2012 Conference Program - Council of American Jewish Museums

CAJM
Council of American Jewish Museums
2012 Annual Conference
PLACE AND
PURPOSE
Jewish Museums and Community Renewal
CAJM
www.cajm.net
Place and
PurPose
Jewish Museums and Community Renewal
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Place and PurPose : Jewish Museums and Community Renewal
Welcome to the 2012 CAJM conference! We are delighted to be with you in Detroit, a city that has been the
subject of much conversation regarding the challenges our cities face and the vital role that cultural institutions
play in urban renewal. Taking inspiration from our host city, we have planned a conference that explores the role
that Jewish museums play in the communities that they serve and how they negotiate complex issues of race,
class, economics, religious diversity, representation, and culture.
As you look through the program for this year’s conference, please note two things. One is that we have
assembled a top-notch group of speakers drawn from our own member institutions as well as the Detroit
area’s museums, universities, and foundations. The second is that we are taking full advantage of Detroit’s rich
cultural heritage and will be visiting its many premier institutions. Each of these site visits is designed to enrich
our program content by offering unique perspectives on the many ways that museums are in dialog with the
community in which they are situated.
The thought provoking, dynamic, and relevant sessions described in this program have come together thanks
to the tremendous efforts of our hardworking and creative Program Committee. Members helped shape this
year’s conference theme and rose to the challenge of organizing stellar panel discussions and plenaries on a
broad array of topics. We are also grateful to the staff at each of the museums we will be visiting, including CAJM
member sites - the Janice Charach Gallery and Shalom Street at the JCC of Metropolitan Detroit; the Holocaust
Memorial Center; and the Goodman Family Judaic & Archival Museum at Temple Israel - and the Motown
Museum, the Cranbrook Art Museum, The Henry Ford Museum, the Arab American National Museum, the
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.
This year’s gathering once again features Talking Circle sessions as venues for small group discussion, resource
sharing, and problem solving. Our thanks to Lynette Allen and Zahava Doering for taking the lead on organizing
these, as well as to our colleagues who volunteered to serve as moderators. We are also delighted to again
offer a mentorship program, co-chaired by Karen Franklin and Laura Kruger, and a social gathering for young
professionals, co-chaired by Ivy Weingram and Ellie Gettinger.
We extend heartfelt thanks to our Host Co-Chairs, Terri Stearn and Stephen Goldman, for helping plan a
conference that takes full advantage of Detroit’s many resources. Their enthusiasm for showcasing all that
Detroit has to offer is evident throughout the conference program. The CAJM Board, under the leadership of
Chair Judith Margles, has provided continuous support and guidance. As always, we are indebted to the CAJM
staff - Joanne Marks Kauvar, Executive Director; Mindy Humphrey, Administrative Assistant; and Amy Waterman,
Website Manager, for their unending support, enthusiasm, and expertise.
Deborah Cardin and Josh Perelman
Conference Co-Chairs
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Place and PurPose : Jewish Museums and Community Renewal
CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS
HOST CO-CHAIRS
Deborah Cardin, Jewish Museum
of Maryland
Terri Stearn, Janice Charach Gallery,
JCC of Metropolitan Detroit
Josh Perelman, National Museum
of American Jewish History
Stephen M. Goldman, Holocaust
Memorial Center
CONFERENCE PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Lynette Allen, Independent Consultant
Laura Cohen Apelbaum, Jewish Historical Society of
Greater Washington
Jo Ann Arnowitz, Jewish Museum of Florida
Daniel Belasco, The Jewish Museum
Nelly Silagy Benedek, The Jewish Museum
Maya Benton, International Center of Photography
Georgina Kolber, Mizel Museum
Sue Braham Koletsky, The Temple Museum of
Religious Art at The Temple Tifereth-Israel
Laura Kruger, Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion Museum
Rachael Binning, Jewish Museum of Maryland
Susan Loss, Goodman Family Judaic & Archival
Museum at Temple Israel
Susan Chevlowe, Derfner Judaica Museum
Judith Margles, Oregon Jewish Museum
Dara Cohen, The Jewish Museum
Melissa Martens, Museum of Jewish Heritage –
A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Ilene Dackman-Alon, Jewish Museum
of Maryland
Avi Decter, Jewish Museum Maryland
Zahava Doering, Smithsonian Institution
Julie Ochs Dweck, Princeton Art Museum
Alla Efimova, Magnes Collection of Jewish
Art and Life
Kirsten Fermaglich, Michigan State University
Vicki Reikes Fox, Independent Consultant
Karen Franklin, Independent Consultant
Wendi Furman, Philadelphia Museum of
Jewish Art
Liebe Geft, Museum of Tolerance
Ellie Gettinger, Jewish Museum Milwaukee
Gabriel Goldstein, Independent Consultant
Stacey Martin, George Washington University
David McKenzie, Jewish Historical Society of
Greater Washington
Jay Nachman, National Museum of American
Jewish History
Elena Rosemond-Hoerr, Jewish Museum of
Maryland
Judith Rosenbaum, Jewish Women’s Archive
Jean Bloch Rosensaft, Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion Museum
Mark Rothman, Los Angeles Museum of the
Holocaust
Martha Sivertson, Maltz Museum of Jewish
Heritage
Karla Goldman, University of Michigan
Terri Stearn, Janice Charach Gallery, JCC of
Metropolitan Detroit
Stephen Goldman, Holocaust Memorial Center
Rebecca Swindler, Holocaust Memorial Center
Steven Greenberg, Vilna Shul
Fred Wasserman, Independent Consultant
Grace Cohen Grossman, Skirball Cultural Center
Ivy Weingram, National Museum of American
Jewish History
Judith Guston, Rosenbach Museum & Library
Jonathan Karp, American Jewish
Historical Society
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Anita Kassof, Museum of Jewish Heritage –
A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Arielle Weininger, Illinois Holocaust Museum &
Education Center
Meg Whitman, JCC of Manhattan
2012 CAJM FELLOWS
Aviva Babins, Justein Heritage Museum
at Baycrest
Zachary Paul Levine, Yeshiva University
Museum
Rachael Binning, Jewish Museum of
Maryland
Sandra Marianne Preston, Oregon Jewish
Museum
Daniella Gold, Los Angeles Museum of
the Holocaust
Jennifer Roberts, Museum of Jewish Heritage –
A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
CAJM BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Judith Margles, Chair, Jewish Museum
of Oregon
Jo Ann Arnowitz, Jewish Museum of Florida
Gabriel M. Goldstein, Immediate Past
Chair, Yeshiva University Museum
Zahava Doering, Smithsonian Institution
Melissa Martens, Vice-Chair, Museum
of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to
the Holocaust
Avi Y. Decter, Treasurer, Jewish Museum
of Maryland
Lynette Allen, Secretary, Independent
Consultant
Deborah Cardin, Jewish Museum of Maryland
Alla Efimova, Magnes Collection of Jewish Art
and Life
Sue Braham Koletsky, The Temple Museum of
Religious Art at The Temple-Tifereth Israel
Louis D. Levine, Independent Consultant
Josh Perelman, National Museum of American
Jewish History
CAJM STAFF
Joanne Marks Kauvar, Executive Director
Mindy Humphrey, Administrative Assistant
Amy E. Waterman, Website Manager and Editor
MAIN OFFICE:
REMITTANCES:
Council of American Jewish Museums
Council of American Jewish Museums
Center for Judaic Studies, University of Denver
P.O. Box 12025
2000 East Asbury Avenue, Suite 157
Jackson, MS 39236-2025
Denver, CO 80208-0911
(303) 871-3015
www.cajm.net
[email protected]
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CAJM extends its gratitude to the many foundations, institutions, and individuals that are
generously funding and hosting the CAJM 2012 Annual Conference.
