About the Museum
Founded in 2014, Heritage Museum of Asian Art showcases a wide range of art forms, spanning many cultures and time periods of Asia. The museum’s collection includes archaic and modern jades, Neolithic pottery, imperial porcelains, Chinese snuff bottles, scholar’s objects, textiles, bronzes and more. Classical Chinese furniture also adorns the galleries. The museum provides an interconnection between the arts and cultures of Asia for the residents of Chicago and for visitors from all around the world.
Mission and Vision Statement
Our Mission:
The Heritage Museum of Asian Art is dedicated to preserving and promoting the diverse traditions of Asian art—not only through visual works and artifacts, but also through music, dance, performance, and lived cultural experience. The museum strives to enrich present and future generations by offering education, cultural insight, and meaningful opportunities for community engagement. As a platform for cultural exchange and storytelling, it celebrates the richness of Asian heritages while fostering dialogue across racial and ethnic boundaries.
Our Vision:
The Heritage Museum of Asian Art envisions a new way of approaching heritage — not as something static or confined to the past, but as a living continuum to be inherited, developed, and continually renewed. We believe in collective heritage and a shared future, built through solidarity with immigrant communities and cultural organizations across generations and backgrounds.
HMAA’s work is guided by a 50/50 approach: service and exhibition.
Through service, we preserve community stories and legacies, support the education and growth of youth and emerging professionals, and provide expertise and resources that empower collaboration. We build opportunities for cross-generational, cross-cultural, racial, and ethnic connection, fostering a sense of belonging and shared responsibility for cultural preservation.
Through exhibitions, we embrace an educational and human-focused curatorial strategy. Our exhibitions link ancient art and artifacts to contemporary issues and conversations, helping audiences see heritage as a dynamic force that shapes our identities and future. Each exhibition becomes a platform for dialogue, learning, and empathy — where art connects people and generations in the spirit of growth, curiosity, and care.
History
The Heritage Museum of Asian Art (HMAA) is the only museum in the Midwest exclusively dedicated to exhibiting Asian art, and one of only a few such institutions in the United States. Its collection spans diverse regions and historical periods, including jade carvings, pottery, bronzes, imperial porcelains, textiles, furniture, architectural components, and more.
The museum’s founder, Jeffrey Moy, grew up in a working-class immigrant family in Chicago’s Chinatown in the 1940s and 1950s. His parents held labor-intensive jobs, and he began working at age 13 to help support the family. Although he had a deep love for Asian art, access to it was limited. That early gap inspired a lifelong commitment: to create a space where Asian art could be preserved, studied, and shared with people of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Founded in 2014, the museum has worked closely with collectors to present private collections to the public. In many cases, it is the first time these collections have been exhibited for public benefit. During the Asian art market boom of the early 2000s, many U.S.-based collectors sold their Asian art collections in full. During this period, Jeffrey Moy acquired a significant number of Asian art research libraries, making them accessible to the public through HMAA. until the museum lost its original building during the COVID-19 pandemic due to halted fundraising.
In late 2022, the museum reopened in a rented space in Bridgeport with five galleries and a renewed vision. This moment also marked a generational shift—from an exhibition-focused model to a community-centered, engagement-driven institution.
From 2023 to 2025, the museum undertook extensive research to better define its role and purpose for the future. This process received strong community feedback and helped shape what the museum now describes as a 50/50 approach: service and exhibition. It serves not only as a site for artifact preservation, conservation, and education, but also as a platform for art and cultural programming, community history preservation, cross-cultural exchange, intergenerational relationship building, and youth career development.
Our Supporters
