USC Pacific Asia Museum
USC Pacific Asia Museum is a nonprofit university museum in Pasadena, California, founded in 1971, that curates over 5,000 years of Asian and Pacific art and serves K-12 schools, the USC community, and the general public through exhibitions, educational programs, and community outreach.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1971
- HeadquartersPasadena, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What USC Pacific Asia Museum does
USC Pacific Asia Museum (USC PAM) is a nonprofit cultural institution founded in 1971 and operated as an integral unit of the University of Southern California. It is headquartered at 46 North Los Robles Avenue in Pasadena, California, and curates a permanent collection spanning more than 5,000 years of art from East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, and Pacific Islands and their diasporas. The museum's mission is to promote intercultural understanding through encounters with the art, history, and culture of Pacific Asia, serving K-12 schools, the USC community, and the general public.
The museum's core products are rotating and permanent exhibitions, supplemented by educational programs (K-12 School Tours, Distance Learning Program, Teen Ambassadors, Teacher Institute@PAM), academic engagement across USC departments, the Shop@PAM retail store, membership, and facility rentals. The underlying technology stack includes a website built on WordPress with a Visual Portfolio plugin, Constant Contact for email marketing, Localist for event calendars, Zoom/Webex/Google Meets for virtual programming, and a newly acquired collections management software targeted for migration in 2025. The 2025–2026 flagship exhibition 'Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry' introduces an AI Curator digital gallery guide developed with Clioai Inc., enabling open-ended visitor dialogue in English and Mandarin via QR-linked custom mobile app.
Revenue is generated through a mix of admission tickets ($9–$15), annual memberships, individual and corporate/foundation donations, and shop sales. Free admission is offered to K-12 public schools on guided tours and on designated free days; private schools pay a $250 donation fee for tours. The museum holds AAM accreditation and is ADA-compliant by policy, with a multiphase accessibility roadmap underway since August 2024.
USC Pacific Asia Museum firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- USC Pacific Asia Museum
- Legal name
- University of Southern California Pacific Asia Museum
- Website
- https://pacificasiamuseum.usc.edu
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1971
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- USC Pacific Asia Museum is a nonprofit university museum in Pasadena, California, founded in 1971, that curates over 5,000 years of Asian and Pacific art and serves K-12 schools, the USC community, and the general public through exhibitions, educational programs, and community outreach.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
USC Pacific Asia Museum industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Art Museum and Cultural Education Services
- NAICS
- Museums (712110), Museums (71211)
- SIC
- Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Art Museums (THAJADAA)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Specialty Museums (e.g., Maritime, Aviation, Sports, Music, Film) (THAJADAF)
Keywords
Where USC Pacific Asia Museum is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Pasadena
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
USC Pacific Asia Museum business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Admission Tickets: Visitors purchase admission tickets at the front desk for entry to the museum and exhibitions.
- Membership: Annual membership program offering discounts on shop purchases (10% discount) and special access to events and programs.
- Donations: Individual donations from supporters; museum depends on support of individuals to fulfill its mission.
- Museum Shop: Retail shop selling items celebrating Pacific Asia art, history, and cultures. Fair Trade products, local artisan crafts, multicultural books, apparel, and home décor. Members receive 10% discount.
- Corporate and Foundation Support: Support from corporations and foundations including major donors and sponsors for exhibitions and programs.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | General Admission |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | School Tours for Public Schools |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | School Tours for Independent/Private Schools |
| Other | Pay-as-you-go | Distance Learning Program |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels4 records
USC Pacific Asia Museum product offering
Product offeringCore offering
USC Pacific Asia Museum operates a single-site cultural institution in Pasadena that displays a permanent collection of Asian and Pacific art spanning more than 5,000 years, hosts rotating exhibitions, and delivers K-12 school tours, distance learning, teen ambassador and teacher professional development programs. It also runs an AI-powered digital gallery guide (AI Curator) and an on-site Shop@PAM retail store, all under the institutional umbrella of the University of Southern California.