GRANTORS, DONORS, AND SPONSORS:
David Berg Foundation
The Berman Center for the Performing Arts
Douglas and Barbara Bloom
Manny and Natalie Charach
Ronald and Lynda Charfoos
CommunityNEXT
Rina Scott Cowan
Rabbi Robert and Virginia Bayer Hirt
JDub Records
Carol Brennglass Spinner
Law Offices of Todd J. Stearn
The Tikvah Fund
Alan Zekelman and Family
Neal and Esther Zelanko
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HOSTS:
Janice Charach Gallery
Terri Stearn, Director
Tina Abohasira, Assistant Director
Shalom Street
Rabbi S. Robert Morais, Director
Andee Liberman, Assistant Director
Daniella Mechnikov, Museum Educator
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit
Mark A. Lit, Executive Director
Brian Siegel, President
Holocaust Memorial Center
Stephen M. Goldman, Executive Director
Rebecca Swindler, Director of Programs
Goodman Family Judaic & Archival Museum at Temple Israel
Susan Loss and Janet Strote, Museum Co-Chairs
Arab American National Museum
Janice Freij, Curator of Education
Sonya Kassis, Educator
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
Juanita Moore, President and CEO
Cranbrook Art Museum
Gregory Wittkopp, Director
Kim Larsen, Senior Administrative Assistant
Stephen Pagnani, Head of Marketing (Cranbrook Institute of Science)
Detroit Institute of Arts
Graham W. J. Beal, Director, President and CEO
Rosemarie L. Giffen, Major Gifts Officer
The Henry Ford Museum
Paula Gangopadhyay, Education Director
Angela Keller Pelc, CMP, Manager of Convention Sales
Motown Museum
K. Audley Smith, Director
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Place and PurPose : Jewish Museums and Community Renewal
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25
6:30 pm
Bus: departs Townsend Hotel to Downtown
LOCATION:
MOTOWN MUSEUM, CAFÉ D’MONGO’S SPEAKEASY, ISAAC AGREE DOWNTOWN
SYNAGOGUE
7:00-9:30 pm
Optional Pre-Conference Museum Tour and Evening Out
Advance registration required.
AN EVENING OUT IN MOTOWN
A lively evening begins at the Motown Museum – Hitsville USA! Located in the house
and original recording studio of Berry Gordy, Jr., founder of the record label that
created the legendary Motown Sound, the museum chronicles the remarkable story
of the music and the people who made the hits heard around the world. Continue on
to the revitalized Café D’Mongo’s Speakeasy and the neighboring historic Isaac Agree
Downtown Synagogue.
9:30 pm
Bus: departs Café D’Mongo’s Speakeasy to Townsend Hotel
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 26
9:00 am
Bus: departs Townsend Hotel to Cranbrook Art Museum
LOCATION:
CRANBROOK ART MUSEUM
9:30-11:30 am
Optional Pre-Conference Museum Tour
Advance registration required.
CRANBROOK ART MUSEUM: A REBIRTH AT THE BIRTHPLACE OF MODERNISM
A very special trip to the Cranbrook Art Museum, which reopened on 11/11/11 after a
$22 million, two-year renovation of its renowned 1942 Eliel Saarinen-designed building
and the addition of a new 20,000 square-foot Collections Wing. The museum resides
on the National Historic Landmark 320-acre campus of the Cranbrook Academy of Art,
“America’s Bauhaus,” one of the nation’s leading graduate schools of art, architecture,
and design, whose faculty and students included the creative luminaries of mid-century
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modernism. No Object is an Island: New Dialogues with the Cranbrook Collection, the
museum’s opening exhibitions, juxtaposes selections from the collection with works by
contemporary artists.
11:30 am
Bus: departs Cranbrook Art Museum to JCC of Metropolitan Detroit
11:30 am
Bus: departs Townsend Hotel to JCC of Metropolitan Detroit
LOCATION:
JCC OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT
12:00 pm
Conference Registration Opens
12:00-1:30 pm
Welcome Lunch and Viewing of the Janice Charach Gallery and Shalom Street
The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit welcomes CAJM to its campus
with a congenial lunch and an opportunity to visit its art destinations. The Janice
Charach Gallery is the largest JCC gallery in the country and features a wide array of
changing exhibitions of Jewish art and works by Jewish artists. Shalom Street, one of
the first Jewish children’s museums, offers a lively interactive experience.
1:30-3:00 pm
Plenary Keynote Address
JEWS AND AMERICAN CITIES
Speaker: DEBORAH DASH MOORE
Jews have always been identified with American cities. Jewish concentration in very few
areas of the United States has influenced both the character of American urban life and
Jewish social, cultural, and religious life. The keynote address untangles some of the
threads of Jewish participation in American cities to explore how Jews have contributed
to those cities and consider the implications of urban living on Jews themselves.
Deborah Dash Moore is Professor of History at the University of Michigan and Director
of the Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies. An historian of American Jews,
she focuses on the twentieth century experience.
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Sunday, February 26 - continued
3:00-4:00 pm
Concurrent Talking Circles
Advance registration required.
TALKING CIRCLES
Talking Circles are designed to foster candid and open discussion among small
affiliated groups around a shared topic. Conferees select a Talking Circle based on
their area of professional activity and will gather twice during the conference with
their group.
CURATING THE PRESENT: KEEPING IT CONTEMPORARY
CURATING OUTSIDE THE BOX: NEW STRATEGIES FOR VISITOR PARTICIPATION IN
EXHIBITIONS
SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING: MAJOR/CAPITAL CAMPAIGNS AND
ANNUAL GIVING
MARKETING/TECHNOLOGY: NEW IMPACT, NEW TOOLS
PROGRAMMING/EDUCATION: PUT IN THE PUNCH
MANAGEMENT: BUILDING A DYNAMIC ORGANIZATION
COLLECTION MANAGEMENT: ACCESSION AND DE-ACCESSION
4:00-5:30 pm
Concurrent Sessions
COLLECTING THE CONTEMPORARY, PART II
Session Chair: ALLA EFIMOVA, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
Moderator: JACOB WISSE, Yeshiva University Museum
Discussants: ALLA EFIMOVA, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life; DANIEL
BELASCO, The Jewish Museum; JOBI ZINK, Jewish Museum of Maryland
The workshop follows up on last year’s conference session “Collecting the
Contemporary” and the work of the CAJM task force on identifying strategic goals
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and priorities in American Jewish repositories. Task force members, representing a
range of collecting institutions, will share their findings and solicit input from workshop
participants on the next phase of their work. Representatives of collecting museums,
libraries, and archives are specifically invited to join the workshop. Attendance is open
to all conferees.
