AJA Turns 25!
Click here to see our 25 year timeline!
Join us in celebrating our 25 year anniversary since our founding in 2000. Donate today to help us continue our cause.
$25 FOR 25
Greetings AjA Supporters & Friends!
The AjA Project was officially incorporated on October 18, 2000, which means we’re celebrating 25 years this year. I could have never imagined that a single filing — submitted by myself and co-founder Warren Ogden (then just 21 and 23!) — would grow into a quarter-century of work.
Old Home. Leaving. Arriving. Finding New Community. These themes anchored one of our first programs, Journey, where recently resettled youth from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia documented their stories using pinhole cameras and Tri-X 400 film. They wrote about their lives, giving voice to their powerful stories of resilience.
Now, 25 years later, our mission feels more urgent than ever. With rising anti-immigrant sentiment fueled by a culture of fear and escalating ICE raids, we’re doubling down: uplifting immigrant voices, challenging excluding narratives, educating about systems of power, all the while supporting artists as agents of justice. At the same time, we are navigating a tightening funding landscape due to cuts in arts and humanities funding and calling upon our community to help sustain this crucial work.
The AjA Project’s Journey is far from over. Join us as we mark this milestone, reflecting on our history while envisioning the next 25 years.
Shinpei Takeda
Executive Artistic Director
Civil Liberties Exhibition
"Resilience Served" by Civil Liberty fellow Tarrah Aroonsakool
On April 12, 2025, we showcased Civil Liberties: Language of Silencing at the San Diego Central Library. The Civil Liberties fellows explored the incarceration of Japanese-Americans during WWII as a lens to understand current-day injustices. Each fellow created a page in this 7ft-tall immersive book installation, sharing their personal histories and its parallels to the stories of Japanese-American families. Fellows also used Augmented Reality to create digital artifacts, showing that historical archives can be reinterpreted over time.
Join us on Saturday, June 28 at 1PM for our closing event, where we will be screening One Fighting Irishman : Wayne M. Collins and the Tule Lake Segregation Center by filmmaker Sharon Yamato. (see trailer here)
Back Alley Poetry Club: Season 2!
The Back Alley Poetry Club was brought back by former AjA fellows and students! Season 2 was a collaboration with TheUMACollection, who was one of our amazing fellows that helped us create Memoria Terra. Our guest teachers included other former BAPC fellows Samira and Zamzam, former BAPC teacher Johnnierenee Nelson, and former AjA student-turned-rapper, Maataa Naakee. A cohort of 8 fellows spent a month creating poetry centered on nostalgia and performed at our open mics.
Please join us at Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) in Balboa Park on July 10, 5-7PM for a special installation showcasing the fellows’ hard work as part of "Conversation in Art: Dignity"
Carving Out Space: Where People Make Place
Our Inter+Regeneration fellows planned and curated this exhibition exploring the Refugee and Immigrant Cultural Hub (RICH)/Global Village project using photos from the RICH community visioning sessions, renders from RNT Architects, and interviews with several community leaders. As a member of the RICH advisory committee, we will continue to work with other refugee and immigrant community members in realizing this massive project!
Upcoming Events
June 16, 6:00pm-8:00pm — Civic Education Workshop (Virtual): Black History Month
June 27 — Artivism youth summer workshop registration deadline
June 28 & June 29, 10:00am-3:30pm — Civic Education Workshop: Stand Up Fight Back! Training for Community Protection
June 28, 1:00pm-3:00pm — Civil Liberties: Language of Silencing Closing & Film Screening
July 10, 6:00pm-8:00pm — Back Alley Poetry Club Season 2 poetry intervention & performance at MOPA as part of "Conversation in Art: Dignity"
Keep an eye out for future events and opportunities on instagram and through The AjA Project website.