Product overview
The USC Pacific Asia Museum operates as a single-site museum institution offering a unified experience centered on Asian and Pacific art spanning over 5,000 years. The core offering comprises rotating and permanent exhibitions displayed in the museum's Pasadena facility, supplemented by educational programs including school tours, distance learning, and teen ambassador initiatives. The product portfolio includes the AI Curator digital gallery guide (an add-on module for the Mythical Creatures exhibition), Shop@PAM retail store, membership program, facility rentals, and the My Masterpieces partnership program with local schools. The museum serves diverse audiences including K-12 students, educators, university affiliates, and general visitors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Shop@PAM: The museum's retail shop offering items celebrating Pacific Asian art and cultures, including fair trade products, apparel, home décor, and books.
- Teacher Institute@PAM
- Distance Learning Program
- Teen Ambassadors
Products and services
- Museum Exhibitions Rotating and permanent exhibitions featuring Asian and Pacific art spanning more than 5,000 years of history, covering East Asia, South and Southeast Asia, the Himalayas, and Pacific Islands and their diasporas, displayed at the Pasadena museum facility.
- School Tours Program
- Distance Learning Program Virtual program delivering Asian and Pacific art instruction to K-12 students learning at home or in classrooms through asynchronous lessons, live virtual close-looking discussions, and hands-on artmaking workshops via Zoom, Webex, or Google Meets.
- Teen Ambassadors Program Annual volunteer program for high school students (running January–April) that introduces Asian art, museum careers, and public program planning through bi-monthly meetings, teen-only events, and social media content creation.
- Teacher Institute@PAM Professional development program for K-12 teachers with an Ethnic Studies focus, providing curricular resources (including The Willesden Project from USC Shoah Foundation and Visions and Values Curriculum from Skirball Cultural Center) for direct classroom application.
- Shop@PAM On-site and online museum retail store selling items celebrating Pacific Asian art and culture, including Fair Trade products, local artisan crafts, multicultural books, apparel, and home décor; members receive a 10% discount.
- Membership Program Annual museum membership providing 10% discount at Shop@PAM and special access to museum events and programs.
- Facility Rentals Rental of museum spaces for private events, corporate functions, and galas.
- Mythical Creatures: The Stories We Carry (Exhibition)
Quantifiable outcome
- Free guided tours available for all public K-12 schools
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use USC Pacific Asia Museum
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
USC Pacific Asia Museum technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration7 records
AI capability5 records
Feature2 records
USC Pacific Asia Museum partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship, major and supporting.
- Clioai Inc.coreAI startup co-founded by two USC alumni that collaborated with USC PAM to develop the AI Curator digital gallery guide. The AI enables open-ended dialogue with visitors on topics ranging from iconography to historical context. Available in English and Mandarin.
- East West BankflagshipLead exhibition sponsor for 'Mythical Creat: The Stories We Carry' exhibition. Exhibition held in East West Bank Galleries from Feb 14 to Sept 6, 2026.
- USC Fisher MuseumcorePart of USC Museums system along with USC Pacific Asia Museum. Students in the USC Museums Student Educator Program facilitate conversations and lead tours at both museums.
- USC Shoah FoundationmajorPartner in Teacher Institute@PAM providing resources including The Willesden Project on iWitness and iWitness Program for educators.
- Facing History and OurselvessupportingEducational partner contributing to Teacher Institute@PAM professional development program for K-12 teachers.
- Skirball Cultural CentersupportingPartner museum providing resources for Teacher Institute@PAM including Visions and Values Curriculum and Educator Resources.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves12 records
Expansion highlights10 records
USC Pacific Asia Museum competitors and assessment
Company assessmentRegional players
- Bowers Museum: Located in Santa Ana, California, Bowers Museum focuses on cultural arts with a notable emphasis on Asian and Pacific collections. It is a regional peer operating in the same Southern California market with comparable cultural programming and educational outreach.