COLLABORATION, CREATIVITY, AND COMMUNITY BUILDING: CASE STUDIES FOR
SUCCESS IN A MARKETPLACE OF CULTURAL OFFERINGS
Session Chairs: SUSAN CHEVLOWE, Derfner Judaica Museum; SUE BRAHAM KOLETSKY,
The Temple Museum of Religious Art at The Temple-Tifereth Israel
Moderator: SUSAN CHEVLOWE, Derfner Judaica Museum
Panelists include: ARTHUR FELDMAN, Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art; SUE
BRAHAM KOLETSKY, The Temple Museum of Religious Art at The Temple-Tifereth Israel;
WENDI FURMAN, Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art at Congregation Rodeph Shalom
How do Jewish museums compete for audiences in an ever growing marketplace of
cultural offerings? This session is directed especially to small and mid size museums and
offers case studies from institutions that have taken advantage of unique demographic
niches to position themselves through collaborations, creativity, and community
building. Learn what strategies have allowed these museums to make their mark and
successfully attract audiences.
BUILDING BRIDGES: MUSEUMS AND SCHOOLS AS PARTNERS
Session Chairs: RACHAEL BINNING, Jewish Museum of Maryland; ELENA ROSEMONDHOERR, Jewish Museum of Maryland
Moderator: RACHAEL BINNING, Jewish Museum of Maryland
Panelists: ELENA ROSEMOND-HOERR, Jewish Museum of Maryland; LEIGHANN SMITH,
Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School; JILL MALUSKY, Massillon Museum
School systems throughout the country – in urban, suburban, and rural areas – face
significant challenges. Museum can play a vital community building role by engaging
local schools through educational outreach. Learn about innovative projects,
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Sunday, February 26 - continued
partnerships, and initiatives that are making an impact and serve as a catalyst for school
improvement. Engage with colleagues in a planning session that will jumpstart your
museum-school partnership.
5:30 pm
Bus: departs JCC to Temple Israel
LOCATION:
TEMPLE ISRAEL
5:45-7:15 pm
Museum Tour and Dinner
The Goodman Family Judaic & Archival Museum at Temple Israel hosts CAJM colleagues
for a festive dinner and viewing of its collection. With nearly 3,500 member families,
the synagogue is the largest Reform congregation in the country.
7:15 pm
Bus: departs Temple Israel to JCC
LOCATION:
JCC OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT
7:30-9:00 pm
Performance
BERMAN CENTER PRESENTS
A special concert in honor of the conference is presented in the new Berman Center for
the Performing Arts, the latest addition to the largest JCC in the country.
9:00 pm
Bus: departs JCC to Townsend Hotel
LOCATION:
THE CORNER AT THE TOWNSEND
9:30-11:00 pm
No-Host Get-Together
YOUNG PROFESSIONALS AFTER HOURS
A night out at Birmingham’s top bar for CAJM young professionals and Detroit’s
CommunityNEXT, an under-40s group reviving city life.
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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27
8:45 am
Bus: departs Townsend Hotel to The Henry Ford Museum
LOCATION:
THE HENRY FORD MUSEUM
9:30-10:30 am
Museum Tour
One of America’s preeminent history museums, The Henry Ford is a tribute to invention
and innovation and our country’s defining historic moments. Its collection includes
iconic holdings ranging from R. Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion House to the Rosa Parks
Bus, as well as the newly reinstalled Automobile in American Life. Attendees will explore
the exhibition With Liberty and Justice for All, focusing on its Civil Rights Movement
component.
10:30 am-12:00 pm
Concurrent Sessions
WHERE THE PARTICULAR ENCOUNTERS THE UNIVERSAL: THE CIVIL RIGHTS
MOVEMENT IN MUSEUM EDUCATION
Session Chairs: JUDITH ROSENBAUM, Jewish Women’s Archive; KARLA GOLDMAN,
University of Michigan
Moderator: KARLA GOLDMAN, University of Michigan
Panelists: PAULA GANGOPADHYAY, The Henry Ford Museum; LANESHA
DEBARDELABEN, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History; JUDITH
ROSENBAUM, Jewish Women’s Archive
Hands-on and virtual educational approaches to the Civil Rights Movement provide
a case study for how museums and archives use stories of particular communities to
engage audiences in larger narratives about justice, identity, and social change. Where
do the particular and the universal merge, and where are they in tension? Which stories
are highlighted, which are not, and why?
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Monday, February 27 - continued
CRITIQUING THE SHOW
Session Chair and Moderator: AVI DECTER, Jewish Museum of Maryland
Panelists: ANITA KASSOF, Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the
Holocaust; DONNA BRADEN, The Henry Ford Museum; JUDITH ENDELMAN, The Henry
Ford Museum; ZACHARY PAUL LEVINE, Yeshiva University Museum
Exhibition developers offer a critique of the With Liberty and Justice for All exhibit
viewed by conferees prior to the session. Panelists will discuss the exhibition from the
visitor viewpoint, looking at themes, interpretation, script, object selection, design, and
media, with respondents from The Henry Ford.
12:00-1:00 pm
Lunch and Town Hall Meeting
LUNCH AND TOWN HALL MEETING
1:00 pm
Bus: departs The Henry Ford Museum to Arab American National Museum
LOCATION:
ARAB AMERICAN NATIONAL MUSEUM
1:30-2:00 pm
Museum Tour
The first museum of its kind, the Arab American National Museum brings the voices
and faces of Arab Americans to mainstream audiences, dispelling misconceptions and
highlighting the shared experiences of immigrants and ethnic groups while paying
tribute to the diversity of our nation. It features changing exhibitions and permanent
galleries exploring Coming to America, Living in America, Making an Impact, and Arab
Civilization: Our Heritage.
2:00-3:30 pm
Plenary Session
CURATING THE 21ST CENTURY
Session Chairs: MELISSA MARTENS, Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to
the Holocaust; JUDITH MARGLES, Oregon Jewish Museum
Moderator: MELISSA MARTENS, Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to
the Holocaust
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Panelists: JANICE FREIJ, Arab American National Museum; JONATHAN ALGER, C&G
Partners; GABRIEL GOLDSTEIN, Independent Consultant
In this new century, a multitude of new stories are upon us, and unfolding before us.
The past dozen years have been dramatic and challenging, and also represent significant
demographic shifts and generational changes. This session explores how museums
contend with contemporary issues through exhibitions and new mediums.
3:30 pm
Bus: departs Arab American National Museum to Holocaust Memorial Center
LOCATION:
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER
4:00-5:00 pm
Concurrent Talking Circles
TALKING CIRCLES
Continue the small group discussions begun Sunday. Refreshments will be served.
5:00-6:30 pm
Concurrent Sessions
IN-HOUSE: SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS DRAWN FROM PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Session Chair and Moderator: IVY WEINGRAM, National Museum of American
Jewish History
Panelists: JUDITH GUSTON, Rosenbach Museum & Library; NANCY SOJKA, Detroit
Institute of Arts
In the current economic climate, museums are looking inward to present special
exhibitions using objects drawn from their own collections, in some cases bringing
to light treasures rarely seen by the public. This session explores the benefits and
challenges of this exhibition plan, budgetary considerations, and public and critical
response, and offers practical advice for mining your permanent collection for
exhibition ideas.
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Monday, February 27 - continued
THE POWER OF PLACE
Session Chairs: ANITA KASSOF, Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the
Holocaust; LAURA COHEN APELBAUM, Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington;
GEORGINA KOLBER, Mizel Museum
Moderator: ZAHAVA DOERING, Smithsonian Institution
Panelists: LAURA COHEN APELBAUM, Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington;
ANITA KASSOF, Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust;
GEORGINA KOLBER, Mizel Museum
In an increasingly multi-ethnic America, how can Jewish museums use our galleries,
historic sites, exhibitions and programs, and neighborhoods to reach beyond Jewish
audiences? Have you partnered with non-Jewish neighborhood institutions to reach
new audiences? Do your student visitors come from local public schools? Is your
museum located in a multi-ethnic neighborhood? Do your exhibitions and programs
encourage diverse audiences to visit your institution? This session will raise a range of
possibilities based on case studies from the panelists’ institutions and invite participants
to share their own experiences.
