#501 Flowing with Joël Tan

Shannon’s first guest on this special Bruce Lee Foundation edition of the Bruce Lee Podcast is Joël Barraquiel Tan, the Executive Director at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in the Seattle Chinatown-International District (CID).

Joël Barraquiel Tan (siya/he/him) is the Executive Director at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in the Seattle Chinatown-International District (CID). He is the author of “Type O Negative” (Red Hen) and various works on identity, AIDS, & queer politics appear in academic and commercial venues. Joël is a cofounder of LA's Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team Health Center and served as the Director of Community Engagement at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts from 2004-2015. Prior to coming to the Wing Luke Museum, he lived in Hawai'i Island and served as Touching the Earth's Director of Social Impact.

Joël was born in Manila and later immigrated with his family to the United States to escape martial law. His dynamic career has reflected his lifelong commitment to racial equity, social justice and creative expression, evident in his three plus decades of experience in cultural advocacy and leadership in the arts, public health, civic engagement, community development, and sustainable tourism.

Since 2015, Joël has lived on Hawai’i Island and served as Executive Leader for the East Hawaii Contemporary Arts Center, Kalanihonua Retreat Center, and Touching the Earth. In 2018, he helped establish Vibrant Hawai'i, a collective impact network of leadership across diverse sectors working at the systemic level to eliminate Hawai'i Island's 55% poverty rate. Prior to that, Joël served as the Director of Community Engagement at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), San Francisco’s premier contemporary arts venue for 11 years. He created YBCA’s award-winning civic engagement DEI initiatives inspired by the community arts curatorial model developed by the Wing Luke Museum under former executive director, Ron Chew.

Joël and the Wing Luke are dear and trusted partners of the Bruce Lee Foundation, and together we are working to create lasting community impact in the Seattle CID through Bruce Lee’s teachings and legacy with the recently designated permanent Bruce Lee Gallery, our Camp Bruce Lee program and further community initiatives!

Connect with the Wing Luke Museum:

Website: Wingluke.org

Facebook: @winglukemuseum

Instagram: @winglukemuseum

Twitter: @winglukemuseum

YouTube: @winglukemuseum