>> i should not be on stage. when you should be seeing -- i

am used to the stage but not. that is who should be on stage. i am an animator. i am with picks are animation studios. in some ways, i felt comfortable being on stayed behind my computer. it is weird for me to be on the microphone. i have a lot of work to do but i am here to explain that, i'll come to that later. i wanted knowledge some of our special guests this morning. first off, i have some flashcards. how wanted acknowledged and the asian art museum director jay tsu.

when i think of jay hsu, i think, aka dr. j. he is master of the universe. also, i never thought had -- would have the opportunity to introduce the mayor of san francisco, mayor ed lee. i just a to introduce the mayor. that is awesome. we also have a bunch of other special guests today. i would also like to introduce david chiu, president of the board of supervisors. thank you for coming. the mayor does not come along. he has a policy.

supervisor carmen chu is also with us. we are also lucky enough to have supervisor mark farrell as well. maybe he is having a pastry or something. there is a lot of traffic between here and city hall. that is a bad joke, i know. we also have supervisor eric mar here with us this morning. all the supervisors are sitting together. we are also lucky enough to have the chief of protocol for the city of san francisco charlotte schultz. last but not least, we have tony sun, chair of the asian arts commission.

that's good started this morning. i am going to get off the stage and and things off over to jay hsu. he is going to tell us a little bit more about what we're doing today. >> someone needs to hand me the remote. terrific. brand implementation is a journey. the asian art museum embarks on a new journey. to reinvent ourselves, to engage a broad audience. the broad audience is very much at the core of what we do here and who we are. why now, you ask? as the aging world influence grows, so is understanding its culture. more than half of the global population lives in the asia. to look at our own san francisco

bay area, one third of the population are of asian descent. also, a challenging economy offers us the opportunity to take advantage by being bold and taking risks. we need to increase our impact and by doing so, increasing revenue. also, a successful restructuring of our long-term debt. that took place earlier this year and has put the museum on sound financial footing. on that note, i would like to thank the city leaders for leading the effort and working with our newseum team in finding solutions. today, i am particularly happy to say, at this moment in history, we have an asian mayor, asian president of the board of supervisors, and an asian commissioner for budget and

finance. [applause] any successful brand always starts with a strong vision, and we do have a vision. with asia as our lands and aren't as our cornerstone, we start connections across cultures and for time. in other words, asia is our focus, but our per view is global. one single important word in our vision is connection. making connections. we particularly explore connections in two dimensions. we want to connect cultures within asia and also connect culture is globally. asia and the rest of the world. the other dimension is connecting the past with the present and future. in other words, connecting the

historic arts to the contemporary arts of today. for our visitors, we translate our vision into our brand promise, which i want all of you to remember when you leave the building. the past is never static. the past is full of potential for new discovery, new knowledge. our programs are to unlock the great potential of the past, to find a new perspective. to look at the past with today's perspective, today's questions, so that we can learn more from the past. in doing so, we want to inspire the creativity for our program, the creativity that exists within every one of us, to create new conversations, new

questions. awaken the past, inspire the next. in doing so, we want to appeal to our lovers and art newbies. in other words, the museum is for everyone. whether you are local or far away. no matter your interest is in asia or elsewhere in the world, everybody has a connection. we want to make those connections and discoveries. let me give you one example of how we have started to implement our brand and to realize our brand promise for our visitors. across all you will see an exhibition of exquisite korean ceramics dating from the 15th and 16th century, as we all

would display our works of art and the most beautiful of manners, so that our visitors can enjoy the beauty and style of those people. at the same time and, for the first time in our history, we have built a new contemporary dimension to the exhibition. the curator has included work from sample -- several contemporary caribbean artists, ranging from photography to installations, too surprising media that somebody may or may not realize, all of this that you see is made out of soap. this brings up a question, what is a sense of permanence say? looking at the contemporary art enables us to reflect on the

timeless pieces of the 15th and 16th century with new questions, new perspectives. likewise, looking at that contemporary art in the context of the traditional art, we can ask the question, how is art today? what inspires us about tradition? in other words, awaken and inspire. so we will do a lot more along these lines. in doing so, our focus has started to shift from art objects to an experience centered around art. art is at the core of who we are, but want to create a new engaging experience that allows us to connect art to life, connecting to our individual needs. the branding is really about

transforming the institution, how we do our business, but most importantly, how we serve our visitors. how we create a new experience, how we engage our individuals to have individualized experiences. one part of our brand identity is our visual identity. we want that to reflect what our brand is. particularly, three qualities. we want our visual identity to convey that, one, our brand offers a new perspective. second, we are forward and confident. the third, the asian art museum in bites all to engage. in other words, the asian art museum is for all people. offering a new perspective that is bold and confident but inviting everyone to engage. now it is time to unveil at our new visual identity.

may i invite the mayor and our board chair tony to join me in cutting the ribbon. >> wow. it is time. as these folks get in place, i am going to count down. we are all going to say asian altogether. get ready with your scissors. i am going to begin my countdown. 3, 2, 1. asian. wow. [applause]

>> now that the mayor and board chair has helped us through this point, may i invite them up for some pictures?

>> thank you, mr. mayor. thank you, tony. let me repeat once again the three qualities we want our visual identity to convey. a new perspective, bold and confident, and asian arts museum invites all to engage. as you may know, this inverted market is from a mathematical science known as a universal quantifier. we whaant everyone to know thate are here to engage you. we want to awaken and inspire. let me show you a couple of examples of how you can use

this. we have window treatment for everyone. and then we have a new visitor'' guide, a new membership material, a new look. you can take us with you. and also, out and about. i still strongly about this market because it is very versa tile. you can superimpose images from diverse cultures coming asian, not asian, and we can use this in a powerful way. imagine, we can even commissioned artists to do a rendition of this as a sculpture. and the possibilities. before i invite the marriage to give our audience his thoughts, that also -- may also asked take

some pictures please? >> mr. mayer, please. >> good morning, everybody. i want to thank all of the supervisors, my posse