6:30-7:30 pm
Museum Tour
The Holocaust Memorial Center was among the nation’s first freestanding Holocaust
museums. Envisioned by a group of survivors in the 1960s, it opened in 1984. The
current 51,000 square-foot center, with its evocative architectural design, was dedicated
in 2004 and features changing exhibitions and a sequence of permanent galleries on
European Jewish Heritage, World War II, The Final Solution, Post-War World, and Institute
of the Righteous.
7:30 pm-9:30 pm
Dinner and Plenary Session
Generously hosted by the Holocaust Memorial Center, the dinner will be followed by a
plenary session.
HOLOCAUST PRESENTATION AND REPRESENTATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Session Chairs: ARIELLE WEININGER, Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center;
KIRSTEN FERMAGLICH, Michigan State University
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Moderator: IVY BARSKY, National Museum of American Jewish History
Panelists: CLIFFORD CHANIN, National September 11 Memorial & Museum; SCOTT
MILLER, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; RICHARD HIRSCHHAUT, Illinois
Holocaust Museum & Education Center
As the number of Holocaust survivors diminishes, how will that affect Holocaust
museums, memorials, and Jewish museums in perpetuating the remembrance of the
Holocaust and preserving its memory? How should Holocaust museums and memorials
change as we move further into the 21st century? Should Holocaust museums address
other acts of genocide in the world in order to make connections to new and different
audiences? If so, can they avoid platitudes, clichés, and distortions? In the search
for “universal meaning,” how do our museums continue to engage with the specific
historical events of Europe in the 1930s and 1940s?
9:30 pm
Bus: departs Holocaust Memorial Center to Townsend Hotel
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 28
8:45 am
Bus: departs Townsend Hotel to Museum of African American History
LOCATION:
CHARLES H. WRIGHT MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
9:30-10:30 am
Museum Tour
Founded in 1965, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History is the
world’s largest institution dedicated to the African American experience. Museum
staff will guide conferees in specialized tours of the core exhibit, And Still We Rise: Our
Journey Through African American History and Culture.
10:30 am-12:00 pm
Plenary Session
THE FUTURE OF NEW JEWISH CULTURE
Session Chair: JUDITH MARGLES, Oregon Jewish Museum
Moderator: ELISE BERNHARDT, Foundation for Jewish Culture
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Tuesday, February 28 - continued
Panelists: AARON BISMAN, JDub Records; FELICIA HERMAN, Natan Foundation; ALLA
EFIMOVA, The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life
The recent demise of JDub has reinvigorated worries about reaching the 20–35 yearold demographic and more generally about the sustainability of Jewish innovation.
Are Jewish museums culturally positioned as institutions to be incubators and
innovators? This panel convenes professionals from the Jewish communal world to
explore such pressing issues.
12:00 pm
Bus: departs Museum of African American History to Detroit Institute of Arts
LOCATION:
DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS
12:30-1:30 pm
Lunch
1:30-2:30 pm
Museum Tour
The world-renowned Detroit Institute of Arts completed its most recent renovation
and expansion in 2007, including a widely-acclaimed innovative reinstallation of its
permanent collection. A hallmark of the DIA is the diversity of this collection, which
spans American, European, Modern and Contemporary, Graphic, African, Asian, Native
American, Oceanic, Islamic, and Ancient art, displayed in more than 100 galleries. DIA
staff will lead a variety of specialized tours for CAJM conferees.
2:30-4:00 pm
Plenary Session
MOTOR CITY FRONTIERS
Session Chair: JOSH PERELMAN, National Museum of American Jewish History
Session Moderator: RICHARD L. ROGERS, College for Creative Studies and Detroit
Renaissance Task Force
Panelists: GRAHAM BEAL, Detroit Institute of Arts; DAVID EGNER, Hudson-Webber
Foundation and New Economy Initiative; JUANITA MOORE, Charles H. Wright Museum of
African American History; LILA CORWIN BERMAN, Temple University
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Detroit, a place so central to 20th century America in both its ascendance and its decline,
has become an archetype for a post-industrial city plagued by white-flight and economic
deterioration. But, recent developments suggest Detroit may also come to serve as a
new kind of model of how to build cultural meaning despite limited public resources.
How can the historical challenges faced by this community speak to and inform the work
of cultural institutions throughout the country? And what can they learn from Detroit’s
complex narrative, its ethnic and racial diversity, its complicated history of urban
migration to the suburbs, as well as its emerging opportunities?
4:00 pm
Bus: departs Detroit Institute of Arts to Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Advance registration required.
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conference locations
Townsend Hotel
One Hundred Townsend Street
Birmingham, MI 48009
248-642-7900
Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
315 East Warren Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201
313-494-5800
Motown Museum
2648 West Grand Boulevard
Detroit, MI 48208
313-875-2264
Detroit Institute of Arts
5200 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48202
313-833-7900
Café D’Mongo’s Speakeasy
1439 Griswold Street
Detroit, MI 48226
Cranbrook Art Museum
39221 Woodward Avenue
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303
248-645-3323
JCC of Metropolitan Detroit
6600 West Maple Road
West Bloomfield, MI 48322
248-661-1000
The Henry Ford Museum
20900 Oakwood Boulevard
Dearborn, MI 48124
313-982-6001
Arab American National Museum
13624 Michigan Avenue
Dearborn, MI 48126
313-624-0220
Holocaust Memorial Center
28123 Orchard Lake Road
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248-553-2400
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a tribute to three colleagues
In the course of a year, three admired, accomplished, and influential Jewish museum professionals will have retired
from leadership positions at CAJM institutions across the country. All three have made enormous contributions to
our field. We regret that our “conversations” with them may be less frequent in the future, but here, at least, we can
extend gratitude for all that we have learned from them, and we can wish them great happiness and fulfillment in their
next adventures.
AVI Y. DECTER
Avi Y. Decter, who will be retiring in June from his position as Executive Director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland
in Baltimore, has woven his passion for history into a distinguished career marked by diverse and substantial
accomplishments. Educated at Columbia University (BA in Anthropology) and Brandeis University (MA in the History
of American Civilization), he was the Kohn Memorial Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science,
University of London. During his tenure at the JMM, he has led the museum’s growth in program, staff, budget,
publications, and audiences, both on and off-site. He managed the two-year archaeological and historical analysis
of the museum’s Lloyd Street Synagogue and secured more than one million dollars in public funds to restore the
building. Under his leadership, the JMM’s national significance has been recognized by its re-accreditation by the
American Association of Museums, receipt of multiple awards from the American Association for State and Local
History, and awarding of grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Endowment for the
Humanities, and National Endowment for the Arts.
In addition to his duties as Executive Director of the JMM, Avi is a founder and principal of HISTORY NOW, a public
history consulting firm. Among his many commissions as Interpretive Planner and Program Developer are core
exhibition projects at the National Museum of American History, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The
Jewish Museum, the National Civil War Museum, Lowell National Historic Park, and the Louisville Slugger Museum and
Visitor Center.
