JMM at CAJM (that’s a lot of acronyms!)
The Museum was fairly quiet this week due to the CAJM conference. CAJM (Council for American Jewish Museums) was in Philadelphia this year, and many of us took the opportunity to attend for one or more days. This year was especially significant for those of us at the JMM, because our fabulous colleague Deborah Cardin the Museum’s Education Director co-chaired the event! This was the second CAJM conference I have attended, and although I only attended one day of it, I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and really took a lot away from my experience.
Not only did I attend two interesting panel discussions, including one led by our Director Avi Decter called Big Ideas in Small Shows, and another called Let Our Voices Be Heard, which looked at the role of museums in democratic life. Both workshops provided much food for thought. In addition, conference goers had the opportunity to be among the first visitors to the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s new Chagall exhibition – a great treat!
In my free time, I had an opportunity to explore the new National Museum of Jewish History. Despite my envy at their enormous and spectacular space, I was able to appreciate what is a wonderful and comprehensive museum of the 350 years of Jewish life in America. Deborah, Ilene (JMM Program Director) were roomies – maybe the best part! Ilene and I also fit in a movie – Black Swan. I loved it and I was completely convinced that Natalie Portman deserved her Oscar. Pretty much everyone at my house is too scared to see horror movies, so thank you Ilene for seeing it with me!