JANM and JACCC Awarded $894,293 in Grants for New Core Exhibition and Foodways Programs

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) and the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) have received $894,293 in two grants from the National Park Service’s Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) grant program. The funds will support JANM’s new core exhibition, In the Future We Call Now: Realities of Racism, Dreams of Democracy, and the JACCC’s project, “Ask the Mountain for the Menu: A Multisensory Exploration of the Foodways of the War Relocation Authority Camps,” in collaboration with JANM for the Museum’s 2026 exhibition, Eating Together: Food in Japanese America. 

“JANM is thrilled about these two grants that will raise the visibility of our mission, our new core exhibition, and an exciting signature collaboration. We send our heartfelt congratulations to the JACCC on the funding for ‘Ask the Mountain for the Menu’ and look forward to working with them on public programming for Eating Together,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO. “The JACS grant program is such an important source of funding for sites across the United States, and having nearly a million dollars coming to Little Tokyo honors the work we two anchor organizations do for the community.” 

“We are honored to receive this award from the National Park Service,” said Pat Wyatt, JACCC President and CEO. “We are looking forward to engaging multiple generations of Japanese Americans to explore the camp experience through foodways. Like all JACS grants, support for ‘Ask the Mountain for the Menu’ and JANM’s In the Future We Call Now will grow our community’s knowledge.” 

In the Future We Call Now: Realities of Racism, Dreams of Democracy will be the country’s largest and most comprehensive exhibition devoted to sharing the experiences of Japanese American communities during World War II. The new exhibition will incorporate work produced through past JACS-funded projects, including the conserved and relocated Heart Mountain barracks; a selection of digitized moving images from JANM’s collections; and other examples of digitized ephemera, documents, and photographs. As part of the exhibition redesign, the Museum will present various artifacts in the 3,500-square-foot Confinement and Resettlement Gallery and will also develop materials and programs for schools visiting the Museum in-person or virtually. The NPS is supporting the project with a JACS grant of $652,296. Slated to open in 2026 the revamped exhibition is supported by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library, and by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program.

In collaboration with JANM, JACCC will research and interpret the foodways of America’s concentration camps to deepen the nation’s collective understanding of the Japanese American experience as part of the public programming for Eating Together: Food in Japanese America. “Ask the Mountain for the Menu” will share the creativity and determination of incarcerees to improve camp conditions and meals through workshops and culinary demonstrations with incarcerees and their families. JACCC will work with the community to grow a crop of rice on Noguchi Plaza, accompanied by a year-long series of programs to explore the ingenuity of the incarcerees who succeeded in farming desolate, infertile environments at concentration camps to grow the foundation of Japanese meals. The National Parks Service awarded $241,997 in support of this programming.

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a center for civil rights, ensuring that the hard-fought lessons of the World War II incarceration are not forgotten. A Smithsonian Affiliate and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories. JANM is a center for the arts as well as history. It provides a voice for Japanese Americans and a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over 100 exhibitions onsite while traveling 40 exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. JANM is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday–Sunday from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and on Thursday from 12 p.m.–8 p.m. JANM is free every third Thursday of the month. On all other Thursdays, JANM is free from 5 p.m.–8 p.m. For more information, visit janm.org or follow us on social media @jamuseum.

About the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC)

Founded in 1972, the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center (JACCC) is one of the largest ethnic arts and cultural centers of its kind in the United States. JACCC weaves Japanese and Japanese American arts and culture into the fabric of our communities. JACCC remains firmly rooted in Little Tokyo, providing a vital place to build connections between people and cultures, locally and internationally. Through inclusive programs and authentic experiences, we continue our living traditions and nurture the next generation of innovative artists, culture-bearers, and thinkers. For more information about JACCC, please visit jaccc.org.