Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education has expanded its staffing and expertise with the creation of a new position of Deputy Director and the appointment of Gail Mandel. Prior to joining OJMCHE Gail Mandel worked for the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation for eight years, rising to the position of Director of Philanthropy.
“Gail is joining OJMCHE at a pivotal moment in our history. As we continue to grow and expand in the stature of our exhibitions and programs, and in education outreach Gail’s philanthropic capability and museum background will be a great asset. With Gail’s experience at OJCF, she brings a wealth of knowledge about our community and a deep understanding of our mission. We are extremely fortunate to have her expertise,” said Judy Margles, Director.
The Deputy Director is a key member of the museum’s senior management team who participates in long-range planning and overall management of the museum. OJMCHE has seen a tripling of attendance, education tours and public programs since moving into the new building on Portland’s North Park Blocks in June 2017, following a successful capital campaign. In addition, with the passing in June of Senate Bill 664 mandating Holocaust and genocide education in all Oregon schools beginning in Fall 2020, OJMCHE has a greater role to play in developing and delivering relevant and meaningful educational experiences. The creation of the new position of Deputy Director, funded by a grant from the Murdock Charitable Trust, will allow OJMCHE to deepen its focus on Jewish art, history, and culture, while simultaneously recognizing the challenge of remaining relevant in a changing and tumultuous world.
About Gail Mandel
Prior to joining the professional team of the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, Gail Mandel worked for the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation for eight years, rising to the position of Director of Philanthropy.
While at the foundation Mandel’s primary responsibilities included working with prospective donors and families to help them fulfill their current and after-lifetime philanthropic goals as well as developing and directing several programs focusing on the importance of building institutional endowments and stewarding legacy donors. In addition, she also directed the marketing and communications program and OJCF’s Professional Advisors Group. In 2017 Mandel was the recipient of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation’s Gail Littman Legacy Leadership Award in recognition of her successful direction of the LIFE & LEGACY program in the region.
Prior to her residence and employment in Oregon, Mandel lived in New York City where she worked for Abrams Books, the world-renowned art and illustrated book publisher, in both the editorial and production departments; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the development office, focusing on the museum’s capital campaign; and she also provided support at the Jewish Museum working with the curatorial department during preparation for its exhibition Too Jewish?
Mandel holds a M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies from City College, City University of New York and a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University. Her local volunteerism includes serving on the boards of the Mittleman Jewish Community Center and Portland Jewish Academy.
About Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education
The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education explores the legacy of the Jewish experience in Oregon, teaches the universal lessons of the Holocaust, and provides opportunities for intercultural conversation. OJMCHE challenges our visitors to resist indifference and discrimination and to envision a just and inclusive world.
OJMCHE was formed through the 2014 merger of the Oregon Jewish Museum and the Oregon Holocaust Resource Center. We serve as the community repository for the Jewish experience in Oregon and as the proud stewards of the Oregon Holocaust Memorial in Portland’s Washington Park. In June 2017, following a successful capital campaign, OJMCHE moved into our new home in Portland’s North Park Blocks. The museum building now holds gallery space capable of accommodating temporary exhibitions and robust public programming, state-of-the-art storage for our archives and artifact collections, an auditorium, a gift shop, and a café. Speakers from our Holocaust Speakers’ Bureau give presentations at schools and other venues, and we offer year-round tours, bringing thousands of adults and schoolchildren to both the museum and the Oregon Holocaust Memorial.
Three core exhibitions anchor our permanent galleries: Discrimination and Resistance: An Oregon Primer, which identifies discrimination as a tool used to oppress varied groups of people over the history of this region; The Holocaust: An Oregon Perspective, a history of the Holocaust that incorporates the stories of Oregon survivors; and Oregon Jewish Stories, an installation focused on the experience of the Jews of Oregon.
As a cultural organization with a reach that extends far beyond Oregon and southwest Washington, OJMCHE provides a community-wide gathering place for exhibitions, public events, educational programs, and performances, and offers a wide range of collaborative opportunities. OJMCHE welcomes everyone. We believe that the diversity within our community strengthens our mission. At OJMCHE we seek to teach visitors how to recognize the roots of hatred, how to instill values of inclusion and respect, and how to participate in an inclusive, vibrant democracy built on understanding one another and respecting differences. Our values shape all of our exhibitions and programs, which celebrate and explore – in the broadest terms – issues of identity, the forces of prejudice, and Jewish contributions to world culture and ideas. For more information, visit www.ojmche.org.
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