANM is going to go in the future and I know that all of you will be with us every single step of the way,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.

Slated to open in 2026, In the Future We Call Now will draw on today’s technological advances and national discussion around race and democracy, as well as the Museum’s important collection of more than 160,000 objects, to reimagine the way it tells the stories of Japanese Americans from the early days of immigration in the mid-1800s through World War II to today. The exhibition’s title, taken from writer traci kato-kiriyama’s latest book, reflects the complexity, urgency, and universality of the Japanese American story. 

In the Future We Call Now is supported in whole by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library. Support for the renovation is part of JANM’s $85 million campaign that is backed by over 12,500 Members, donors, foundations, and corporations throughout the nation and abroad, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis’s recent gift of $100,000.

“This project will enhance our ability to pursue JANM’s mission and to use our voice to promote understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the journey, struggles, and successes of the Japanese American community,” said William T Fujioka, JANM Board of Trustees Chair. 

The Pavilion groundbreaking ceremony was sponsored by Aquamar and More Than Flour. 

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a center for civil rights, ensuring that the hard-fought lessons of the World War II incarceration are not forgotten. A Smithsonian Affiliate and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories. JANM is a center for the arts as well as history. It provides a voice for Japanese Americans and a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over one hundred exhibitions onsite while traveling forty exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation; programs will continue on the JANM campus, throughout Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, and Southern California, and beyond from early January 2025 through late 2026. For more information, visit janm.org/OnTheGo or follow us on social media @jamuseum.