The Vision
The Institute does not yet exist as a building. It is being built in public: one exhibition, one city, one year at a time. Stories in Color: A Human Dignity Exhibition is the pre-launch of the Institute. The final stop of the touring exhibition will be its opening night. The goal was never only to remember what happened. It is to decide what prevails.
Rwanda is the founding heart.Humanity is the destination.
The work of the Institute begins in this room and in others like it: in the rooms where children’s portraits hang, where the names are spoken, where the names are not forgotten.
Dydine Umunyana Anderson · Kigali Genocide Memorial, Children’s Memorial Room · Rwanda, 2013 · Photograph by Michele Zousmer
Why Los Angeles
A city of ten million, at the intersection.
The Institute will stand in Los Angeles, at the intersection of culture, diaspora, education, and global storytelling.
Diaspora
Many homes, one city.
Every community that has carried memory across borders lives here. The Institute belongs in a city where many diasporas already live.
Storytelling Industry
Where stories travel from.
Hollywood, documentary filmmakers, and media institutions at scale. A story told here travels.
Academic Ecosystem
The university partners.
USC, UCLA, Cal State LA, Occidental. The classrooms and lecture halls the Institute will work alongside.
Philanthropic Community
Mission-aligned funders.
Major Los Angeles family and community foundations whose missions align with this work.
What the Institute Holds
Four pillars, one institution.
Testimony Archive
Thousands of hours of recorded testimony: video, audio, written. Open to researchers, educators, journalists, and to you.
Public Programming
Survivor events, remembrance gatherings, youth engagement, community dialogues, and civic programming.
Art & Exhibitions
Stories in Color as the permanent collection. Rotating commissioned works from global artists.
Education
Partnerships with schools, universities, museums, and human-rights organizations.
The Arc
Three phases to permanence.
Phase 1 · 2026 → 2028
Stories in Color launches. The founding archive is built.
Phase 2 · 2027 → 2029
Museum touring and institutional expansion. The work travels city by city.
Phase 3 · 2029 → 2031
The capital campaign and the permanent Los Angeles site.
Help Us Build It
Before there is a building to point to.
An institution is built by the people who chose to believe in it first. Founding Partners join us in the rebuilding year and remain part of the institutional record for the life of the Institute.