[New York, NY] March 5, 2024 – The Museum of Chinese in America Board of Trustees announced today that Michael E. Lee has been named as the institution’s next President, effective April 1. Lee comes to the Museum after serving as the Managing Director, Corporate Development, for New York Institute of Finance since 2018. Lee will replace Nina Curley, who has served as interim Executive Director of the Museum since April of 2023 “We are beyond thrilled to welcome Michael Lee to the Museum,” said Eric Lee, Board Co-Chair. “Michael’s connection to the community, diverse background and long-term vi ..read more

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MOCA created a New Acquisition Committee in March 2021 tasked with conducting monthly meetings to make decisions on potential new collection requests. New Collections are accepted or rejected based on criteria set in the Collections Policy by the museum and committee. Every month, we provide highlights of recently acquired collections by discussing the history and significance of the new materials ..read more

On Thursday May 17th, 2023, MOCA PERFORMS actors brought Chinese American history to life during a live reading of letters drawn from MOCA’s Marcella Dear Collection. The letters—which were written to a young Marcella by her brother Walter B. Chin and friends Stanson Mark and Yee M. Thom (Tommy)—provided a humanizing window into some of the feelings and experiences of young Chinese American and immigrant men serving in the U.S. military during World War II. The letter-reading performance featured actors Shan Y. Chuang, Philippe Leong, and Charles Pang, and was conceived and directed by De ..read more

MOCA created a New Acquisition Committee in March 2021 tasked with conducting monthly meetings to make decisions on potential new collection requests. New Collections are accepted or rejected based on criteria set in the Collections Policy by the museum and committee. Every month, we provide highlights of recently acquired collections by discussing the history and significance of the new materials ..read more

MOCA created a New Acquisition Committee in March 2021 tasked with conducting monthly meetings to make decisions on potential new collection requests. New Collections are accepted or rejected based on criteria set in the Collections Policy by the museum and committee. Every month, we provide highlights of recently acquired collections by discussing the history and significance of the new materials ..read more

MOCA created a New Acquisition Committee in March 2021 tasked with conducting monthly meetings to make decisions on potential new collection requests. New Collections are accepted or rejected based on criteria set in the Collections Policy by the museum and committee. Every month, we provide highlights of recently acquired collections by discussing the history and significance of the new materials ..read more

Dear Friends of MOCA, Today, we are thrilled to announce our selection of arts and cultural leader Nina Curley as our Interim Executive Director to succeed our outgoing President, Nancy Yao. Nina comes to MOCA with more than 15 years of experience, having served in fundraising, consulting, and executive leadership roles, most recently at the esteemed Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. Nina is no stranger to MOCA as she was hired as a Development Consultant this past winter. At the same time, we have hired Ellen Luo to take over Nina’s previous role as MOCA’s Development Consultant. Ellen ..read more

Maggie Gee (1923-2013) spent countless Saturdays in the 1920s and ‘30s of her childhood driving out to Oakland airfield with her family to watch the planes fly. Back then, people marveled at flight and aviators were heroes of the time. Gee herself idolized the daring Amelia Earhart, but flight training was expensive and she never thought she would actually be able to follow in her idol’s footsteps. However, war broke out when she was 18, and the shortage of manpower it created enabled her to fulfill her dream while serving her country. Like many Americans, Gee’s family wanted to do their part ..read more

Filmmaker Christine Choy is best known for her Oscar-nominated, Peabody-winning documentary that she co-directed with Renee Tajima-Peña, “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” (1987). Choy grew up in an eclectic household of women in the French Concession of Shanghai during the 1950s. Just before the Cultural Revolution, her family received permission from the government to leave China and join her father, who had a business in South Korea.  At the age of fifteen, she was able to immigrate to the U.S. for study through a Korean Catholic school which had a sister school in New York City. Choy arrived ..read more