Avi was a senior consultant to the National Foundation for Jewish Culture for 21 years, and he previously served as
Director of the National Museum of American Jewish History. A dedicated member of the CAJM Board of Directors, he
is Treasurer and led the effort to develop the organization’s new strategic plan approved last year.
EILEEN GARRY
When most people hit “retirement age,” they retire. Eileen Garry didn’t take that route. Instead, she began working
for what was then known in Kansas City as the Museum Without Walls. Almost exactly 20 years later, Eileen has now
retired as Executive Director of the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art. At age 86, she has assumed the
title of Executive Director Emeritus, but expects to remain active with the gallery – an inspiration to us all!
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The museum has undergone a variety of name changes and venues over the years, but its mission has remained
constant, connecting communities and generations through the arts. KCJMCA’s purpose is to provide innovative art
exhibitions and related programming that engage seniors and diverse audiences from all segments of the community
to enrich lives and celebrate our common humanity. The museum realizes this goal through its Epsten Gallery at
Village Shalom, the Jewish community’s continuum-care campus. The ongoing Museum Without Walls program
fosters collaborative partnerships with other venues.
Eileen’s involvement with the museum began when founder Sybil Kahn recruited her to volunteer. A self-described
“professional volunteer,” she had served in leadership roles in a variety of educational and Jewish communal
organizations and her synagogue. As she took on increasing responsibilities for the museum, it moved into a
permanent home at the Epsten Gallery, achieved greater financial stability through development of a solid foundation
of donor support and creation of an endowment, successfully completed a five-year strategic plan, and became a
vital cultural entity in Kansas City. Of the many highlights of Eileen’s tenure, she is most proud of the reputation it has
earned, delightedly acknowledging, “We have definitely made a name for ourselves.”
JANE LEAVEY
Jane Leavey, Executive Director of the Breman Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum, retired at the end of 2011 after
28 years as the voice of Atlanta’s Jewish history. While a staff member of the Atlanta Jewish Federation in the 1980s,
Leavey participated in the creation of an exhibition at Emory titled Jews and Georgians: A Meeting of Cultures 17331983. Through the efforts of a volunteer acquisitions committee, wonderful material evidence of Jewish life in the
state was discovered, but much of it was not likely to be preserved because there was no existing archive or historical
society. The experience subsequently led Jane to advocate for the need for an archives and history museum focused
on the settlement and presence of Jews in Atlanta, and she set out to build an institution.
After the Federation Board gave Jane and a dedicated group of volunteers the go-ahead, the Jewish Community
Archives was established in 1985; a Holocaust resource center and exhibition with a statewide program of Holocaust
education and school tours in 1986; and participation in an oral history project begun by the NCJW and AJC in
1989. Throughout those years, exhibitions and public programs were presented in various venues around the city.
Philanthropist William Breman stepped forward and offered the lead gift to house the archives and museum in one
facility, and the Breman Museum opened to the public in 1996.
Today that museum is a robust regional resource, welcoming 30,000 visitors annually. Numerous of its original
exhibitions have traveled nationally to much acclaim, including Where the Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendak in His Own
Words & Pictures; ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938-1950; and Seeking Justice:
The Leo Frank Case Revisited. Jane is most fortunate to have been founding director of a significant institution – and
her community is the fortunate beneficiary.
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conference Presenters
JONATHAN ALGER is a founder of C&G Partners, a multidisciplinary design firm in New York. He specializes
in exhibitions, interactive environments, and public spaces. His clients include the US Holocaust Memorial
Museum, Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Japanese-American National
Museum, National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, US Department of State,
Los Angeles Public Library, Boston Public Library, Library of Congress, and Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.
He has worked on projects from Mississippi to Mecca, and many places in between. Jonathan has been honored
by the AIGA, ADC, AASLH, and is a repeat winner of the AAM MUSE award for use of technology in museums.
Jonathan graduated from Yale University.
LAURA COHEN APELBAUM has been the Executive Director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater
Washington and its Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum since 1994. During her tenure she has worked to
dramatically increase membership while emphasizing outreach, been successful in having public programming
cosponsored by myriad institutions, and made a commitment to restoring the historic 1876 Adas Israel
Synagogue, which the Society stewards. Her future plans involve moving the historic synagogue and building to
an adjacent museum. In 2002, Laura played an instrumental role in saving the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue and
facilitated its return to Jewish communal use. Laura serves on the national board for Jewish American Heritage
Month and recently served on the committee for the new monument for Jewish chaplains at Arlington National
Cemetery. She is a past steering committee member and chair of CAJM.
IVY BARSKY is the Gwen Goodman Museum Director and Chief Operating Officer of the National Museum of
American Jewish History where she oversees museum operations, including collections, exhibitions, education,
and visitor services. Prior to joining the National Museum of American Jewish History, Ivy was Deputy Director
of the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York. During her tenure at
MJH she was project director of the museum’s award-winning new media projects. She founded the Education
Department in 1996, helped shape the content of MJH’s core exhibition, and developed and supervised all
education activities, public programs, interpretive strategies, and outreach to schools and adult groups. She was
instrumental in the planning of the MJH’s major 82,000-square-foot Robert Morgenthau wing. Ivy has received
the New York City Museum Educators Roundtable Award for Excellence in Museum Education and is an Adjunct
Professor in Museum Studies at New York University.
GRAHAM BEAL is the Director, President and CEO of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Graham has overseen two
major capital campaigns, guided the reinstallation of the museum’s world-renowned collection, and overseen
the museum’s renovation and expansion. He has held many prestigious positions including Director of the
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Director of the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, and Chief Curator at the
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Graham has published many exhibition catalogs, books, and articles
including an exhibition catalogue on the DIA’s American paintings. He has served on numerous art panels, was
a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions, a member of the Board of Trustees
of the Association of Art Museum Directors, and Chair of its Art Issues Committee. He also served on the Board
of Trustees of the American Association of Museums. Graham is a native of Great Britain and has degrees in
English and Art History from the University of Manchester and the Courtauld Institute of Art.
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DANIEL BELASCO is Henry J. Leir Associate Curator at The Jewish Museum in New York. He specializes in
postwar and contemporary art and design, and is authoring a book on feminist consciousness in New York
School art. Daniel has curated exhibitions including Reinventing Ritual: Contemporary Art and Design for Jewish
Life and Shifting the Gaze: Painting and Feminism. He was also Co-Curator of SITE, Santa Fe’s Eighth International
Biennial exhibition in 2010-2011. He holds a PhD and MA from the Institute of Fine Arts and New York
University, and has published essays and reviews in numerous journals including Art in America and
Art News.
LILA CORWIN BERMAN is Associate Professor of History at Temple University. She holds the Murray Friedman
Chair of American Jewish History and directs the Feinstein Center for American Jewish History.
She is author of Speaking of Jews: Rabbis, Intellectuals, and the Creation of an American Public Identity.
The book has been awarded recognition from the Center for Jewish History and the National Foundation for
Jewish Culture, and was a finalist for the Jewish Book Council’s Sami Rohr Prize. Lila is currently working on
a new book tentatively titled Jewish Urban Journeys Through an American City and Beyond that traces Jews’
journeys away from Detroit in the postwar years. An article based upon this research is forthcoming in the
Journal of American History. She has also published articles in Jewish Social Studies, American Jewish History,
Religion and American Culture, the Forward, and Sh’ma. In 2007-2008, she was a fellow at the University of
Michigan’s Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies. Lila received her BA from Amherst College and her PhD
from Yale.
