by The International Examiner
This article was originally published in the International Examiner and republished under an agreement.
Joël Barraquiel Tan is stepping down as executive director of the Wing Luke Museum, the museum announced Friday, Sept. 13, in a newsletter to members.
Kamahanahokulani Farrar Law, the museum’s senior director of Finance and Operations, has been appointed interim executive director, the museum announced on Sept. 16. The Wing’s board of trustees will begin a search for the new permanent director. Farrar Law has worked for the Wing for less than two years, and oversees the museum’s Finance, Human Resources, Museum Services, and Technology and Infrastructure departments. She previously served as executive director of Na Puʻuwai, Native Hawaiian Health Care System, for six years and has over 25 years in administrative and operations management.
Barraquiel Tan was named executive director in April 2022 and is the museum’s third director after Ron Chew and Beth Takekawa.
“It has been a privilege to lead the Wing Luke Museum and to work alongside such a dedicated team and supportive community,” Barraquiel Tan said in a statement. “I am proud of what we have accomplished together and our work to expand our understanding of arts and culture as core to individual and community well-being. I believe that the organization is well-positioned for continued success. While it was a difficult decision to make, I feel that this is the right time for me to explore new directions and opportunities.”
Barraquiel Tan (who uses all pronouns) joined the museum in 2022 during the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their ascension marked the Wing’s first change in leadership in nearly 15 years. Barraquiel Tan joined as the Wing’s first queer director, first foreign-born director, and first director of Filipino descent to lead the museum in its 54-year history.
As leader, Barraquiel Tan was outspoken about the threats the CID neighborhood faced, including displacement and a second light rail station planned by Sound Transit.
Before coming to Seattle, Barraquiel Tan lived on Hawaiʻi Island and helped develop Vibrant Hawaiʻi. He also cofounded the Los Angeles Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team Health Center and was director of community engagement at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts from 2004 to 2015.
“In his two-and-a-half years in the role, he led the Museum through a period of growth and expansion with a focus on increasing understanding and lifting up the voices of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander experience through vivid storytelling and inspiring exhibits that advance racial and social equity,” according to the Wing newsletter.
In the past year, the museum has also faced challenges in the form of a hate crime attack and public controversy over language in an exhibit that led to a temporary closure for part of May and June this year.
On Sept. 15, 2023, the museum was attacked by a man wielding a sledgehammer, who smashed nine of the museum’s 10 windows. Members of the Japanese American immigrant and refugee advocacy group Tsuru for Solidarity were inside at the time on an after-hours tour. Tsuru for Solidarity member Stanley Shikuma told the International Examiner at the time that the attacker said, “‘The Chinese are to blame; they’ve ruined my life. Something has to be done about them. That’s why I came to Chinatown. Because I’m going to take care of it.’”
The man, identified as Craig Milne, 76, was arrested and charged with a hate crime and first-degree malicious mischief.
The Wing temporarily covered the broken windows with boards and installed murals on them. As of this week, the windows in the Canton Alley Historic Storefront have been restored, with the help of $100,000 from the governor’s office and mayor’s office.
On May 22 this year, a group of 24 Wing staffers staged a walkout over concern that the museum’s “Confronting Hate Together” exhibit included language mischaracterizing calls for Palestinian liberation and critiques of Israel as terrorism and antisemitism.
“Confronting Hate Together” was planned as a temporary pop-up installation created in partnership between the Wing Luke Museum, the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, and the Black Heritage Society of Washington State. The exhibit explores bias and prejudice in the Asian, Jewish, and Black communities, past and present — a direct response to rising antisemitism and racism.
Wing workers became concerned after seeing language in a panel in the exhibit stating that antisemitism is often disguised as anti-Zionism and that the use of the rallying cry “from the river to the sea” during nationwide pro-Palestinian protests at universities this year is a call for the erasure of Israel.
The museum, in a statement at the time, said that the Wing supported the right of its staff “to express their beliefs and personal truths” and that they were engaged in “a thoughtful process of listening.”
The museum subsequently announced plans to relaunch “Confronting Hate Together”at a different location, and said it was “unwaveringly committed” to the exhibit.
On July 2, The Seattle Times published an editorial by Barraquiel Tan, reflecting on her experience with the controversy and lessons learned, including the need to “straddle multiple realities,” “champion both/and,” “prioritize relationships.”
“Inspired by the lessons we’re learning, we’re reconnecting across all staff levels, investing in continuing education and rebuilding trust with our staff and partners through additions to the ‘Confronting Hate Together’ exhibit, and restructuring our organization to meet the new challenges,” Barraquiel Tan wrote.
In the editorial, they also noted that large institutions like universities are “experiencing increasing internal fractures triggered by complex global events.”
“Unlike universities and larger organizations, grassroots BIPOC-led organizations, like ours, don’t have the resources to survive prolonged crises,” Barraquiel Tan wrote.
Editors’ Note: This piece was updated on Sept. 16 with news that Kamahanahokulani Farrar Law was announced as interim executive director of the Wing.
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