Officials from Jewish museums got together last week to talk about their futures during difficult economic times, the New York Jewish Week reports.
Among one of the suggestions at the Conference of American Jewish Museums? Try to collect money from non-Jewish donors:
Some advice garnered groans — put on a show about philanthropists, one attendant suggested — while other ideas seemed obvious — ask non-Jews for money — if no less difficult. But there were just enough success stories to give even the most doleful head-of-a-museum-in-the-shul-basement-attendee hope.
A delegation from Alaska could be seen at several conference events telling its story. The Jewish community there — 6,000 of the state’s 700,000 inhabitants — recently raised about $2 million and bought a new home for a Jewish museum in downtown Anchorage. “Seventy percent of our money comes from non-Jews,” said the bearded and bespectacled Rabbi Joseph Greenberg.
