Japanese American National Museum Receives $20 Million Gift from Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) is honored to announce that it has received a second transformative gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. The gift of $20 million is the largest single gift in JANM’s history and, like Scott’s donation of $10 million in 2021, is unrestricted, allowing the Museum to determine the best use of the funds at a pivotal moment for its future. 

“We are extraordinarily grateful to MacKenzie Scott for her historic vision and generosity. This remarkable gift comes as JANM is poised for a new and exciting future. We enter the new year with a reinvigorated commitment to our mission, stronger-than-ever support from the community, and great anticipation for a transformed Museum experience when we reopen in 2026. Her first gift of $10 million made it possible for JANM to expand our programming as well as to serve our community and reach new people throughout our current renovation. A validation of the importance of our mission and the impact of our programming, this new gift brings a unique opportunity for JANM to invest in its future, to attain a new level of financial stability, and to lean into its legacy as a keeper of history and a beacon of democracy and social justice,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.

“JANM was founded to ensure that the stories and legacy of our immigrant grandparents and parents would be preserved and shared, with the hope to prevent what happened to the Japanese American community during World War II from happening to any other group,” said William T Fujioka, JANM Board Chair. “This amazing gift will keep that vision alive and strengthen our voice and actions as a champion for social justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion for many years to come.”

Plans for the use of the funds are ongoing under the leadership of JANM’s Board and executive team.

While JANM’s Pavilion has been closed for renovation since January 2025, the Museum has continued to present a robust schedule of special exhibitions, public programs, family festivals, education programs, and more in its Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, throughout Los Angeles and Southern California, and across the US and Japan. These JANM on the Go programs have included the national tour of The Ireichō (the book of names containing over 125,000 people incarcerated in America’s concentration camps); the landmark exhibition Pictures of Belonging at Smithsonian American Art Museum; screenings of the acclaimed documentary film Third Act at film festivals nationwide; the popular exhibition Cruising J-Town: Behind the Wheel of the Nikkei Community at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, the national touring production of Defining Courage, and a pilot education program bringing lessons of Japanese American history into local classrooms. 

JANM’s ongoing renovation is the most significant change to its Pavilion since it opened in 1999. It includes an ambitious new core exhibition that will reimagine how it tells the stories of Japanese Americans. Other changes include an improved visitor experience and upgrades to JANM’s grand Aratani Central Hall, a relocated and updated Manabi and Sumi Hirasaki National Resource Center that includes dedicated space for interactive Storyfiles that use AI technology to allow visitors to hear the first-person stories of real World War II veterans and victims of the World War II incarceration; new classrooms; and necessary improvements to the Museum's environmental systems for the preservation of its significant collection for more than 160,000 artifacts and artworks. The Pavilion will reopen in late 2026.

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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.