2015 Report to the Community

President’s Report:

THIS YEAR WE CELEBRATED the real life adventures of a man who navigated both the Jewish and American experience in his commitment to make a better world. What an apt metaphor for our whole organization. In this FY ’15 annual report we share the story of “The Amazing Jewish Museum of Maryland.” I am pleased by the extensive progress we have made on every front in our efforts to fulfill our vision.

As a Destination, we kept our changing exhibit gallery lively and experimental. First with a Jewish twist on a “maker’s fair” – the Electrified Pickle… linking together Jews and technology – past, present and future. This was followed by The A-Mazing Mendes Cohen – the world’s first biographical maze – an incredible project that transformed the story of an unknown 18th century soldier, banker, adventurer and politician into an exploration of the formation of American Jewish identity. This exhibit was recently selected for an Award of Merit by the American Association for State and Local History.As a place of Documentation, this year our collection passed the milestone of 10,000 objects. With the help of volunteers we were able to make thousands of our photos accessible to the public and increased the ease of use of our archives with new finding aids and folder lists. Discourse at JMM took many forms – We initiated a conversation on the future of Historic Jonestown. Working together with area cultural sites, religious sites, businesses and residents, we are well on our way towards developing a new identity for our neighborhood. Simultaneously, we expanded our partnerships with Jewish communal organizations, working on joint projects with Macks Center for Jewish Education (CJE), CHAI, the JCC and many synagogues. Both the quantity (59) and quality of public programs exceeded all previous years. And we were equally successful in promoting Discovery. Thousands of young people, from diverse backgrounds experienced JMM this year. They took the Mendes Cohen scavenger hunt and uncovered the puzzle of his complex identity – and in the process learned about similarities and differences between his world and theirs. Teachers continued to rate us an outstanding field trip experience.

FY ’15 was also impressive for what was accomplished behind the scenes. JMM achieved a balanced budget for the second year in a row. We restructured our budget to make it easier to assess progress. We built a new level of camaraderie at our March Board retreat. And, due in no small measure to that Board engagement, we had a spectacular year in fundraising. We are finishing the year having received more than $935,000 in new commitments from both public and private sources.

As incoming president Duke Zimmerman’s message suggests at the end of this report, the future looks even stronger. I invite you to join us in continuing the voyage that Mendes began more than 200 years ago towards an enduring Jewish American identity.

Ira Papel, M.D.

JMM Board President, (2013 – 2015)