Blueprint by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

BLUEPRINT STRATEGIC PLAN FY2016-FY2018

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

TABLE OF CONTENTS STRATEGIC PLAN FY2016-FY2018

INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Our Vision: Enrich and Empower Asian Pacific America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Our Goal: Building a Great Museum in the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Our Priorities: Planning for the Future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Our Themes: New Directions in Asian Pacific America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 CULTURE LAB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 The Experiment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The In-Person Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 The Online Experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 CULTURE LABS: FY2016-FY2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intersections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Creative Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . National Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23 25 27 29

CONCLUSION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 What is Success?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Our Future: A Message from the Advisory Board. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Blueprint Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 INVESTMENT AREAS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Funding Needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Funding Opportunities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 APPENDIX Our Process: Design Thinking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 PHOTO CAPTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

INTRODUCTION

Our Vision: Enrich and Empower Asian Pacific America Our Goal: Building a Great Museum in the 21st Century Our Priorities: Planning for the Future Our Themes: New Directions in Asian Pacific America

This photo by Kristin Kouke at the 22nd Annual Filipino Fiesta held in Honolulu was part of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital exhibition A Day in the Life of Asian Pacific America.

OUR VISION

ENRICH AND EMPOWER ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICA

Dear Friends, Since our establishment in 1997 as an initiative critical to the mission of the Smithsonian, the vision for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center has been to enrich the appreciation of America’s Asian Pacific heritage and empower Asian Pacific American communities in their sense of inclusion within the national culture. Asian Pacific America is the story of a vibrant, diverse and resilient set of communities that have been part of the American experience for more than two hundred years. It is the story of two continents and a constellation of islands joined by the migration, exchange and competition of people and ideas. Yet, across museums and galleries in the nation’s capital and around the country, we find only fragments of America’s rich Asian Pacific heritage. There are more than 17 million people of Asian or Pacific Islander descent in the United States. In less than 50 years, nearly one of every ten people in America will trace his or her heritage to Asia and the Pacific, a region that covers more than one third of the earth, including the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Pacific. This region is also home to nearly half of the world’s humanity, natural life, nations, economies, major faiths and languages. America is—and has been—a Pacific Rim nation. Our understanding of America and America’s standing in the world is richer, more compelling and more powerful when it includes the Asian Pacific American story. This is why we need the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, so it can serve as a dynamic national resource for discovering why the Asian Pacific American experience matters everyday, everywhere, all the time.

Konrad Ng Director, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

OUR GOAL

BUILDING A GREAT MUSEUM IN THE 21 ST CENTURY

As a national resource for discovering the consequence and complexity of the Asian Pacific American experience in the 21st Century, we are rethinking what it means to be a great museum. The first decades of the 21st Century have been about change: rapid technological advances and an ever more diverse American public. A great museum is more than the building that houses it or the objects and images that fill its galleries. A great museum reimagines exhibitions as experiences and tells a broad and engaging American story. In the 21st Century, a great museum is defined by how it captures our imagination, how it enlightens and inspires, how it challenges our understanding and how it expands our world. In the 21st Century, a great museum is built in stages and through experiments, adapting to the fast-changing ways that people expect to learn, connect with others and spend their time and energy. The goal of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center is to build a great 21st Century museum. Through partnerships and technology, through curation and creative thinking, we will curate audacious experiences—what we call “Culture Labs”—where inquiry, dialogue, self-discovery and learning can happen collectively in-person and online, guided by the knowledge of storytellers and enriched by interaction with the powerful ideas expressed in Asian Pacific American history, art and culture. As an initiative of the Smithsonian, the Center will broker national collaborations, reach unlimited audiences of all ages and backgrounds and mobilize the deep intellectual resources of the largest museum and research complex in the world. For all these reasons and more, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center can build a great 21st Century museum. The concept is new. Our plan is bold. We are ready. And we need you to make it real.

Photo captions on page 43.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Children make storybooks at Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Family Day in 2011.