Broad incumbents
- The Getty Center: The Getty Center is a major LA-based art museum with free admission and substantially larger endowment and visitation. It is a broad incumbent competitor in the Southern California cultural landscape, though it does not specialize in Asian art.
- Norton Simon Museum: Located in Pasadena (same city as USC Pacific Asia Museum), the Norton Simon Museum is a major art museum with significant Asian art holdings. It is a direct geographic competitor that competes for Pasadena cultural tourism with a much larger collection footprint.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Met's Asian Wing houses one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of Asian art outside Asia. While far larger in scale, it is a broad incumbent in the art museum category and sets programming and educational standards for peers including USC Pacific Asia Museum.
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA): LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, offering broad collections including Asian art. Its scale, free-admission policies, and brand compete for cultural visitation in the same LA metropolitan market.
Direct peers
- Peabody Essex Museum: Based in Salem, Massachusetts, the Peabody Essex Museum holds significant Asian export art and maritime collections. It is a comparable thematic peer in cross-cultural arts programming, with similar museum educational and exhibition models.
- Japanese American National Museum: Located in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo, JANM is dedicated to preserving and sharing the Japanese American experience. It shares USC PAM's Asian-focused mission, community education programs, and same geographic market, with overlapping donor and visitor bases.
- Asian Art Museum of San Francisco: The Asian Art Museum is the largest museum in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian art, with a collection spanning 6,000+ years. It is the most direct functional peer to USC Pacific Asia Museum, sharing the niche thematic focus on Asian art and operating a comparable educational and membership-based model.
- Fowler Museum at UCLA: Located at UCLA and committed to intercultural understanding through art, the Fowler Museum shares USC PAM's university-affiliated model, global arts focus, and educational programming. Both are academic museums serving comparable cultural communities in Southern California.
- Mingei International Museum: Located in San Diego, Mingei International Museum focuses on folk art, craft, and design from cultures around the world. It shares USC PAM's intercultural mission and operates a comparable regional museum model with educational programming.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
USC Pacific Asia Museum social profiles
Digital presenceUSC Pacific Asia Museum compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
USC Pacific Asia Museum financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
USC Pacific Asia Museum leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
USC Pacific Asia Museum funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
USC Pacific Asia Museum M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about USC Pacific Asia Museum
What does USC Pacific Asia Museum do?
USC Pacific Asia Museum operates a single-site cultural institution in Pasadena that displays a permanent collection of Asian and Pacific art spanning more than 5,000 years, hosts rotating exhibitions, and delivers K-12 school tours, distance learning, teen ambassador and teacher professional development programs. It also runs an AI-powered digital gallery guide (AI Curator) and an on-site Shop@PAM retail store, all under the institutional umbrella of the University of Southern California.
Is USC Pacific Asia Museum a public or private company?
USC Pacific Asia Museum is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was USC Pacific Asia Museum founded?
USC Pacific Asia Museum was founded in 1971. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is USC Pacific Asia Museum based?
USC Pacific Asia Museum is headquartered in Pasadena, United States, in the North America region.
How does USC Pacific Asia Museum make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Admission Tickets are the primary driver. The others are membership, donations, museum Shop and corporate and Foundation Support.
Who are USC Pacific Asia Museum's main competitors?
Bowers Museum is listed as a regional player. Broad incumbents are The Getty Center, Norton Simon Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Direct peers are Peabody Essex Museum, Japanese American National Museum, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Fowler Museum at UCLA and Mingei International Museum.
Does USC Pacific Asia Museum have an API?
No public API is recorded for USC Pacific Asia Museum.
What industry is USC Pacific Asia Museum in?
USC Pacific Asia Museum's product category is Art Museum and Cultural Education Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAJADAA, Art Museums, with a secondary code of THAJADAF, Specialty Museums (e.g., Maritime, Aviation, Sports, Music, Film). Its NAICS code is 712110 and its SIC code is 7900.