Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York Campus

The HUC-JIR Museum is recognized as a leading center for the presentation of works by contemporary artists exploring Jewish identity and experience. It presents an array of exhibitions and cultural and educational programs which illuminate Jewish history and contemporary creativity and foster interfaith and multiethnic understanding. Established in 1983, the Museum encourages contemporary artists of all faiths to explore Jewish themes, serves as an experimental laboratory for research in new and progressive theories of museum education, and provides a forum to explore the role of the arts as an expression of spirituality. Recent exhibitions have encompassed contemporary artistic responses to the Holocaust, the history of African-American and Jewish relations from 1654 to the present, innovative forms of ceremonial art for new rituals in Jewish life, the impact of family violence on the works of contemporary Israeli and American women artists, and the development of private art collections as a reflection of Jewish identity and consciousness.

THe HUC-JIR Museum is a department of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Founded in 1875, it is the nation's oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism.