AIISF Newsletter / December 2022
A Message From AIISF’s Executive Director
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to present at a meeting hosted by the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities in Place program. AIISF, 1882 Foundation, Tenement Museum, and 42 other organizations are part of this program's initial cohort, and it was a wonderful opportunity to learn about each other's work and to explore possible collaborations.
While in NYC, I had a chance to see The Far Country, a play written by Lloyd Suh, directed by Eric Ting, and evocatively presented by a talented cast and crew. The play follows the journey of a “paper son” family from China, through Angel Island, and life in the US. Definitely see this limited-run engagement before it closes on December 31.
A huge thank you goes out to UC Berkeley’s Future Histories Lab, Huang Ruo, Del Sol Quartet, and the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus for their beautiful performance of Angel Island Oratorio. This performance included digital projections by Olivia Ting and choreography by Ky Frances and Mia Chong. Even though this was my third time hearing this piece, it’s emotional impact did not diminish. We look forward to the possibility of staging this piece on Angel Island again in the future.
Thank you also to Skyler Chin, Sita Sunil, and their cast of Illegal: A New Musical for their free staged reading at Flushing Town Hall this past weekend. Across all of these performances, I am consistently reminded of how music and theater can bring history to life.
AIISF will be celebrating our 40th anniversary in 2023! We will be hosting more programs that will provide opportunities for sharing each other's stories. We hope you agree that there is something beautiful and powerful that happens when people come together to share their personal and family stories.
If you would like to support these efforts (and especially if you haven’t had a chance to contribute a gift to Angel Island yet this year), then please consider supporting our poem app or making a general donation to our end-of-year campaign. Together, we can make a difference and keep history from repeating itself.
Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, and safe holidays!
Edward Tepporn
Executive Director
Save-The-Date: December 17, Free Admission Day!
We are excited to share that we are sponsoring a "Free Admission Day" at the Detention Barracks Museum on December 17, 2022. The first 200 visitors will receive complimentary admission to the museum. Note that this does not include the cost of ferry tickets, shuttle service, or other costs.
AIISF staff will also give out free hot chocolate inside the former hospital building - now called the Angel Island Immigration Museum (which is always free to the public).
Three easy ways to support our end-of-year fundraising campaign!
We have been fortunate and grateful for your steadfast support of AIISF. Here are a few ways you can help fund our programs, exhibits, and events in 2023.
Donate to our Facebook fundraiser
This year donations made to our Facebook campaign will support a new poetry "app" that will help visitors find and translate inscriptions in the detention barracks.
Click here to donate to this project.
Host a Facebook fundraiser for AIISF
In addition to a personal contribution to our year-end campaign, you can also help support AIISF by hosting your own Facebook fundraiser.
Click here to learn how to get started.
Make a tax-deductible gift to AIISF
We have a goal of raising $100,000 to create new programs, exhibits, and events for our 40th anniversary. Your gift goes to support our work in 2023.
Click here to discover the different ways you can give.
"The Enemy Alien Files" exhibit EXTENDED until 12/18!
The Enemy Alien Files: Hidden Stories of World War II, a limited-run exhibit from the National Japanese American Historical Society, has been extended until Sunday, December 18th.
The exhibit examines the “enemy alien” experience of forced removal, internment, hostage exchange, and post-war forced separation that impacted families and communities across two continents through stunning photographs, oral histories, and narratives.
"The Enemy Alien Files" is on display at the Angel Island Immigration Museum (AIIM).
Click here to learn more!
The museums at the US Immigration Station will be closed for the holidays. We hope you can join us when the buildings reopen on December 31 and January 1, 2023.
December Hours
Wednesday - Friday | 11:00 am - 2:30 pm
Saturday - Sunday | 11:00 am - 3:30 pm
Museums Closed
December 19 - 30, 2022
The ferries, café, shuttle, and tram service are currently operating on a seasonal schedule. For more information about planning your trip to Angel Island, click here to get started.
"The Far Country," a play inspired by Angel Island, opens in NYC
The Far Country is described as an intimate epic that follows an unlikely family’s journey from rural Taishan County to the Wild West of California in the wake of the 1882 passage of the explicitly racist Chinese Exclusion Act.
Playwright Lloyd Suh explains: “The Far Country is part of a series of plays in which I've been exploring under-examined periods in Asian American history. Set during the Exclusion Era, working on this piece has been meaningful for me as part of our country's current reckoning with its complex history. I'm excited to share it with audiences as part of our accounting on where we've been as a culture, and where we might go from there.”
The Far Country is open until January 1, 2023, at the Linda Gross Theater. For tickets and more information, please visit their website.