Executive Director's Corner
It's already Fall! Where did the time go? As we gallop towards the holiday season (I know, I know, but I already see holiday decorations for sale), we are finishing up with our programming for the rest of the year with a variety of events to showcase our culture and heritage.

It's been very exciting to see new faces at every event, and I hope you will join us again. We were bursting at the seams with a record of 110 attendees at our annual Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration! One of the complaints we received was that we needed a bigger space! That is a good problem to have.

I am very appreciative of the support from the community and the opportunity to share our culture and heritage with the public. This only encourages and challenges me to put on more public events that will entertain and educate everyone who comes through our doors.
Monthly Spotlight
Each month we feature a board member, staff member, or volunteer in our Monthly Spotlight segment. This month, we present one of our volunteers, Tony Del Sesto .
Tony Del Sesto served as the Nonprofit Management Intern during his time at the museum. He is currently a sophomore at the University of Chicago studying economics. After growing up abroad in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, Tony and his family moved to Chicago where he graduated from Lincoln Park High School. At the museum, Tony coordinated museum programming and initiated screenings by corresponding with filmmakers while also developing analytical indicators and research to help benchmark the museum’s outreach towards youth.

We asked Tony to share his experience volunteering at the museum:
“My time at the museum was invaluable in helping me develop what I was specifically passionate about in management. I’ve definitely gained a greater interest in using data to help forward an organization’s mission, especially such a personal one being half-Chinese myself. Exposure to such a welcoming community has really lead me to appreciate my heritage and upbringing abroad.”
Past and Upcoming Events
September 2018
We had a wonderful time at this special event presented by Roots & Routes Initiative, Field Museum, Chicago Park District, Chinese American Museum of Chicago - Raymond B. & Jean T. Lee Center, and Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community. Visitors were encouraged to plant trees, try their hands at Chinese arts and crafts, and sample different types of mooncakes.

Check out the photos.
Also called the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated when the moon is believed to be the biggest and fullest, and mooncake is the main most characteristic festival food. Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival celebrated in East Asian countries on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. This year, it falls on September 24, so we got the festivities started early! AND, we broke our attendance record!

Check out the photos and video !
We were one of several cultural museums represented at this year's World Dumpling Fest, which was held at Polk Bros. Park to coincide with the last day of World Music Festival. There was a huge turnout for this joint event as we demonstrated Chinese calligraphy, lantern making, tangrams, and chopstick skills while listening to music from around the world.

The mosquitoes were very hungry, by the way, but everyone was a trooper!
In Local Flavor , the popular food writer Jean Iversen chronicles eight beloved local eateries, from Chinatown on the South Side to Rogers Park in the far North, tracing the story of how they became neighborhood institutions.

Ms Iversen was at the Museum to talk about the restaurants that have shaped Chicago and especially Chinatown's Wow Kow Restaurant, which sadly closed in February this year.

Stay tuned for a brief report in our next newsletter.
In collaboration with the Chicago South Side Film Festival, the Museum presented an encore presentation of the theatrical release of "The Chinese Exclusion Act," as seen on PBS in May.

Stay tuned for photos.
October 2018
Screening of MAINELAND (October 13)
The Chinese American Musem of Chicago is pleased to host a special screening of MAINELAND, directed by Miao Wang. 

"Filmed over three years in China and the U.S., MAINELAND is a multi-layered coming-of-age tale that follows two affluent and cosmopolitan teenagers as they settle into a boarding school in blue-collar rural Maine. Part of the enormous wave of ‘parachute students’ from China enrolling in U.S. private schools, bubbly, fun-loving Stella and introspective Harry come seeking a Western-style education, escape from the dreaded Chinese college entrance exam, and the promise of a Hollywood-style U.S. high school experience. As Stella and Harry’s fuzzy visions of the American dream slowly gain more clarity, they ruminate on their experiences of alienation, culture clash, and personal identity, sharing new understandings and poignant discourses on home and country."

We will host a video Q&A with Ms. Wang after the conclusion of the film. RSVP is required.

Check out the trailer.
Screening of "Made in Vietnam" (October 27)
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago is once again proud to be a partner of Asian Pop-Up Cinema. Our offering for Season 7 is "Made in Vietnam," a Canadian-Vietnamese production.

Thi Vo was a refugee who escaped from Vietnam with his mother when he was only a baby, escaping war and poverty. After fleeing to Hong Kong, they later immigrated to Canada when Thi Vo was just four years old. Thirty years later, he decides to not only find his extended family, but also to locate his father and uncover the mysteries of his past.

In this emotional, heartfelt feature documentary, Thi Vo and his friends navigate Vietnam as they search for clues about their backgrounds and connect with people who help them along their way.

See the trailers here .
Museum News
On September 22 we closed our Chinese War Brides Act exhibition, In 1945 The War Brides Act was enacted to allow spouses and adopted children of US military personnel to enter the U.S..

Thank you to Ivy Lam  and Chinese American Citizens Alliance for their generous loan of the document/pen used by the U.S. President to sign the Chinese War Brides Act into legislation.

Check out more photos .
Peace Day: the 70th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights
We are honored to celebrate  #peaceday : the 70th anniversary of Universal Declaration of Human Rights with people from so many different cultures.

Check out more photos.
Our Mission
The mission of the Chinese American Museum of Chicago - Raymond B. & Jean T. Lee Center (CAMOC) is to promote the culture and history--through exhibitions, education, and research--of Chinese-Americans in the Midwest.

The museum building, formerly the Quong Yick Co., is located in Chicago's Chinatown, at 238 West 23rd Street in Chicago. The Museum opened to the public on May 21, 2005. After a devastating fire in September of 2008, the Museum was closed for renovation and reopened in 2010.

CAMOC is governed by the Board of Directors of the Chinatown Museum Foundation (CMF), a 501(C)(3) non-profit corporation located in Chicago, Illinois.