$6million for the Sydney Jewish Museum
Sydney Jewish Museum is to receive $6million in the NSW budget to be announced on Tuesday.
Gabrielle Upton and Auschwitz survivor Eddie Jaku
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the NSW Government assistance will help the museum ensure schools across the state are education on the history of the Holocaust and the stories of those who survived it.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said: “As we come closer to a time when Holocaust survivors will no longer be able to share their stories, this expansion of the Sydney Jewish Museum will provide a vital link to ensure the Holocaust is always remembered by future generations.
This funding will help preserve the history of the Holocaust and keep alive the memory of victims and survivors, allowing more visitors through a state-of-the-art facility to learn about the history of the Holocaust.”
Museum president Prof Gus Lehrer told J-Wire: “The Sydney Jewish Museum is thrilled that the Government of NSW has endorsed its program of teaching personal responsibility through the message of the Holocaust with a grant of $6m.
Founded almost 30 years ago by Holocaust Survivors, the Museum is the embodiment of their hope to create a better world out of their experiences. This grant will ensure that even when the Survivors are no longer able to personally deliver this message, the Museum will be there to ensure that it is not forgotten. In this way, their dreams will be realised.”
Dominic Perrottet
Later this year, the museum will embark on a building program incorporating further education facilities.
The museum’s CEO Norman Seligman told J-Wire: “The Sydney Jewish Museum is grateful for the support of the NSW Government in helping us expand our exhibits, archives and education spaces. It will allow us to meet the growing demand by schools for curriculum-linked excursions, enable the Museum to care for more of the community’s memorabilia, place more artefacts on display for Museum visitors, and facilitate more dynamic presentation of survivor testimony. This grant is a demonstration of confidence by the NSW Government in the work of the Museum”.
Member for Vaucluse Gabrielle Upton said thousands more NSW school students will have the opportunity to learn about the history of the Holocaust and the stories of its victims and survivors with a new education building, exhibition space and expanded archives to be built at the Sydney Jewish Museum, Darlinghurst.
Ms Upton said, “This is fantastic news for our NSW Jewish Community who have strong community ties with the Sydney Jewish Museum.
We know that it’s a world-class museum that hosts around 60,000 visitors each year and this $6.25 million expansion funded by the NSW Government will make a big difference for its many visitors, especially students who benefit from the museum’s rich history collection.
The funding will also help preserve the history of the Holocaust and keep alive the memory of victims and survivors, allowing more visitors through a state-of-the-art facility to learn about the history of the Holocaust.”
The $6.25 million includes $3.5 million for a new three-storey education building for students with curriculum-linked studies and $2.75 million for temporary exhibition spaces and archives, raising the capacity from 250 students per day to more than 300.
New exhibition galleries will feature video testimonies of survivors, flexible learning spaces will cater for students of varied ages and ability, a reflective room will provide a space for visitors to process the experience and dedicated sound studios will help expand education to rural and remote schools.
“Currently less than 10 per cent of the museum’s collection is on display and visitors are limited. This upgrade will see additional artefacts currently sitting in the archives brought out on display to educate more visitors and students on the lessons of the Holocaust for years to come,” Mr Perrottet said.
Darren Bark, CEO of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, welcomed this vital investment from the NSW Government in the Sydney Jewish Museum.
“The Sydney Jewish Museum is not only a museum but an education centre which promotes respect, understanding and tolerance in the broader community through focusing on the unique lessons of the Shoah,” Mr Bark said.
“The JBD and the SJM are working together to enhance our community’s educational outreach and these upgrades announced by the NSW Government will see additional artefacts on display to enhance the educational value of the Museum.”
What wonderful news to hear that our precious Museum is to receive funding from the state to help ensure that it’s lessons can reach a wider audience. We can be immensely proud of what has been achieved to date at the Museum and as a proud supporter, I look forward to the Museum being able to further expand its reach and I congratulate its leadership and the state government for recognising just how important the Museum is today, tomorrow and into the future.