OUR PRIORITIES PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center has a bright future; we are a national organization with a creative team and an exciting fresh brand. To build a great 21st Century museum, we will pursue opportunities that build our capacity and adopt strategic priorities that serve as sequential steps toward building a solid foundation for the future. In FY2016-FY2018, the Center will focus on: ■■ Building our intellectual and operational infrastructure ■■ Experimenting with new in-person and online experiences and spaces ■■ Developing our reach and growing our network of partners and supporters These priorities will meet our immediate needs for capacity and resources. In the years beyond FY2018, the Center will begin: ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■

Long-term development of our philanthropic base Broadening our community and constituency relationships Developing a more robust collections sharing and acquisition strategy Building an endowment to ensure stable support for increased operations Assessing the viability of long-term use of a museum space

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

This mural, called “Harmony,” was created by Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Francisco Aquino in 2011 at Eastern Bakery located in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Credit: Carol Highsmith, Library of Congress

OUR THEMES

NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICA

A great 21st Century museum should start important conversations. Asian Pacific America is a diverse, ever-changing, expanding and vibrant experience. There are many stories that could be told. Throughout our history, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center has curated exhibitions and public programs about Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Japanese Americans, Korean Americans, Indian Americans, Hawaii and other Asian Pacific American communities. In the next three years, we will be adding new and original stories to our rich archive of community-based programs to enrich the understanding of the Asian Pacific American experience. We will begin our journey by reframing community experiences as larger questions about the ways community history, art and culture are intersectional and creative, revealing the vibrancy of the Asian Pacific American story. ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICA AS INTERSECTION Asian Pacific America has an intersectional history, art and culture, formed through alliances, coalitions and conflict. How does Asian Pacific America intersect with the history, art and culture of other American communities—Latinos, African Americans, Native peoples and more. On a global scale, how has the Asia-Pacific influenced America and how has America influenced the Asia-Pacific? Where and how do these intersections come to life and what can we learn from them? ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICA AS CREATIVE CULTURE Creativity has been a central thread of the Asian Pacific American experience. How do Asian Pacific American creative expressions challenge stereotypes, capture community experiences and transform public space? How do Asian Pacific Americans use music, performance, the visual arts, literature, craft and design to challenge the status quo, redefine identity, inspire action and empower communities? How can art as activism, in all its expressions, expand the ways we talk about what it means to be American, what it means to be an Asian Pacific American—immigrant and refugee, native-born and naturalized—across the country and around the world?

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

CULTURE LAB The Experiment The In-Person Experience The Online Experience

Japanese American ukelele player Jake Shimabukuro performs at a Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center event in December 2012.

CULTURE LAB THE EXPERIMENT

A great 21st Century museum must engage communities and audiences in surprising and innovative ways, transcending boundaries and barriers. In the past, exhibitions were one of the only ways museums could engage with their audiences. Now, a wide range of new and evolving in-person and digital methods and techniques can bring ideas and stories to life. The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center is embracing this 21st Century spirit of experimentation as it explores the New Directions in Asian Pacific America. Transforming the concept of exhibitions, we will launch a series of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Culture Labsâ&#x20AC;? that use innovative in-person and online experiences to explore the themes of Intersections and Creative Culture in cities across the country during the three-year Blueprint timeframe.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Portraits After 5: Identities in Motion explored Korean American identity. Co-presented with the National Portrait Gallery, the multimedia event featured artists CYJO and Dana Tai Soon Burgess, as well as composers Benoit Granier and Anthony Paul De Ritis.

CULTURE LAB THE IN-PERSON EXPERIENCE

Culture Labs happen anywhere we stage them—in buildings or parks, on walls or on the streets. Culture Labs turn public spaces into galleries for new ideas and cultural engagement. The in-person experience of a Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Culture Lab will be: ■■ an engaging, interactive, experimental, educational, multi-sensory and enlightening in-person pop-up experience; ■■ that focuses on a key theme, idea or concept in Asian Pacific America; ■■ that convenes Asian Pacific Americans, scholars, community organizations, cultural organizations and museums; ■■ in your city, town or neighborhood; ■■ in an unexpected location; ■■ for a temporary period of time; ■■ where people can think, learn, see, feel, hear and do; ■■ and learn about the experiences of real people; ■■ and see real artifacts, artworks, objects and documents; ■■ through a variety of hands-on activities, performances, displays and new technologies; ■■ that are enhanced on-site and shared worldwide through a companion multimedia, digital experience; ■■ that are tested, improved upon and evolve over time based on audience feedback and new ideas; ■■ are created and curated by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in collaboration with a group of national and local partners; ■■ and serve as an invitation to the Smithsonian’s family of museums, galleries and centers to deepen their exhibitions, programs and collections; ■■ all to raise the profile of Asian Pacific America and explore America’s past, present and future as a Pacific Rim nation.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

