William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum

Results: Established in 1996 under the umbrella of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, the Breman became an independent 501(c)3 institution in 2002. Today, the Breman is home to the Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education, and the Cuba Family Archives for Southern Jewish History, and a robust exhibitions and programming department. The Weinberg Center for Holocaust Education educates over 13,000 school children a year through tours and Holocaust Speaker lecture series. To ensure finances never serve as an obstacle to potential young visitors, the Breman offers Open Access grants to qualifying Title I schools. In continuation of our commitment to seek, include, and welcome all the Breman is, as of Spring 2017, a Museums for All partner, offering free admission to families and individuals possessing EBT cards. The Breman also hosts a variety of signature programs, from art workshops that bring local homeless youth together with Holocaust survivors to public lecture series and film screenings to programs designed for Jewish families to transcribe their personal histories. The acclaimed Summer Institute for Teaching the Holocaust, now in its 26th season, brings Georgia educators to the Breman for a week-long course in effectively bringing this complex history to classrooms across the Southeast. The Cuba Family Archives house the largest repository of Jewish archival material, from photographs and textiles to manuscripts and artifacts, in the region and has an ongoing oral history initiative geared towards preserving the memories and experiences of Jews who have made substantial contributions to their communities. In 2014, the Breman launched the “Historic Jewish Atlanta” smartphone app, making Atlanta the only city in the country with an app exclusively devoted to its Jewish history. Breman-created exhibitions, such as ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comics Books, 1938-1950, Dr. Seuss Goes to War…and More, and Seeking Justice: The Leo Frank Case Revisited, traveled to national and international venues. Our Return to Rich’s: The Story Behind the Store won the 2014 Outstanding Exhibition Award from the Georgia Association of Museums and Galleries. The Breman partners with many cultural institutions to create meaningful, entertaining programming, including The Atlanta Opera, the Atlanta Jazz Festival, Theatrical Outlet, the High Museum of Art, the Center for Puppetry Arts, and more. In 2016, the Breman released the first edition of our bi-annual magazine, featuring articles on topics relevant to our mission. In the past 20 years, the Breman has grown from a small grass-roots organization into a premier museum that welcomes over 30,000 visitors each year. The Breman serves Atlanta’s demographically and culturally diverse population, across all backgrounds, philosophies, and generations.

Geographic areas served: Atlanta, GA

Programs: Exhibitions - the breman core exhibition, absence of humanity, was viewed by more than 30,000 individuals and student groups during the fiscal year. This exhibit continues to educate the public on the atrocities of the holocaust. Special exhibits: eighteen artifacts: the story of jewish atlanta explores the history of jews in atlanta through artifacts, images, and oral histories. Atlanta collects was a special project that celebrated the 20th anniversary of the museum by highlighting diverse pieces from jewish collectors in and around atlanta, showcasing the breadth and depth of jewish-owned collections in atlanta. The exhibit featured paintings, sculpture, glass and non-traditionalart from different periods.

education & programs - the museum continued with its annual programs: bearing witness (survivors of the holocaust) speakers; yom hashoah remembrance ceremony; summer institute: teaching the holocaust to educators and life long learners. Our survivor legacy film project continues to capture stories of the holocaust told by the survivors. Our educators are continuing to refine and expand the we are here program which teaches the holocaust to jewish families. The molly blank jewish concert series enjoyed its fourth year, presenting 3 concerts. We expanded our historic jewish atlanta tours, a series of exclusive tours of significant sites in atlanta. The museum partnered with beit hatfutsot for a second time to present curating your family story workshop and exhibit. We also partnered with the center for puppetry arts and the high museum of art to bring the midtown community a program of conversation, performance and tour experiences from a new perspective.

archives and research library - the archives continued moving forward with its project to digitize the oral histories. The breman continued processing the extensive savannah jewish archival collection. The archival collections continued to be a valuable research source this past year, providing information, materials, photographs, interviews and artificacts for dozens of individuals working on books, theses, and films. The research department continues to promote and enhance its mobile app that allows users to locate archival information via the web. The museum is also the home of the jewish genealogical society of georgia which strives to foster an interest in jewish heritage, encourage genealogical research and promote awareness among the jewish community of the ease and possibility of tracing their own ancestry.