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Recent Development News
(October 2006)

Pacific Asia Museum Membership

Campaign for the Future
• Message from the Campaign Co-Chairs
• Campaign Goals: Enhancing Exhibitions and Education Programs
• Improving the Care and Use of the Collections
• Further Engaging the Community
• Donor Profile: Setsuko Oka
  
Other News
• Invitation to Join an Arts Council
• About Art Donations (Word doc:29k)
• Links to Other Institutions

Message from the Campaign Co-Chairs
"The Campaign for the Future has reached an impressive milestone" said Campaign Co-Chair Violet Ouyang. “To date $2.4 million has been received or pledged toward our goal of $4.2 million. This is a terrific tribute to our many supporters and their vision for the future of Pacific Asia Museum.”

Unlike many such endeavors, the Campaign is not for new construction but for securing the museum’s historic building and collections, and for expanding its reach in the community through engaging programs and exhibitions. “Excellence requires resources,” said Board Chair and Campaign Co-Chair George Brumder. “The Board of Trustees is committed to securing the creative mission of the museum and to providing an enduring legacy for future generations through the Campaign.”

The Campaign’s progress to date has been made possible through a group of key supporters. Gifts ranging from $1,000 to $300,000 have been received with major contributions coming from local and national foundations, the museum’s trustees and overseers, and many of the museum’s closest friends and supporters.

Opened in 1971, Pacific Asia Museum became a reality in large part because of a broad-based community effort and the encouragement and support of its early founders and benefactors. These supporters recognized the need for a museum exclusively dedicated to the arts of Asia and the Pacific Islands and to the preservation of Grace Nicholson’s role as a noted art collector, dealer and trend setter for the arts both in Southern California and nationwide.

The museum owes its existence to the hard work and dedication of so many people in the community who believe in the museum’s mission and see a bright future for the arts in our city. We invite you to join the growing list of donors who have already pledged their support to the Campaign for the Future.

Campaign Goals: Enhancing Exhibitions and Education Programs
To enhance its visitors’ experience, the museum will create more interactive and meaningful exhibitions and education programs.

Over the next several years, the permanent collections will be reinstalled in innovative and engaging ways that place the objects in their cultural, historical and aesthetic context. The first of the newly conceived galleries—the Gallery of Japanese Art— opened to the public on September 8, 2006. The presentation of the Japanese collection through rotating exhibitions now serves as the model for the reinstallation of the permanent collections throughout the galleries. The museum will also create new educational galleries.

• An Introduction to Asia gallery will introduce the museum’s collections, the cultures they represent, and themes that visitors will encounter throughout the galleries.
• The Student Gallery will be used once again for workshops and programs for students and other museum visitors.

Improving the Care and Use of the Collections
To preserve its nationally significant collections for future generations and enhance its capacity to borrow and display important works from other sources, the museum will ensure that its galleries and storage areas meet current professional standards for climate control, lighting, fire safety and security.

The museum will renovate and equip 3,200 square feet of its lowerlevel storage area, allowing the collection to be safely housed in an environmentally controlled area. These changes will increase storage capacity by 50% and give staff improved access to the collections for various needs, including exhibition development, loans, object conservation and photographing objects for the museum’s electronic catalogue database and on-line exhibitions.

In the galleries, new fixtures will allow light levels to be controlled according to current professional standards. The security system will also be significantly improved, and a new fire alarm system will be directly connected to the fire department.

Further Engaging the Community
To provide children, youth, families, adults, students and teachers with a richer understanding of Asian and Pacific Island cultures, to build bridges across cultures and to engage underserved communities, the museum will reach new audiences through:

• exhibitions that incorporate a variety of media and interactive components,
• enhancement of its award-winning website through new online exhibitions and education programs,
• increased outreach to the entire community, including seniors, non-English speaking children and adults, and lower-income families,
• new ties with the community through partnerships with schools, cultural and civic organizations that both engage new audiences and invite the community’s participation in the development of exhibitions and programs.

These efforts will also help to broaden the museum’s base of support, ensuring the financial viability of the institution well into the future.

Marcia Page, Deputy Director for Collections, and Rocio Hernandez, Getty Collections Intern, discuss a painting in the museum’s permanent collection by contemporary Chinese master Cui Zifan. Artwork: Cui Zifan (b. 1915), China, Ink and color on paper, Gift of Kevin G. Weis, 1992.47.1

Donor Profile: Setsuko Oka
Among the donors to the “quiet phase” of the Campaign for the Future are a number of members of a very special part of the museum family—the docents. Setsuko Oka became provisional docent in 1993 and after completing the vigorous training, she began leading student tours of the museum in 1994.

Setsuko, an educator by profession, has always had an interest in archaeology, anthropology and art, with a particular affinity for Japanese art. Her greatest travel experiences have been in museums all over the world, which she says are repositories for getting to know the people, history and culture of other countries. For her, Pacific Asia Museum is a wonderful resource for knowledge that students don’t get in the classroom. She is currently Chair of the Docents’ Educational Resources Committee, developing thematic tours that correlate the students’ experience in the museum with the curriculum that is being taught in classrooms today.

Some of her creative efforts as a docent were the educational exhibitions she and fellow docent Alice Stewart curated in the Student Gallery. These were designed to provide school groups with introductions to a succession of changing exhibits by illuminating the themes and cultural traditions behind the works of art in the exhibits. Disappointed when this space had to be converted to collections storage several years ago, she was reassured to learn that, as part of the Campaign, the Student Gallery will reopen as an interactive educational space in 2007.

Setsuko has contributed toward the renovation of the Gallery of Japanese Art and has committed her support for ongoing exhibitions and programs in the Gallery. The museum is proud and grateful to have her support.

Invitation to Join an Arts Council
Pacific Asia Museum’s Arts Councils are a great way to get involved with the museum and to contribute to the community. The members of the Arts Councils share an interest in the arts, cultures, and peoples of Asia and the Pacific Islands. The councils take trips to interesting places in and around Los Angeles, organize cultural programs at Pacific Asia Museum, and provide invaluable volunteer support and resources for special events.

For example, Japanese Arts Council is now assisting the curatorial staff with the Festival of Japanese Art & Style, and has been involved in planning the month-long series of events. Membership in one of the museum’s Arts Councils is just $25. You must also be a member of Pacific Asia Museum to join an Arts Council. There are eight active councils: Chinese, Japanese, Pakistan, Himalayan, Korean, Philippine, Myanmar, and Thai. Call the membership office today at ext. 37 to learn more about becoming a member of one of these essential Arts Councils!

Links to Other Institutions

Pacific Asia Museum Membership

Recent Development News (August 2006)
(May 2006)
(March 2006)
(January 2006)
(November 2005)
(September 2005)
(July 2005)
(May 2005)
(March 2005)
(January 2005)

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