CapitalCampaignReportJUNE2017

SAMUEL BAK GALLERY & LEARNING CENTER IN LOVING MEMORY OF HOPE SILBER KAPLAN

THE BONIUK CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF HOLOCAUST, HUMAN RIGHTS & GENOCIDE STUDIES

“IDENTIFICATION” by Samuel Bak

From the beginning, education has been a primary focus of Holocaust Museum Houston and the Education Department remains dedicated to translating the events and enormity of the Holocaust and other genocides into terms that are accessible and meaningful to the varied audiences of the Museum. Educational programs and outreach of The Boniuk Center for the Future of Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Studies will feature our current programs of excellence, including the Warren Fellowship for Future Teachers, the Spector-Warren Fellowship, Max M. Kaplan Summer Institute, All Behaviors Count, Engines of Change Student Ambassadors, Educator In Motion and Through Their Eyes. The Center will provide a research and scholarly forum to consider how to coexist, how to hold our integrity to the Holocaust and its history and memory, current values, and how our work shapes society’s citizenry. Working with recognized and emerging scholars, studies will focus on the larger questions, drawing students and visitors to the Museum in order to understand how to best deliver research on the Holocaust, genocide and human behavior studies in formal (school based) and informal (museum and community) settings. The second-floor facilities will feature four spacious classrooms situated near the Education Department offices.

Image Courtesy of Pucker Gallery www.puckergallery.com

The Capital Campaign expansion includes the Samuel Bak Gallery & Learning Center in Loving Memory of Hope Silber Kaplan. Holocaust Museum Houston is exceptionally honored that the Bak Gallery & Learning Center will serve as a permanent, international gallery for his paintings, works that have been donated directly to the Museum by the artist. The Bak Learning Center will help visitors to understand the content of his works, as well as the rich symbolism used in his paintings. Bak was born in 1933 in Vilna, Poland. His artistic talent was first recognized during an exhibition of his work in the Vilna Ghetto when he was nine years old. While both Bak and his mother survived, his father and four grandparents all perished at the hands of the Nazis. Bak and his mother survived the Holocaust through the efforts of his father, his aunt and a Benedictine nun known as Sister Maria who gave Bak and his mother shelter in a convent in Vilna. Bak’s life-and-death experiences inspired his prolific collection of artwork. Visitors will enter the 1,923-square-foot center through an antechamber focusing on the life of Samuel Bak. The gallery itself is circular, comprised of three intimate galleries with seating and a bilingual education center. The galleries will continuously display the exceptional work of the artist. Through customized curriculum development, the Samuel Bak Gallery & Learning Center will emphasize the educational focus important to both the artist and Holocaust Museum Houston. To combat the evils of hatred and prejudice, a bilingual curriculum on the Holocaust and social cruelty will teach children and adults to apply an understanding of the events of the Holocaust and other genocides in their own lives and respond to them successfully by developing social resiliency.

THE BONIUK CENTER FOR THE FUTURE OF HOLOCAUST, HUMAN RIGHTS AND GENOCIDE STUDIES

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