CULTURE LAB THE ONLINE EXPERIENCE

Technology is no longer a feature of life, it is a vibrant way of life. The blurring lines between digital and physical experiences have created exciting possibilities for the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center to be an innovation leader in the arts, culture and museum communities. The online experience of our Culture Labs will harness new technologies and digital media to create cross-platform opportunities to learn about Asian Pacific America— anytime, anywhere. More than a virtual collection of objects, our Culture Labs are ongoing experiments in storytelling. The online experience of our Culture Labs will feature: ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■ ■■

community-curated digital exhibitions; social media conversations and debates; hackathons, edit-a-thons, badges and viral exhibitry; stories behind Smithsonian and other museum collections with Asian Pacific American connections; oral histories and photo essays; apps and augmented realities; connections to local and national partners; simulcasts of our Culture Labs; access to Smithsonian-created technology tools; thought-provoking videos; eye-catching images; interactive maps and games; and highlights from and links to great Asian Pacific American content anywhere on the web.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

CULTURE LABS: FY2016-FY2018 Intersections Creative Culture National Gallery

San Francisco Chinese New Year Flower Market Fair 2015. Photograph by Mark CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, cropped. http://bit.ly/1dhUfZh

CULTURE LAB INTERSECTIONS

Across Asia, street markets are more than places of commerce; they bustle with life and with heritage, forming important ways to build community and share and shape culture. Enjoying a taste of a new food with a new friend. Listening to a stranger tell a story that rings true to your own. Comparing traditions and sharing memories with a neighbor. All of these experiences also highlight the cultural intersections that make living in America a rich and diverse experience. The Intersections Culture Lab will evoke the vibrancy and cultural exchange inherent in the street market to explore the ways in which communities in America have influenced one another, formed alliances and negotiated conflict, and how those interactions and relationships are reflected in cultural expressions and civic life. Drawing inspiration from street fairs, block parties and the night markets of Asia, South/Central America, Africa and the Middle East, this Culture Lab will infuse the Smithsonian approach to curation and scholarship into the public spaces that form the heritage of many immigrant communities in America. The Intersections Culture Lab will feature local artisans, musicians, chefs, craftspeople, performers, writers and scholars sharing their stories, perspectives and ideas about themselves, their communities and America. The event will be highly interactive, offering audiences the chance to engage with the event participants and with each other. It will also employ innovative technologies and connect to an online experience that will enhance the in-person experience and expand the event’s reach to audiences nationwide. POTENTIAL EVENT ELEMENTS ■■ Projection-based art displays ■■ Cooking and craft ■■ Performances (e.g., dance, spoken word, theater, film screenings, etc.) ■■ A digital exhibition highlighting cultural intersections nationwide ■■ Social media-based community mapping/tagging activities to highlight locations of cultural intersection nationwide

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Produced for Pow!Wow! 2014 in Kaka’ako, Honolulu, by artist Swoon, this mural is an excerpt from a larger exhibition called “Submerged Motherlands.”

CAPTION

CULTURE LAB CREATIVE CULTURE

A mural on a warehouse wall. A graffiti tag on a garage door. A handwritten poem tacked to a streetlamp. These art forms are passionate, immediate and public. They are a fresh means of expression that Asian Pacific Americans are embracing in cities across the country to resist stereotypes, create beauty, inspire action and speak about issues in visceral and arresting ways. The Creative Culture Lab will explore this phenomenon and use the backdrop of community-based art as a platform to discuss broader issues of Asian Pacific American art, creativity, identity and empowerment. The Creative Culture Lab will be a place where artists can move beyond the practice of street art to engage with the public whose streets house their work, and where activists and academics can engage with art as a point of departure for conversations about beauty, social justice and other community issues. It is also where members of the community can tell their own stories and share their perspectives on identity and experience. POTENTIAL EVENT ELEMENTS: ■■ Murals: Commissioned artists creating artworks in real-time for a public audience and with public participation ■■ Stories: An open invitation for community members to share their own stories inspired by the art on display ■■ Projections: Walls featuring high-definition art projections and interventions ■■ Performances: Live and interactive events from art to spoken word that carry the spirit of activism and engagement

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Portraiture Now: Asian American Portraits of Encounter opened at the National Portrait Gallery on August 12, 2011, and remained on display through October 14, 2012.

CULTURE LAB NATIONAL GALLERY

Our Culture Lab series will build the intellectual and operational capacity needed to create a great museum in the 21st Century. Their pop-up and digital nature allows them to be responsive to contemporary issues and current needs. We will use our Culture Labs to test and build excitement around the idea of what the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center could do if it had a permanent national gallery, or galleries in multiple cities. We are at the beginning of exploring this aspiration and are in search of opportunities and partnerships that can make this aspiration into a reality. A National Gallery will be: ■■ in the nation’s capital and/or in a large urban area near a high concentration of Asian Pacific Americans; ■■ operated collaboratively by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and a strong cultural organizational partner with an aligned mission; ■■ housed in physical space with size and capacity to feature Culture Labs as well as traditional exhibitions; and ■■ consistently and continuously available to the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center for a multi-year period. A National Gallery would give the public and Asian Pacific American communities across the country a place to convene, collaborate and call home.

