about jewish museum chicago
vision
The Jewish Museum of Chicago is one of many Jewish cultural homes contributing to a thriving, diasporic ecosystem beyond zionism. We choose the arts as our way to gather, heal, imagine, and co-create the relationships of Olam Haba — the world to come — where all beings experience safety, dignity, and belonging.
Mission
The Jewish Museum of Chicago is stewarded by an artist collective that designs cultural experiences in commitment to thriving communities in Chicago. We uplift Jewish cultural workers devoted to diasporic, land-based, nonviolent, anti-zionist expression, while also welcoming people of diverse backgrounds and faiths into spaces of experimentation, connection, and collaboration. Together, we are building an emergent archive that remembers, revives, and reimagines Judaism through the arts.
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Our creative power is fueled by imagination. We use the arts to dream up and create a world in which all beings are liberated.
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We believe in collective wisdom where knowledge is co-created. All of us are teachers and lifelong learners. We actively resist practices that reinforce oppressive hierarchies or gatekeep Jewish wisdom, culture, and history.
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We believe attunement with our bodies supports us in cultivating authentic relationships. We practice arts and culture as a way to fortify bodily wisdom, intuition, and agency.
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Our artistry combines humor and mischief with pleasure and delight. We create playgrounds for experimenting what our communities can look like. We have fun; we celebrate one another; we infuse our art practice and relationships with joy.
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We belong to each other. Our collective is co-created; we share leadership and name power dynamics. We practice radical hospitality in our commitments to interdependence, equity, and accessibility.
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We tend to the harm we experience and take responsibility for the harm we cause. We engage with Teshuva — the Jewish healing practice of accountability and repair — to become the people our ancestors, current communities, and future generations need us to be.
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Our artistry circulates divine presence and reminds us of our interconnectivity. We channel reverence for ourselves and other people, creatures and plant-beings, materials and the elements, lineages and benevolent ancestors.
values
Purpose
As cultural workers, we recognize the ways museums have weaponized their institutional power against historically marginalized communities. In response, the intention for the Jewish Museum of Chicago is to subvert what a museum can be and reimagine it as a site of artistic healing, repair, connection, and world building. Our collective is heart-centered — love and care shape what we create, how we create, and why we create together.