Council of American Jewish Museums
         E-News | November 2011 
 
In This Issue
Detroit Night (and Day) Life
Slingshot Honorees
Canadian Cultural Center Expands
Pre-Chanukah Shopping
Technical Matters
CAJM is ...
Jewish art and history museums, historic sites, historical and archival societies, Holocaust centers, synagogue museums, Jewish Community Center galleries, children's museums, and university galleries ...  the professionals and volunteers who work in them ...  the children, adults, and families who visit them ...  the patrons who support them ...  the organization that keeps them vital.
 

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!      

And if it's time for turkey, that must mean it's time to register for CAJM 2012 in Detroit. This can't-miss conference is scheduled for February 26-28, 2012.  Read more about it in items 1 and 5 (our apologies for temporary technical problems on the CAJM website).

 

SATURDAY NIGHT & SUNDAY MORNING IN MOTOWN     

Those coming to Detroit before CAJM 2012's official noon Sunday kick-off will enjoy optional pre-conference explorations of this rich and revitalized metropolis. How better to sMotown photostart a visit to Motor City than with Saturday night at the Motown Museum. We will get to tour Hitsville U.S.A.(l.), Berry Gordy's house and recording studio, where he created hits for such legends as the Supremes, FourD'Mongo's Tops, Miracles, and Jackson 5, and the adjacent building where artifacts and archival materials document the history of the Motown labels. After this wander back into soul music history, we will stop by the vintage Cafe D'Mongo's Speakeasy (r.), a recently reopened downtown jazz club and hipster hangout where soul food and Detroit Browns cocktails are among the offerings.  Also in the neighborhood is Cranbrook Museumthe Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, another historic property that has been given a new life in Detroit's emerging revitalization.  The Sunday morning excursion will take conference-goers to the Cranbrook Art Museum (r.).  Originally designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1942, the museum celebrated its reopening on 11/11/11 after a two-year, $22 million renovation and expansion.  CAJM visitors will view the inaugural exhibition, No Object Is an Island: New Dialogues with the Cranbrook Collection, for which 50 leading contemporary artists were invited to create works in response to 50 iconic pieces from the museum's renowned collection of art and design.

 

CAJM MEMBERS HONORED BY SLINGSHOT  Partisans

One of our CAJM members, the Jewish Partisan Educational Foundation, has been included among the Slingshot 50 for 2011/12.  Slingshot, A Resource Guide to Jewish Innovation, is an annual compilation of the 50 most inspiring and innovative organizations, projects, and programs in the North American Jewish community today. First published in 2005, and now in its seventh edition, the guide highlights those organizations in Jewish life with particular resonance among the next generation.  The ISJL travwinners are chosen by a panel of foundation professionals after an application and nominations process that evaluates level of innovation, impact, strong leadership, and organizational efficacy.  This year, Slingshot has added a new category, the "Standard Bearers," to reMayyimcognize organizations that are, according to director Will Schneider, "not just innovative, [but] pushing it every year."  Our hats are off to two other CAJM colleagues, the Institute of Southern Jewish Life (a traveling exhibit from its Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience is seen above) and Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters, who received this distinctive honor.

 

KOFFLER EXPANDS ACROSS TORONTO   

It's hard to keep track of the burgeoning arts and museum scene in Toronto, but one thing is for certain: the Koffler Centre of the Arts is continuing to make its presence felt. It was recently announced that the Koffler will join the Artscape YOUNGplace project in the city's art and design district. The organization has signed a five-year lease to occupy a prominent space at the 180 Shaw

Koffler visitors
Visitors to the Koffler.

Street site, Koffler mandalaset to open in fall 2012. The Koffler's exhibitions and programs (like this image from the recent Mandala exhibit, left) will continue to be available across Greater Toronto:  future Koffler Gallery exhibitions and related programs will be based at the Artscape YOUNGplace while the new Koffler building at Bathurst and Sheppard is being constructed. Koffler programs and classes will continue at the Prosserman JCC on Sherman Campus until next fall, when the new Schwartz/Reisman Centre on the Lebovic Campus opens.  

 

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE AT CAJM GIFT SHOPS  Muchacha

Jewish museums are places to learn, socialize, renew, remember ... and shop.  Although real estate is always at a premium, pragmatic museum leaders know that stores represent enormous earned revenue protential - as well as great first-time entry points for people in search of unique gifts.  CAJM's synagogue museums often specialize in fine Judaica.  Archival institutions, like the American Jewish Historical Society, offer reproduction photographs Treuman menorahand paper materials (r.). Our regional museums showcase, among other goods, the unique work of local artists and artisans (l.); and our largest institutions provide one-stop shKeats dollopping opportunities.  At museum shops across the U.S. and Canada, you will find an enormous and imaginative array of gifts at all price ranges: items associated with exhibitions, holidays, and life cycle events, as well as cards, calendars, stationery, housewares, clothing, mementos, and toys - such as this doll, which ties in with the current Ezra Jack Keats show at The Jewish Museum in New York.  More and more, you can also find such items, and the shops themselves, online.        

 

TECHNICAL MATTERS 

Some of you may have noticed problems on the CAJM website this week.  In coming days we will be reloading lots of images and audio files, which were inadvertently lost.  The site should be back to normal by the end of this month, and we expect to make online conference registration available at that time.  For now, if you are looking for membership information or a brochure for the 2012 conference, please send an e-mail to [email protected], and we'll get it to you.


CAJM Puts the Spotlight on You

CAJM offers resources for learning all year round on our website and at our annual conference; models professional standards; offers opportunities for information exchange; and works on behalf of Jewish museums and museums with Israeli flagJewish content, like the  Gladys and Murray Goldstein Cultural Center of Temple Israel of New RochelleOn November 13th the Center opened its Barbara Fix CollectionGoldstein CC of Documents on the Struggle for the State of Israel, with extensive materials on the history and contributions of such leaders as Herzl and Weizmann, the Balfour Declaration, the Peel Commission, the Exodus Ship, and the establishment of the State.  See what other Jewish museums are presenting around North America by visiting CAJM's  At Our Museums  page, the central address for you and the public to find out what's happening at our member institutions.
 
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