JAPANESE AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM
369 E First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 www.janm.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: The Mission of the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) is to promote understanding and appreciation of America's ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience.

Like all institutions, the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) has been dramatically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced its doors to close to the public on March 18, 2020. Every aspect of the Museum's operations has been impacted - it has been unable to accommodate the visitors and supporters who would ordinarily experience an array of exhibitions, programs, educational opportunities and research resources in person. Spurred by a commitment to find creative ways to serve the Museum's members and the public and to continue to offer mission-relevant programming, JANM transformed itself into a virtual museum and created a digital platform, JANM from Home. This has enabled the Museum to reach new audiences and at the same time, advance its core strategic priorities, from expanding its national presence, to combatting divisiveness and discrimination, accelerating its digital transformation, and building sustainability for the future. Despite the challenges presented by the uncertainties of the pandemic environment, JANM's staff has continued to work productively from home and to maintain business continuity, essential functions and to find new ways to present mission-related content virtually.Programmatically, JANM opened two major exhibitions on-site and travelled a pop-up exhibition to several sites in California and across the country. However the two exhibitions were forced to close early due to the pandemic, and similarly, the travelling pop-up was grounded by the national lock-downs. The first major exhibition for FY20 was Under a Mushroom Cloud: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Atomic Bomb. It commemorated the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was presented in partnership with the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The exhibition included a special display of artifacts that travelled from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and an installation of artworks that were influenced by the stories and experiences of survivors. The second major exhibition was Transcendients: Heroes at Borders, which re-contextualized the Japanese American story from the hardships and discrimination experienced during immigration, to the unjust and unconstitutional incarceration during World War II, to the fight for Redress and Reparations. The exhibition focused further attention on the consequences of prejudice, fear and abuse of power, along with "heroes" who confront and challenge the real and virtual borders that are built to separate and exclude.The traveling pop-up display Contested Histories: Art and Artifacts from the Allen Hendershott Eaton Collection, travelled to numerous communities across the country before the COVID closures curtailed its travelling circuit. The exhibition was based on a collection that JANM acquired for safekeeping and conservation after a controversial attempt by a private party to auction the artifacts was averted by Japanese American community leaders and activists. The intent of the exhibition was to gather community input to help establish provenance and family connections to the individual artifacts in this collection that had been amassed by author Allen Hendershott Eaton during WWII.

Education and Visitor EngagementDue to the Museum's closure, in-person visitorship was reduced by almost 50%. JANM hosted 49,000 visitors to its exhibitions and public programs, and 12,600 students as part of what is normally a robust education program that focuses on teaching groups of students about the Japanese American experience from immigration, to exclusion, forced removal and incarceration, to redress and reparations.

Membership, Marketing, and JANM StoreThe Museum's membership decreased slightly which is attributable to the closure to the public and the economic uncertainties of this time. To mitigate these losses, JANM stepped up efforts to ensure that virtual programming continues to educate the public and engage members whose long-standing commitment to JANM's mission is based on strongly held personal and familial connections to Japanese American history. Successful marketing efforts ensured significantly increased participation in the Museum's virtual programs.The Museum Store has transformed itself entirely into an online operation with great success. A new blog and digital marketing helped to reposition the Store with the net result that online sales outstripped expectations. To address increased intolerance in the social and political environment, JANM continued to evolve into a museum that takes firm positions and purposefully works against adverse efforts targeting any group based on prejudice or race. While recognizing that it cannot create positive social change on its own, JANM leveraged its reputation as an institution that promotes equity and inclusion to strengthen its local and national presence. The Museum continues to engage its audiences, donors, and partners in a way that transforms stakeholders from observers of history to active proponents of inclusion, equal protection, and justice for all. JANM also recognizes that a fundamental shift in its fundraising strategy lies at the heart of achieving long-term sustainability. The calculated investment that was made in 2018 to strengthen JANM's fundraising capacity has stood the Museum in good stead. The surpluses generated from multi-year grants and pledges from major donors helped to cushion the Museum against an expected 30% loss in earned revenue due to the pandemic-enforced closure. The Museum also benefited from federal assistance through a CARES Act Payroll Protection Program loan as well as a small SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan.

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