Change is in the air at the Jewish Museum of Maryland.
The JMM, located at 15 Lloyd St. in East Baltimore’s Jonestown neighborhood, recently announced it will close to the general public for about a year to conduct a major renovation of its campus.
The museum will be closed to visitors from June 12, 2023, until June 30, 2024, for the initial phase of a capital project, according to a letter sent by JMM Executive Director Sol Davis to museum supporters.
During this period, the facility will be open to JMM employees and others working on educational, archival, programming and collections projects, as well as for exhibition development, capital project support, and audio and visual productions.
The JMM, which is an agency of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, will also partner with other organizations on offsite and virtual programming during that period.
“In ways large and small, the JMM has been renewing and changing … growing from a 20th-century museum to a 21st-century one,” wrote Davis, who came to the museum in January of 2021. “To accommodate the physical work that will be done on the campus, the JMM will close to the public after June 11, 2023, the closing day for our current exhibition Material/Inheritance: Contemporary Work by New Jewish Culture Fellows.”
The initial phase of the capital project — designed by the local architectural firm Quinn Evans — will include a transformation of the museum’s interior entranceway, lobby and orientation space; the construction of an audio/video studio to produce podcasts, oral histories, video projects and more; the building of a gallery to be used for multiple purposes, such as exhibits, performances and video shoots; an update of all of the JMM’s galleries, including new floors, lighting, acoustics and technology; and restorative work performed on the historic Lloyd Street Synagogue, which is located next to the museum.
The JMM’s gift shop, known as Esther’s Place, will be discontinued but museum souvenirs and retail items may be sold from a cart or kiosk stationed in the lobby.
The capital project will not impact the historic B’nai Israel Synagogue located next to the JMM, except for potential joint programming opportunities.
Nancy R. Kutler, president of the JMM’s Board of Trustees, said fundraising for the capital project started before the start of the pandemic and will resume in the near future. She said the next phase will likely encompass the offices and employee areas in the back of the museum, and possibly other properties in the neighborhood owned by the JMM.
“My vision is ultimately that [the JMM] will be the Jewish community’s downtown campus and presence,” she said. “It will take a lot of capital and planning, but we know [from the Associated’s 2020 community demographic study] that around 35 percent of Jewish young adults are living downtown and a lot of Baby Boomers are moving downtown.”
The JMM will discontinue its longtime core exhibition, “Voices of Lombard Street: A Century of Change in East Baltimore,” and plans to develop a new one “over a number of years using a participatory process,” wrote Davis.
Kutler said “Voices of Lombard Street” has been displayed at the museum for about 15 years and the new core exhibition “will be all updated and modernized with technology. But it will still incorporate aspects of ‘Voices.'”
Kutler — who will be succeeded as board president on June 30 by senior vice president Erika Rief Hornstein — praised Davis for his efforts to take the JMM to the next level. She said the JMM’s leadership has discussed campus renovations for about a decade.
“Over the years we’ve had a lot of stops and starts, and the pauses caused us to rethink where we’re at,” she said. “The pandemic and Sol’s arrival made us really think about our priorities. Sol is very innovative, and now the building will align with the cutting-edge things that he brings to the table. We needed a fresh pair of eyes because the whole [JMM] experience has to be updated. Sol came in with a spirit of innovation, and now the museum will align with that. I think it’s all going to look great. It’s an exciting time.”
In his letter to JMM supporters, Davis thanked “everyone who has supported the Jewish Museum of Maryland over the years. Although our physical campus is temporarily closing to the public, we will continue to fulfill the JMM’s mission of connecting people to Jewish experiences, connecting Maryland’s Jewish community to its roots, and inspiring everyone to explore history, take action, and imagine better futures. We look forward to growing together.”
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