Strategic Plan 2019 through 2024
Five Year Strategic Plan of the Japanese American Museum of San Jose
JULY 2019 Through JUNE 2024
Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.
—Japanese Proverb
Executive Summary
The Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj), with roots back to 1987, has the mission of the collection, preservation and sharing of Japanese American history, culture and arts with an emphasis on the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. Of particular importance is JAMsj’s telling of the WWII Internment of Japanese Americans to those unfamiliar with or new to that episode of history.
This strategic plan describes how JAMsj will continue its growth from a one-room facility to today’s 6,400 square foot nearly all-volunteer museum to becoming a professional museum, with both more paid staff and volunteers, maintaining its identity as a Japanese American museum while broadening its relevance and contribution to an emerging multicultural society. This plan outlines how the growth is envisioned by describing three main challenges facing JAMsj and the three strategic directions for addressing those challenges.
The three main challenges are:
Aging of the current volunteer workforce.
Limitations and aging of the JAMsj buildings, physical structures and exhibits.
Maintaining the identity of JAMsj while broadening its relevance in a multicultural future.
The three main strategic directions are:
Increasing Paid Staff and Volunteer Capacity - Guidance for increasing the capacities of both paid staff and volunteers to continue and make new contributions to future JAMsj success including the creation of a pathway to sustain relevance in a multicultural future.
Securing Financial Sustainability - Securing funding for the sustained operation of the museum and provide for new construction, renovation and technology to address the inadequacies and aging of buildings, structures and exhibits.
Utilizing Technology - Utilizing new technologies to further JAMsj’s mission by appealing to newer generations of visitors with higher expectations of museum learning and experiences.
With this plan, the JAMsj Board of Directors has laid out the directions and implementation actions, with annual revisions, to ensure the future of JAMsj. For without JAMsj, our local communities, California and neighboring States and our Country will lose a vital and unique source of historical information which is becoming increasingly relevant in our collective discussions of our multicultural future. We must keep JAMsj thriving for our untold future generations.