View source for Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

{{Short description|Asian Pacific American museum}}
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2014}}
The '''Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center''' (APAC) is a migratory museum that shares [[Asian Pacific American]]  history, art, and culture through innovative museum experiences online and throughout the U.S through the [[Smithsonian Institution]]'s work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.si.edu/unit/asian-pacific-american-center|title=Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center|website=Smithsonian Institution|language=en|access-date=2019-05-05}}</ref> The center was established in 1997 and does not feature a museum building for public display; instead, the institution manifests its work through community engagement.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://smithsonianapa.org/|title=Home|last=Center|first=Smithsonian Asian Pacific American|website=Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-31}}</ref>

Through exhibitions, programs, research, and collaboration, the APA Center seeks to improve the public's appreciation of the roles of APAs in the history of the nation and empower APA communities by increasing their sense of inclusion into the national culture.  The center has provided leadership, vision, and support for APA activities at the Smithsonian and has also served as the Smithsonian's liaison to APA communities.  The center's founding director, Dr. [[Franklin Odo]], retired in January 2010. Konrad Ng served as director from 2011 to 2015. [[Lisa Sasaki]] was appointed director in November 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/smithsonian-s-asian-pacific-american-center-names-new-director-n666681|title=Smithsonian's Asian Pacific American Center Names New Director|work=NBC News|access-date=2017-05-26|language=en}}</ref>
{{ad|date=January 2025}}
== History ==
In 1997, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center established an advisory group headed by [[Norman Y. Mineta]] with a mandate to research, deliberate, and then report to Secretary [[Ira Michael Heyman|I. Michael Heyman]] on the Institution's ability to increase and diffuse knowledge about the nation's richly diverse APA communities.

The Asian Pacific American National Advisory Group's final report, released in June 1998, called for the creation of a program for Asian Pacific American Studies. This central program would provide vision, leadership, and support for all APA activities at the Smithsonian, while serving as a liaison to APA communities.

The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center has had significant impact on how the Smithsonian, the world’s largest museum complex, is evolving to better reflect the diversity of our nation of immigrants and indigenous peoples. Since its inception, the Smithsonian’s APA Program has sponsored more than a dozen successful exhibitions featuring Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Indian and Vietnamese Americans, to name a few ethnic groups.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/1006/odo.html|title=Asian American Studies Pioneer (June 2010) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin|website=www.loc.gov|access-date=2019-05-05}}</ref>

In 2017, the institution published the "Culture Lab Manifesto," which highlights its mission to provide a glimpse into "experiential friction between guests and hosts, history and future."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/142894/culture-lab-manifesto|title=Culture Lab Manifesto by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center|last=Magazine|first=Poetry|date=2019-10-31|website=Poetry Foundation|language=en|access-date=2019-10-31}}</ref> There have been three Culture Labs to date in 2019.

== Exhibitions==
* 'Ae Kai: A Culture Lab on Convergence
* CrossLines: A Culture Lab on Intersectionality 
* CTRL+ALT: A Culture Lab on Imagined Futures 
* Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation 
* I Want the Wide American Earth: An Asian Pacific American Story 
* Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter
* Sweet and Sour
* Singgalot: The Ties that Bind
* Exit Saigon, Enter Little Saigon
* Creating Hawaii
* Barriers to Bridges
* Gliding to Golden Vistory—Apolo Ohno's skates
* Japanese American Pioneers of the Jet Age
* Through my Father's Eyes
* Miracle under the Waves
* Do-Ho Suh's Staircase IV
* Dreams and Reality
* A More Perfection Union
* Kaho'olawe: Ke Aloha Kupa'a I Ka'Aina
* On Gold Mountain
* Gateway to Gold Mountain
* Fly to Freedom
* From Bento to Mixed Plate
* Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond

== Staff ==
* Director: Yao-Fen You (interim)
* Curator of Digital & Emerging Media: Adriel Luis
* Curator of Asian Pacific American Studies: Lawrence-Minh Búi Davis
* Curator of Hawai’i and the Pacific: Kālewa Correa
* Director of External Affairs and Strategic Partnerships: Rick H. Lee
* Director of Advancement: Jessica Skinner
* Director of Operations: JoAnn Nasser
* Director of Education: Andrea Kim Neighbors
* Administrative Officer: Marie Sicola
* Education Specialist: Mia Cariello
* Advancement Associate: Emily Caldwell 

== References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.apa.si.edu Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center]
* {{Twitter|name=SmithsonianAPA}}

{{Smithsonian museums}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1997 establishments in the United States]]
[[Category:Smithsonian Institution research programs]]
[[Category:Asian-American culture in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Pacific Islands American history]]