ELISE BERNHARDT is President and CEO of the Foundation for Jewish Culture (formerly the National Foundation
for Jewish Culture) where she began her tenure in June 2006. Prior to holding this position, Elise was the Artistic
Advisor of NYCity Center’s Fall for Dance Festival. She was Executive Director of The Kitchen, the performance
space in Chelsea, NY, and she founded the organization Dancing in the Streets, which produces performances
in public spaces, where she directed from 1983 - 1998. She has served on numerous panels and committees
and has been the recipient of the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture, the BAX
10 Award, the Doris C. Freedman Award for enriching the public environment, a Certificate of Merit from the
Municipal Art Society of NYC, and a Distinguished Alumnae citation from Sarah Lawrence College.
RACHAEL BINNING is the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Jewish Museum of Maryland, where she
works to increase community interest in and access to the museum and its resources. Some of her projects
include managing the museum’s traveling exhibitions, creating long term museum-school partnerships, and
teaching offsite educational programs. She holds an MA in Public Humanities from Brown University, and a BA in
History and Jewish Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
AARON BISMAN is a social entrepreneur interested in the intersection of community, culture, and social
responsibility. In 2002 he co-founded JDub, a not-for-profit media company whose mission is to forge vibrant
connections to Judaism through music, media, and cultural events. Aaron discovered and managed the artist
formerly known as Matisyahu and Israeli globetrotting superstars Balkan Beat Box. In 2005 he co-founded the
Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists. Aaron was recognized by the Forward 50 and the White House
as part of Jewish American Heritage Month. Aaron is a graduate of NYU’s Music Business program.
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DONNA R. BRADEN, a Curator at The Henry Ford, was the Exhibit Developer of With Liberty and Justice For
All. During her 34 years at the Museum, she has worked on numerous exhibits, wearing a range of hats from
content expert to team leader to visitor evaluator. She has published articles, given workshops, and presented
conference papers on museum visitor experience and exhibit process.
CLIFFORD CHANIN is founder of The Legacy Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting
contemporary responses – in visual art, literature, film and public debates about memory – to historical traumas
in societies around the world. He is Curator of the Legacy of Absence collection for the Holocaust Memorial
Foundation of Illinois, Co-Editor of Blooming Through the Ashes: An Anthology on Violence and the Human
Spirit, and is a Senior Program Advisor at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. He organizes public
programs for the Memorial Museum and produces and moderates the webcast Exploring 9/11: The World
Before and After. He was Associate Director of Arts and Humanities at the Rockefeller Foundation, is the current
Editor of a monthly Op-Ed column, Islam and the World, for Project Syndicate, and has worked as a journalist
and spokesman for the Mayor of New York. Clifford received a BA from Wesleyan University and an MA in
Journalism and International Affairs from Columbia University.
SUSAN CHEVLOWE is Chief Curator and Museum Director of the Derfner Judaica Museum and The Art
Collection at The Hebrew Home at Riverdale, and teaches in the Jewish Art and Visual Culture program at the
Jewish Theological Seminary. A former curator at The Jewish Museum, New York, she has organized more than
two dozen exhibitions since 1989. Her essay on the 19th-century Polish artist Maurycy Gottlieb will be included
in the forthcoming Countering Shylock, an anthology of Jewish responses to Shakespeare’s stereotypical Jewish
moneylender. Susan received her PhD in Art History from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
LANESHA DEBARDELABEN is the Director of Archives & Libraries at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African
American History. LaNesha lives by the motto, “To whom much is given, much is required.” While pursuing her
BA in History and Secondary Education from Kalamazoo College, she studied abroad in Kenya, interning at the
National Museum of Kenya. She received an MA in History and Museum Studies from the University of Missouri
in St. Louis, and an MLS in Archives Management from Indiana University-Bloomington. LaNesha has served on
the Boards of Directors of the Michigan Council for History Education, Genesee County Historical Society, and
Greater Flint Arts Council. She is affiliated with numerous professional and civic organizations.
AVI DECTER is the Executive Director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland and managing partner of HISTORY
NOW, a consulting firm. He has served as Interpretive Planner and Program Developer on many projects,
including the core exhibition at The Jewish Museum, New York, and the permanent exhibition at the US
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. He has served on the AAM exhibition critique panel.
ZAHAVA D. DOERING, a University of Chicago trained sociologist, conducts research and studies for museums
and cultural institutions. Her expertise is in background studies for exhibitions, prototype testing, assessing the
experiences of exhibition users, and developmental evaluation. At the Smithsonian Institution she founded the
Institutional Studies, incorporated into the Office of Policy and Analysis. She is now its Senior Social Scientist.
Zahava is Editor of Curator: The Museum Journal, past Co-Chair of AAM’s Committee on Audience Research
and Evaluation, active in the Visitor Studies Association, as well as board member and pro bono Research and
Evaluation Consultant to the Council of American Jewish Museums and its members.
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ALLA EFIMOVA is the Executive Director & Chief Curator of the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life at
the University of California, Berkeley. She previously served as the Associate Curator at the UC Berkeley Art
Museum/Pacific Film Archive. She has taught Art History and Museum Studies at UC Berkeley, Santa Cruz, and
Irvine, and at the San Francisco Art Institute. She is the recipient of a Getty Curatorial Research Fellowship and
an author of books and essays on modern art, photography, and issues in Jewish visual culture.
DAVID EGNER is the President & CEO of the Hudson-Webber Foundation, which concentrates its efforts and
resources on its mission of improving the quality of life in metropolitan Detroit. He also serves as Executive
Director of the New Economy Initiative, a philanthropic partnership dedicated to accelerating the transition of
southeast Michigan to a more innovation-based economy. David has more than 20 years experience working
with nonprofits and foundations. He serves on the boards of the Downtown Detroit Partnership and the Council
of Michigan Foundations, Inc., among many others, and is Chairman of the Michigan Future Board of Directors
and Leadership Council. In 2006, David was appointed by Governor Granholm as a member of the Michigan
Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs, and in 2009 he was named one of Crain’s Newsmakers of the Year for his
work with both the Hudson-Webber Foundation and NEI. David is a graduate of Leadership Detroit Class XIX and
previously chaired the Leadership Detroit Trustees.
JUDITH ENDELMAN is Director of the Benson Ford Research Center at The Henry Ford. In her 25 years at The
Henry Ford, Judith has held a variety of leadership positions in the collections, curatorial, and research areas,
spearheading many initiatives, including the construction of the Benson Ford Research Center, which opened in
2002. Judith has participated in the development of numerous exhibits and has published several books, most
recently Telling America’s Story: A History of The Henry Ford, which she co-edited and co-authored.
ARTHUR M. FELDMAN has been Executive Director of the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa since
2007. Holding advanced degrees in both Art History and Archaeology, he began his career as a Visiting Curator
at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and then as Assistant Administrator/Curator at the Renwick
Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution. He is a former Vice President of Spertus College of Judaica (now Spertus
Institute) in Chicago and Director of the Maurice Spertus Museum of Judaica, a position he left to start his own
antique, appraisal and Judaica business.
