citymeetings.nyc

Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.

TESTIMONY

Elise Buxbaum on educational and cultural impacts of Jewish Heritage Museum

4:57:24

·

98 sec

Elise Buxbaum, Chief Operating Officer of the Museum of Jewish Heritage, shares the museum's impactful educational and cultural contributions through a personal story about receiving an email from a 4th-grade teacher. The teacher's email highlights how a class visit to the museum, following a unit of study and reading "Number of the Stars," significantly engaged students in learning and collaboration. Buxbaum emphasizes the museum's efforts in providing free educational resources, busing, and student tours, underscoring the dependency on the city's budget for these services. The testimony concludes with a note on the museum's financial challenges, including the absence of an endowment and the critical need for city support.

Elise Buxton

4:57:24

Hello.

4:57:25

I'm Elise Buxton.

4:57:27

I'm the chief operating officer of the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

4:57:30

And chairs.

4:57:31

We're very good, and thank you so much for your time.

4:57:34

I have submitted testimony.

4:57:37

I have submitted a test moment.

4:57:38

I'm gonna go a little bit off script if I can.

4:57:41

While I was sitting here, I received an email from a 4th grade teacher in public school.

4:57:47

And she said, my class visited the museum last week after studying our historical fiction unit and reading number of the stars.

4:57:54

The level of engagement my class was outstanding.

4:57:57

It was a joy to see my students researching, collaborating with one another, and sharing their new learnings with each other inside and outside the class.

4:58:04

Room.

4:58:05

I've taught this lesson for 9 years, but going to the museum was my first time ever.

4:58:09

The impact the museum created for my class and my purse and myself provide everlasting memories for them.

4:58:16

I know that we all hear so much today, but work that we do at the museum of Jewish heritage and all these cultural institutions is for the city and for the people.

4:58:26

And we do as much free as we can.

4:58:29

I can tell us all we provide free busing.

4:58:32

We have private bus companies.

4:58:33

We'll provide the busing.

4:58:34

We have private free student tours.

4:58:37

Free educational resources.

4:58:39

Everything that we can provide is free.

4:58:40

So we just depend on the city's budget to do the work that we're doing.

4:58:45

We're one of the organizations that has no endowment.

4:58:48

So when we don't raise the money year after year, we are stuck with laying off staff or just not hiring staff.

4:58:55

So the support you provide is essential, and we just want to say thank you.

4:59:00

And thank you for your help in in restoring.

← Previous Chapter

Michelle Lima, New York City Culture Curator and Influencer, on the Importance of Arts, Culture, and Public Services for New Yorkers

Next Chapter →

Nicole Gardner, Director of Advancement for Building for the Arts NY, on supporting NYC's cultural ecosystem through theater renovations and expanding music education

Is citymeetings.nyc useful to you?

I'm thrilled!

Please help me out by answering just one question.

What do you do?

Thank you!

Want to stay up to date? Sign up for the newsletter.