Curatorial

New Museum Los Gatos

New Museum Los Gatos (NUMU), founded in 1965, is a public non-profit art and history museum located in the Civic Center Plaza in downtown Los Gatos. NUMU's mission is to engage community at the intersection of art, history and education through innovative, locally connected and globally relevant exhibitions, programs and experiences. 

Curatorial Team Lead

Guiding the NUMU Curatorial Team since 2014 through the presentation of more than 50 exhibitions. Creating exhibition content that engages an experienced museum audience as well as a new millennium of museum-goers through insightful, comprehensive exhibitions that are plugged into current issues, conflicts and ideas.

Violins of Hope Exhibition

Lead Curator: Violins of Hope Exhibition

An exhibition featuring the Violins of Hope will be open (and free) to the public at the War Memorial Veteran’s Gallery in San Francisco. These remarkable instruments will be on view from mid-January to mid-March, along with stories of their difficult history, and the long journey toward their restoration. The exhibition is sponsored by the American Legion War Memorial Commission.

The Violins of Hope exhibition will showcase a collection of approximately 26 Holocaust-era violins that were played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. Amnon Weinstein, a luthier in Israel, began collecting and restoring the violins more than 20 years ago, and the collection is dedicated to the 400 family members he lost in World War II. The instruments have been played by prominent musicians in venues worldwide, giving voice not only to the owners of the violins, but also to the millions of Jewish people who perished.

 The Violins of Hope exhibition will offer a unique educational experience through the telling of stories and experiences of the different violin owners. Some of the Violins of Hope were played by musicians who were able to flee Europe before the Holocaust, while others were played in ghettos and labor camps to earn money for food. Jewish musicians also played in concentration camp orchestras to entertain the Nazis and to lift the spirits of their fellow prisoners. The violins also share the stories of Jewish resistance fighters and tales of loss and reunification following the war.

Related exhibit content will bring context to contemporary issues of injustice, racial and religious discrimination, and the horrors of genocide, which continue to the present day. With the rise of anti-Semitism and extremist ideologies in the United States and Europe, it is more important than ever to remind people of the effects of hatred, especially as the collective memory of the Holocaust fades with the last generation of survivors. 

Violins of Hope Bay Area 2020 is produced by Music at Kohl Mansion. 

Boys and Girls Clubs, San Francisco

Creative Director Gala 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Curating all aspects of creative experience design (theme, concept and messaging) for the Boys and Girls Clubs Annual Gala, ensuring delivery of design at the quality level of the highly recognized and successful BGCSF brand. Gala 2018 raised $2.55 million.