JANICE FREIJ began her work with ACCESS’ Cultural Arts Program in 1999 as the Educational Outreach
Coordinator. During her time at ACCESS, she helped to develop and implement SURA, a youth photography
program that later became the recipient of the prestigious Coming Up Taller Award in 2008. She is currently the
Curator of Education at the Arab American National Museum (AANM). Her responsibilities include organizing
and implementing the AANM’s nationwide educational activities, including cultural competency workshops
for students and professionals. She has published an article about cultural competency efforts post 9/11
in the Journal of Museum Education Spring 2011 issue titled, “Beyond Teachers.” Janice is an advocate of
utilizing multiple social media tools in many of the AANM’s youth programs as a means to share art, ideas, and
information with those around the globe.
WENDI FURMAN is the Director and Curator of the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art. The PMJA has, since
1976, showcased contemporary art that illuminates the Jewish experience within historic Congregation Rodeph
Shalom. Prior to becoming Director of the PMJA she taught the History of Art, Architecture and Interior Design
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in the School of Architecture at Philadelphia University. She began her career as a professional and fine art
photographer. She received her BA in Fine Arts from Ramapo College and her MA in Art History from the
University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of several professional organizations and is on the Advisory Board
of the Jewish Art Salon.
PAULA GANGOPADHYAY is the Director of Education at The Henry Ford, where she is responsible for the
leadership, strategic direction, design and development of education. Paula has served as Curator of Education,
Public Programs and Visitor Services at the Public Museum of Grand Rapids, Executive Director of the Great
Lakes Center for Education, Research and Practice, and Executive Director of the Commission for Lansing Schools
Success. She was also selected as a finalist for the 2000 Governor’s Service award. Paula holds an MA in History,
certification in Archival, Museum and Editing Studies, and a fellowship in Education Policy.
KARLA GOLDMAN is the Sol Drachler Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan, where she directs
the Jewish Communal Leadership Program, a collaborative effort between the School of Social Work and the
Frankel Center for Judaic Studies. Karla is the author of Beyond the Synagogue Gallery: Finding a Place for
Women in American Judaism. Her current work focuses on the history of the Jews of Cincinnati and the Jewish
experience of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Karla previously taught at Hebrew Union College-Jewish
Institute of Religion in Cincinnati and served as Historian in Residence at the Jewish Women’s Archive.
GABRIEL GOLDSTEIN is an Adjunct Professor of Art History at Yeshiva University and a museum curator and
consultant. A specialist in Jewish art and material culture, he worked for over two decades at Yeshiva University
Museum, most recently as their Associate Director for Exhibitions and Programs. He was previously employed
at The Jewish Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum. Gabe also serves as the Adjunct Curator of Judaica
at the North Carolina Museum of Art. He is the Immediate Past Chair and a board member of the Council of
American Jewish Museums, and a member of the advisory committee of the American Association of Museums’
Web Portal on Nazi-era Provenance. Gabe studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Jerusalem, the University of Toronto,
and the Bard Graduate Center, where he was recently awarded an MPhil degree and is completing his doctoral
dissertation on visuality and materiality in Jewish ceremonial objects.
JUDITH M. GUSTON is the Curator and Director of Collections at the Rosenbach Museum & Library in
Philadelphia. The Rosenbach is a house museum and research library that offers a range of standard and
special-subject tours, exhibitions, and public programs. Judy and her staff mount an average of eight changing
exhibitions a year in four galleries drawing from collections nearing 400,000 objects. She has curated exhibitions
that range from single-artist shows to multi-media exhibitions that discuss topics such as authenticity and
censorship. The Rosenbach prides itself on its work with consulting curators, visiting artists, and team-curating
of exhibitions.
FELICIA HERMAN is the Executive Director of The Natan Fund, a giving collaborative of young philanthropists
that has awarded over $7.7 million in grants to over 125 nonprofit startups, emerging organizations, and social
entrepreneurs around the world since 2003. She serves on the board of Bikkurim, An Incubator for New Jewish
Ideas, as well as on advisory boards for several of Natan’s partners and grantee organizations. She holds a PhD
in American Jewish History and an MA in Jewish Women’s History from Brandeis University, as well as a BA in
Religion from Wellesley College.
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RICHARD HIRSCHHAUT has served as Executive Director of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
since 2004. He oversaw all facets of the $50 million public-private initiative to build and establish the new
center in the Chicago suburb of Skokie. Opened in April 2009 with the participation of President Bill Clinton
and Nobel Laureate and Holocaust Survivor Elie Wiesel, the museum has become an essential destination for
understanding the universal lessons of the Holocaust. Richard brings to the museum nearly three decades of
human rights leadership, including over twenty years as a senior staff member of the Anti-Defamation League,
and in 2011 he was appointed by Governor Pat Quinn to serve on the new Illinois Holocaust and Genocide
Commission. Richard is a graduate of Tulane University and Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds degrees
in International Relations and Judaic Studies.
ANITA KASSOF is the Deputy Director of the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.
Previously, she served as the Associate Director of the Jewish Museum of Maryland. Her original exhibitions
include The Synagogue Speaks, Voices of Lombard Street: A Century of Change in East Baltimore, and Lives Lost,
Lives Found: Baltimore’s German Jewish Refugees, 1933-1945. She has authored a wide variety of publications
and articles including Lights & Shadows, a memoir of Holocaust refugee Arnold Fleischmann, Ten Years:
Remembrance. Education. Hope for Holocaust Museum Houston, and The Synagogue Speaks, a children’s
book. Anita formerly served as the Associate Curator at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum where
she helped to build the museum’s permanent collection and to develop collections policy. She co-curated
Assignment Rescue, the Story of Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee, the Holocaust Museum’s
inaugural temporary exhibition, which subsequently traveled nationally. Anita received her BA (with honors)
from Duke University and her MA in Modern European History from the University of Maryland.
GEORGINA KOLBER is Curator of Exhibits, Programs and Collections at the Mizel Museum. She is also the
Director of the Mizel Museum Artist Alliance. Georgina has curated fifteen traveling and temporary exhibitions
and most recently completed 4,000 Year Road Trip: Gathering Sparks, the museum’s permanent exhibition,
which serves as a thematic backdrop for all of the museum’s programming. Georgina received her MA in Fine
Arts, Art History from CU Boulder’s College of Arts and Science in 2005 with a focus in Contemporary and
American Art. Her thesis work, Isaac Julien’s True North, addressed post-colonial theory, specifically with regard
to Paul Gilroy’s The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness.
SUE BRAHAM KOLETSKY is the Director of The Temple Museum of Religious Art at The Temple-Tifereth
Israel in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to overseeing The Temple’s galleries in Beachwood and at their historic
synagogue building in University Circle, Sue designed and works in partnership to oversee The Temple-Tifereth
Israel Gallery at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage. She was Executive Director of the Cleveland Arts Festival
and prior to that served as the Director of Education at the Fuller Art Museum and in the Education Department
at The Cleveland Museum of Art. Sue currently serves on the CAJM Board of Directors. She has a BFA from the
Rhode Island School of Design.
ZACHARY PAUL LEVINE is Assistant Curator at Yeshiva University Museum in New York, where he recently
curated Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women. He is a PhD candidate in the departments of
Hebrew and Judaic Studies and History at New York University, with a major in Modern Jewish History and a
minor in Modern European History. He received his MA from Central European University in Budapest.
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JILL MALUSKY has worked in museum education since 2001 at a variety of cultural sites in the US and abroad.