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

CONCLUSION

What is Success? Our Future: A Message from the Advisory Board Blueprint Summary

Dancers from Droopad, a Bengali American cultural organization in D.C., dances at the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Family Day in 2012.

WHAT IS SUCCESS? How do we measure whether our Culture Labs are meeting the needs of our audiences and advancing our intellectual and operational capacity? At the end of FY2018, we believe that success is about positioning the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center at the center of conversation about Asian Pacific America and the future of museums. Therefore, our success metrics are: CULTURE LABS ■■ Launched a series of Culture Labs in Washington, D.C., and across the country AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT ■■ Increased number of in-person and online attendance ■■ Increased national brand awareness as evidenced by national survey data and media mentions ■■ Establishment of baseline quality metrics to assess prototype goals and outcomes INTELLECTUAL AND OPERATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE ■■ Successful hiring of all new positions ■■ Increased number of local, regional and national partners ADVANCEMENT ■■ Increase in the amount of funds raised from all philanthropic sources: individual gifts, grants, corporate sponsorships and in-kind gifts ■■ Increase in the number and diversity of donors and prospects ■■ Increase in the number and diversity of Board members ■■ Increased outreach and communication to donors

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Hula dancer in Maui, Hawaii. Photo from govisithawaii.com.

OUR FUTURE

A MESSAGE FROM THE ADVISORY BOARD

Dear Friends, As the Advisory Board of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, we are proud to support the Center and its staff as they enter an exciting time of growth and innovation. This journey will require support from partners, volunteers, contributors and friends, all of whom are united in their belief that the past, present and future story of Asian Pacific America, encompassing a broad and diverse array of communities, is one that needs to be told. During these early years of the Asia-Pacific Century, the need to fully recognize, explore and celebrate the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans to our global story is an imperative whose time has come. This story is important to anyone in America who has ever felt part of a national and global narrative, but has yet to see his or her experience presented in our institutions of culture and learning. Building this intellectual and operational infrastructure is an important stage in the Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s journey toward building a great museum. The Board expresses its support for the Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Blueprint with its emphasis on innovative Culture Labs that bring together the in-person and online experiences, and its exploration of options for a National Gallery. In the end, the Board believes this plan is a crucial step toward a future in which the communities of Asian Pacific America will have a permanent national gallery that is broadly visible and accessible to all Americans for generations to come. With gratitude, The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center Advisory Board

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

Smithsonian Asian

BLUEP

FY2016-

Our Timeless Purpose

OUR VISION

Our Current Objective

OUR GOAL

How We Will Meet That Goal

OUR PRIORITIES Build our Intellectual and Operational Infrastructure

Enrich the American Story and Empower Asian Pacific America

Build a Great Museum in the 21st Century

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

NEW DI

ASIAN AS I N

Experiment With New In-Person and Online Experiences and Spaces

Develop our Reach and Grow our Network of Partners and Supporters

Pacific American Center

-FY2018

The Themes + lore Exp l Wil We

IRECTIONS

PACIFIC AMERICA NTERSECTION

How We Will Explore These Themes

CULTURE LAB

What the Culture Labs Will Prepare Us to Build

NATIONAL GALLERY

CONNECTIONS BETWEEN Communities in America and Abroad THAT COME TO LIFE IN History, Art, and Culture

ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICA AS CREATIVE CULTURE

Interactive, experimental, pop-up programs that connect the in-person and online experience

A continuously available public space in one or more cities

STRUGGLES FOR Identity, Recognition and Social Justice

THAT COME TO LIFE IN Art as Activism

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center 37

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

INVESTMENT AREAS Funding Needs Funding Opportunities

FUNDING NEEDS

WHAT IT TAKES TO BUILD A GREAT MUSEUM IN THE 21ST CENTURY To attract and retain the best minds, launch innovative, in-person and online experiences, and build the capabilities and expertise to support it all, the Blueprint requires transformative gifts that will launch and sustain our growth and chart the future of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center in the 21st Century. Our Goal

