Programs and Partnerships
Major Initiatives
Distinguished Lecture Series
The Democracy Center hosts two signature Distinguished Lecture Series centered on the leadership values and principles inspired by Norman Y. Mineta and Irene Hirano Inouye.
Arts Writers Fellowship
The Irene Yamamoto Arts Writers Fellowship encourages arts writers of color to write about art from their own cultural and political perspectives to enrich and broaden arts writing as a practice and profession.
Toshizo Watanabe Democracy Fellowship
The Toshizo Watanabe Democracy Fellowship promotes democracy, leadership, diversity, and community empowerment by facilitating dialogue and cooperation between early to mid-career Japanese leaders from government, business, media, the arts, and NGO sectors and their American counterparts.
Exhibitions
The Democracy Center hosts groundbreaking exhibitions that explore the rights, freedoms, and fragility of democracy, helping to build bridges and find common ground between people of diverse backgrounds and opinions.
Our Partners
Asian American Journalists Association
The Asian American Journalists Association is a national nonprofit educational and professional organization that owes its founding in 1981 to the vision of a small group of Los Angeles journalists.
California Black Freedom Fund
The California Black Freedom Fund invests in the courageous and visionary grassroots advocates and community leaders who are transforming California and ensures that Black power-building and movement-based organizations have the sustained investments and resources needed to eradicate systemic and institutional racism.
Carlon Dance
Jay Carlon (he/they) is a queer dance artist, choreographer and community organizer whose work is grounded in a collective journey toward decolonization and sustainability.
Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE)
Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (CAUSE) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan, community-based organization with a mission to advance the political and civic empowerment of the Asian Pacific American (APA) community through nonpartisan voter outreach, training, and education as well as leadership development.
Chinese American National Museum
The Chinese American Museum fosters an understanding of and appreciation for America’s diverse heritage by researching, preserving, and sharing the history, rich cultural legacy, and contributions of Chinese Americans through quality exhibitions, programs, events, publications, and workshops.
Civil Rights Department
The Civil Rights Department is the state agency charged with enforcing California’s civil rights laws. The mission of the CRD is to protect the people of California from unlawful discrimination in employment, housing, businesses, and state-funded programs, and from bias-motivated violence and human trafficking.
entertwine
We believe diversity is an accessibility issue. We recruit, put on festivals and fellowship programs, and provide career development for all creators at all levels. All of our work is done with the pursuit of progressing a creator's career.
Gratitude Blooming
Trusted by the pragmatic and the optimistic, the plant lovers (or plant curious), the change makers, the recovering overachievers, the skeptics, the learners, the open-minded and the wild at heart.
All who are willing to grow.
Holocaust Museum LA
Holocaust Museum LA is the first survivor-founded and oldest Holocaust museum in the United States. Its genesis dates to the 1960s, when a group of survivors met and discovered that each of them had a photograph, document, or personal item from before the war. They decided that these artifacts needed a permanent home where they could be displayed safely and in perpetuity. They also wanted a place to memorialize their loved ones who perished and help to educate the public so that no one would ever forget.
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes is a cultural anchor in Los Angeles County and a community hub where people gather to celebrate Mexican, Mexican American, and Latinx culture through transformative exhibitions, music, dance, culinary arts, multigenerational artwork, and storytelling experiences.
Live Talks LA
Our mission is simple: Present great on-stage conversations in the Los Angeles area with writers, filmmakers, chefs, artists, leaders, humorists and comedians, musicians and thought leaders in business and science, and present them in some of the city’s wonderful venues. We video all our events and make them available to a wider global audience after our events.
Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission
The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations is dedicated to promoting positive human relations in our richly diverse, multicultural county. The Commission works to develop programs that proactively address racism, homophobia, religious prejudice, linguistic bias, anti-immigrant sentiment, and other divisive attitudes that can lead to intercultural tension, hate crimes, and related violence.
Seniors Fight Back
In May 2021, a group of strangers got together to offer FREE self-defense classes to the community due to the surge in attacks targeting the seniors in the AAPI community. After hosting our first class, we decided to form a 501(c)3 nonprofit to continue helping the community.
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex, with 21 museums and the National Zoo—shaping the future by preserving heritage, discovering new knowledge, and sharing our resources with the world.