She has been with the Massillon Museum, an art and history museum in Massillon, Ohio, since 2008. She has
received grants and awards for her museum projects involving community outreach, exhibit interactives, and
interdisciplinary programs at the local and national level from the Ohio Museums Association, Ohio Humanities
Council, ArtsinStark, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
JUDITH MARGLES has been the Executive Director of the Oregon Jewish Museum since 1999. A native Canadian,
Judy worked at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto before attending graduate school at New York University.
For ten years she served as Curator at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. She has consulted on
exhibit projects for many institutions in the Portland area, including the First Unitarian Church, Oregon Nikkei
Legacy Center, Fair Housing Council of Oregon, Linfield College of Nursing, Oregon Historical Society, the Oregon
Council for the Humanities, American Jewish Committee–Oregon Chapter, and the Oregon Museum of Science
and Industry. Judy serves on the Multnomah County Cultural Coalition, on the boards of the Old Town History
Project and the Oregon Women’s History Consortium. She is CAJM’s outgoing Chair.
MELISSA MARTENS is the Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Museum of Jewish Heritage—A Living
Memorial to the Holocaust. At the MJH, she created the exhibitions The Morgenthaus: A Legacy of Service,
Project Mah Jongg, and Emma Lazarus: Poet of Exiles. For ten years prior she was the Curator of the Jewish
Museum of Maryland where she curated exhibitions on Jewish department stores, Jewish fashion and beauty,
synagogue architecture, and Jewish vacation culture. She has also worked at the National Trust for Historic
Preservation, the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, and the Newberry Library. She has been in the museum
and library profession for twenty years, and is an officer on the CAJM Board of Directors.
SCOTT MILLER is the Director of Curatorial Affairs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 2001
Scott was appointed Director of the Benjamin and Vladka Meed Registry of Holocaust Survivors – the Holocaust
Museum’s names-information and tracing center. In 2006 Scott assumed his current position as Director of
Curatorial Affairs, overseeing the museum’s archival, artifact, photo, film, music and oral history collections.
Scott has taught Jewish History for the Jewish Studies Program at American University and has served on the
Steering Committee of the Council of American Jewish Museums. Scott co-edited with Randolph Braham The
Nazis’ Last Victims: The Holocaust in Hungary, and co-authored with Sarah Ogilvie Refuge Denied – The St. Louis
Passengers and the Holocaust, the story of their search to trace the fates of the passengers who sailed on the
1939 ill-fated voyage of the St. Louis.
DEBORAH DASH MOORE is the Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of History and Director of the Jean and Samuel
Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. She previously taught at Vassar College for
almost 30 years. A social historian of American Jews, she focuses on the twentieth century experience and is the
author of a trilogy: At Home in America: Second Generation New York Jews, GI Jews: How World War II Changed
a Generation, and To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L.A. Together with
Paula Hyman, she co-edited Jewish Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, which received many awards,
including the National Jewish Book Award and the Dartmouth Medal of the American Library Association. Her
most recent book, Gender & Jewish History, co-edited with Marion Kaplan, won the 2011 National Jewish Book
Award. Deborah has been the recipient of numerous prestigious fellowships and grants and was awarded an
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honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She completed her MA and
PhD in History at Columbia University.
JUANITA MOORE is the President and CEO of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in
Detroit, the largest museum of its kind in the nation. She has served as Executive Director of the American
Jazz Museum, and was founding Executive Director of the National Civil Rights Museum where she oversaw
the construction and opening of the museum located at the Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Juanita spent several years as a senior member of the planning team that opened the
National African American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio. She began her career with the
Ohio Historical Society, serving as the first African American curator. Juanita has held positions on numerous
boards and committees, and currently serves on the AAM Board of Directors.
RICHARD L. ROGERS is the President of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. He is the Chairman and
President of Creative Urban Education, Inc., the governing board of Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative
Studies; and a past chairman and executive committee member and a current director of the Association
of Independent Colleges and Universities of Michigan. Richard is a member of the boards of the University
Cultural Center Association, New Detroit, the American Association of Presidents of Independent Colleges and
Universities and the Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan. He recently co-chaired a task force established
by Detroit Renaissance on expanding Detroit’s creative economy, and participates in a number of economic
development initiatives focused on attracting creative industries to Detroit. Richard has held positions at New
York’s New School and Parsons School of Design. He received a BA from Yale University, an MA in Religion
from Yale Divinity School, an MS in Education from the Bank Street College of Education, and pursued graduate
studies in Educational Psychology at the University of Chicago.
ELENA ROSEMOND-HOERR is the Education and Program Coordinator at the Jewish Museum of Maryland,
where she develops and facilitates family and adult programs, creates curricula based on the museum’s exhibits,
and works to further the institution’s online presence. She holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College
of Art in Photography, with minors in Curatorial Studies and Book Arts. She is a graduate of MICA’s Exhibition
Development Seminar.
JUDITH ROSENBAUM is Director of Public History at the Jewish Women’s Archive, where she develops and
directs JWA’s major educational initiatives, including the new Living the Legacy social justice curriculum, Jewish
Women and the Feminist Revolution, and national institutes for educators. Judith is a scholar of Women’s
Studies and Jewish Studies who received her PhD in American Civilization from Brown University. She has
taught at Brown University, Boston University, the Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Hebrew College, and
Gann Academy.
LEIGHANN M. SMITH teaches humanities to the eighth graders at the Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/
Middle School in Baltimore City. Her responsibilities also include facilitating district-wide professional
development sessions, editing and developing Baltimore City’s Language Arts curriculum and benchmarks,
and advocating for educational policy reform through the Teach Plus Policy Innovators program. She obtained
her BA In English and Psychology from the University of Southern California, and completed her teaching
certification through Teach for America and The Johns Hopkins University.
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NANCY SOJKA is the Curator and Head of the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Detroit
Institute of Arts. Over the last 23 years, she has organized 40 in-house exhibitions of more than 100 objects
each from the collection that numbers approximately 35,000 works on paper. She has also supervised the
installation of traveling shows presented by the museum. Once Upon a Time: Prints and Drawings That Tell
Stories, an exhibition drawn entirely from the DIA collection, is currently on view. She is the author of the
catalogue raisonné on Terry Winter’s prints.
IVY WEINGRAM is the Assistant Curator at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia,
where she participated in the development of the 25,000-square-foot core exhibition that opened in the
museum’s new home on Independence Mall in 2010. Ivy began her career working with the Special Collections
of the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary and Yeshiva University Museum, and she then served in the
curatorial and registration departments of The Jewish Museum. Ivy continues to curate the core exhibition and
is developing a special exhibitions program for the National Museum of American Jewish History.
JACOB WISSE is Director of the Yeshiva University Museum and Associate Professor of Art History at Stern
College for Women of Yeshiva University. He earned his BA from McGill University and his MA and PhD from
the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University, where he specialized in northern European art of the late
Medieval and Renaissance eras. His book, City Painters in the Burgundian Netherlands, was published by
Brepols Press in 2011. He has a background in museum education and curatorial work. He earned a Curatorial
Studies Certificate through the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was twice awarded the MMA’s Theodore
Rousseau Curatorial Fellowship.
JOBI ZINK is the Senior Collections Manager at the Jewish Museum of Maryland where she oversees the
museum’s rich and diverse collections and grapples regularly with the common conundrum of storing growing
collections in shrinking storage space. She is the Secretary of the Registrar’s Committee of the Mid-Atlantic
Association of Museums and an active volunteer with the White Gloves Gang, helping smaller museums tackle
their collections projects. Jobi earned her MA in Art History from American University.
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