A Message From AIISF’s Executive Director

I hope that you had a lovely holiday season and that 2024 is off to a wonderful start for you.

Thank you very much to everyone who supported our end of year fundraiser! We will be following up in the coming weeks with all of the donors who qualified for tickets to a VIP group tour or for a private tour.

I spent the last day of 2023 out on Angel Island. While it is definitely can be a tad chilly, a visit to Angel Island during the Winter can also be quite memorable. There are usually fewer visitors to the site which provides increased opporuntities for quiet, personal reflection. With the rainfall over the past weeks, the outdoor areas are particularly green and vibrant.

The new year has also brought us our newest AIISF team member. Please join me in welcoming Gabriel Lee. Gabriel is our new program coordinator for our recent CA Natural Resources Agency grant. He’ll be focused on developing a new self-guided tour for students, youth, and families as well increasing our program offerings for kids.

Gabriel, Hannah, Danielle, Russell and I are all prepping for a year full of exciting programs and new exhibits. Check out the first program of the year Gateways in Dialogue which is part of a new series of webinars with our friends at the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation. And if you missed my chat with author Curtis Chin last month, you can catch it on our YouTube Channel.

Best wishes for a healthy and happy 2024!

Edward Tepporn
AIISF Executive Director

Upcoming Events

Gateways in Dialogue: Navigating Immigrant Experiences on Angel and Ellis Islands (Part 1)

Thursday, January 18 | On Zoom | 5 pm PST, 8 pm EST

Join Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation and the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation to compare journeys through these two immigration stations on a 1-hour virtual event. 

Register Here!

Del Sol Quartet Performance

Saturday, March 23 | Detention Barracks Museum on Angel Island

We are thrilled to welcome the Del Sol Quartet back to Angel Island. They will be performing a 35 minute meditation from Huang Ruo's A Dust in Time in the Detention Barracks Museum.

Free with museum admission.

Stay tuned for more details!

Welcome our new program coordinator, Gabriel Lee!

Gabriel Lee is our newest team member at AIISF. He graduated with distinction from the University of British Columbia with a BA in History and a minor in Asian Studies. Returning to the Bay Area where he was born and raised, Gabriel hopes to connect others with the stories of the island.

Before joining AIISF this month, Gabriel worked for the Wing Luke Museum; the Children's Creativity Museum; the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association; El Museo de la Inmigracion; the Exploratorium; and the Lawrence Hall of Science. Throughout his time at these different institutions, he served to further public interest in history, the arts and science learning.

He is the author of Gabriel Lee's Historical Cookery Book, a collection of historic recipes sourced from around British Columbia. Stay tuned for more announcements about future youth programming both on Angel Island and online.

Recap: Author Spotlight with Curtis Chin

On December 6th, AIISF hosted author Curtis Chin for our latest Author Spotlight. Curtis's Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant is a love-letter to his family and his hometown of Detroit. In his book, he shares poignant (and often times humorous) stories about growing up as a gay Asian in the Midwest.

Watch The Recording Here!

New Exhibit on Angel Island and Online

Angel Island Mosaic

Angel Island Mosaic is our newest exhibit in the Detention Barracks Museum. It uplifts the individual stories of immigrants who were detained in the immigration station.

While their time at the immigration station was significant, the stories of Angel Island immigrants do not begin or end with their experience in detention. Their diverse stories reveal how race, class, and gender intersected with historical events in the early 20th century to shape both the immigration process and life in the US after.

Angel Island Mosaic was made possible through the generous support of the Panda CommUnity Fund, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Robert and Lien Chen Family Foundation.

For those who are not able to visit Angel Island, there is also an online version of the exhibit available in our virtual gallery.