EngAGE CEO/Founder Tim Carpenter checked in on Friday with great photos and this comment about the Stanton Fellowship cohort meeting he attended at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center in downtown Los Angeles: “Beautiful day, beautiful people, my friend Leslie Ito [President and CEO of the JACCC] is simply a force of nature for good, inspired.”
JACCC: Japanese Cultural and Community Center
George J. Doizaki Gallery at JACCC. Leslie A. Ito is the President & CEO of the JACCC.
James Irvine Japanese Garden, also known as Seiryu-en or “Garden of the Clear Stream,” at JACCC.
From Claire Peeps, Executive Director of the Durfee Foundation which awards the Stanton Fellowships: “Yesterday I was privileged to witness something very special. The woman in the middle is the daughter of a former US Ambassador to Japan, the first to be posted in Hiroshima immediately after WWII. The woman was sent to school there as a young girl, and was the only non-Japanese student. When the family left in 1955, her parents were given a gift of a special tea bowl, wrapped in fabric and placed inside an engraved wooden box, tied with leather ribbon. The box was opened yesterday for the first time, and the Ambassador’s daughter was served tea in a tea ceremony, using that bowl, at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center – JACCC, where The Durfee Foundation Stanton Fellow Leslie Ito has created a program to revitalize the tea ceremony for younger generations and those from different cultural backgrounds. The Ambassador’s daughter used the occasion yesterday to donate her bowl to JACCC in honor of Leslie’s work, and the ceremony was presided over by a Tea Master from Japan, pictured on the right. It was incredibly moving. Later in the day we were treated to a sake toast using beautiful ceramic cups owned by the Ito family.”
Located in the JACCC building, U-Space is a collaborative effort between Brad Ranola and Cary Hitsman of Anacapa ʻUkulele, Blues-ʻUkulele artist and educator, Jason Arimoto, Six-time grammy award-winner, Daniel Ho, and the Japanese American Cultural Community Center (JACCC). U-Space is a coffee shop, a music school (with a heavy emphasis on ʻUkulele), and a retail ʻUkulele store all in one location. U-Space is focused on building community through music and ʻUkulele.
Backstage at the Aratani Theater at JACCC.
Nearby, LA Artcore is dedicated to recognizing diverse artistic accomplishments and bringing innovative exhibits and events to the public. LA Artcore welcomes artists of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds to enhance interactions between different constituencies.