URE T C U R ST

$900K

E OPL PE

IN FR A

$4.7M

$1.85M

$1.95M PR

PEOPLE who are the innovators of our mission—the scholars, educators, and creators who will fuel our intellectual capacity and grow our Center. PROGRAMS for the 21st Century that feature culture labs—transformative in-person and digital museum experiences. INFRASTRUCTURE that will provide the vital technical and creative backbone to fully support the future direction of our Center. 40

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

$13M $10M $7M TRANSFORMATIVE GIFTS

$5M

$3M

Endow 7 full-time positions

Endow 2 groundbreaking Culture Labs annually

Endow 4 vital back-end web and social media platform support systems

Endow Directorship

Endow Curatorship

$ 1M $750K

Sponsor 3 multi-day, multi-city pop-up Culture Labs over one year

$500K $250K

$ 150K $ 100K $50K $25K

Sponsor multi-year Culture Labs on the National Mall Provide multimedia production services

Sponsor a Culture Lab

Host a concert/performance Sponsor one-year guest curatorship

Support undergraduate & graduate internships

Create an interactive application platform Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center 41

APPENDIX

OUR PROCESS: DESIGN THINKING

To develop the Blueprint, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center embraced a variation of “design thinking”—an approach that drove us to align the topics and formats the Center most wants to explore with the content and experiences wanted by the audiences we serve. Design thinking pushed us to be: CREATIVE ■■ We developed a “Research Taxonomy” with 25 subject matter areas on which our research and programs could be based. We used the Taxonomy to generate more than 135 specific topics that could inform programs over the next three years. These 135 topics were refined and condensed into two major content themes that are driving our programs in FY2016-FY2018 (New Directions in Asian Pacific America). ■■ We identified and assessed 15 media, nonprofit and cultural organizations whose innovative delivery of content and learning experiences inspired us to think differently about what we could do and how we could do it, and inspired further development of the Culture Lab concepts. ■■ We developed five prototypes for specific Culture Labs that we could launch in FY2016FY2018, incorporating the new program formats we discovered and exploring the two major content themes we selected. Aspects of those prototypes are reflected in the Blueprint’s Culture Labs on Intersections and Creative Culture. STRATEGIC ■■ The prototypes identified gaps in staff capacity, expertise and functional capability that drove the priorities in our investment areas. ■■ The prototypes also surfaced a broad list of potential Smithsonian, local and national partners and funders whose support could help bring these ideas to life. COLLABORATIVE ■■ We worked as a team to develop all of the ideas in the Blueprint with each staff member contributing his or her unique perspective and expertise. ■■ We interviewed representatives from more than a dozen organizations across the country. Ideas generated here influenced the topics and program formats reflected in the Blueprint. ■■ We will collaborate with our Board and potential Smithsonian, local and national partners to further refine and develop these prototypes as we prepare to launch them in FY2016 and beyond. EXPERIMENTAL ■■ Culture Labs launched in FY2016-FY2018 will include new, different and unexpected elements that will enable us to surprise our audiences and develop a signature program style that can define our innovative brand. ■■ We will take risks, learn from our choices and improve each time. RESPONSIVE ■■ As Culture Labs launch, we will evaluate, assess and adjust our content and formats to ensure they are meeting our objectives and exceeding audience expectations. 42

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center

PHOTO CAPTIONS From Page 8, top to bottom, left to right: A visitor at Beyond Bollywood: Indian Americans Shape the Nation reads about Bhagat Singh Thind. The traditional Cambodian â&#x20AC;&#x153;Golden Mermaidâ&#x20AC;? Dance is performed at Mekong-American Day at the 2007 Folklife Festival. Passersby enjoy art projections as part of Asian Latino Intersections in downtown Silver Spring in 2013. This photo, taken from the exhibition I Want the Wide American Earth, shows the Delano Grape Strike. Beginning in 1965 and lasting more than five years, the strike was a powerful moment of racial solidarity between Filipino American and Mexican American farm laborers. Credit: Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University

Folk Hero: Remembering Yuri Kochiyama Through Grassroots Art is a digital exhibition featuring artists inspired by Japanese American civil rights leader Yuri Kochiyama. This photo, taken from the exhibition I Want the Wide American Earth, shows Korean American Young Oak Kim. Kim fought for the U.S. Army in World War II and the Korean War. He fought with the segregated Japanese American 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Credit: Korean American Digital Archive, Korean Heritage Library, University of Southern California

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center Capital Gallery, Suite 7065 600 Maryland Ave. SW Washington, D.C. 20024

apa.si.edu @smithsonianapa APAC@si.edu

Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center