Densho: Looking Back and Looking Ahead

In honor of Densho's 30th Anniversary, join us for a conversation with founder Tom Ikeda and Executive Director Naomi Kawamura.The program will showcase some of Densho's oral history archives and explore how their work has changed over the last 30 years and why it 's more important than ever.

About the Speakers:

Tom Ikeda became Densho’s founding executive director in 1996 and served in this capacity for 27 years. Prior to Densho, Tom was a General Manager with the Microsoft Multimedia Publishing Group. He has received numerous awards for his historical and community contributions, including the Humanities Washington Award, National JACL Japanese American of the Biennium Award, Microsoft Alumni Integral Fellows Award, Japanese American National Museum Founder's Award, and Washington State Historical Society's Robert Gray Medal.

Naomi Ostwald Kawamura is the Executive Director of Densho. Born and raised in San Diego, California, Naomi holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Washington, a Master’s degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of British Columbia. Her scholarly research focuses on cultural memory practices in Japanese American and Japanese Canadian communities and she has contributed as a guest editor and author in peer-reviewed journals and editions. Prior to Densho, Naomi was the Executive Director of the Nikkei Place Foundation, a Japanese Canadian organization based in British Columbia. She has held leadership positions at the San Diego History Center, the Museum Education Roundtable, and BAVC Media, among others.

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