The council of american jewish museums (cajm) will establish a structured fellowship program and national peer-learning network to strengthen leadership capacity, professional resilience, and…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded the Council of American Jewish Museums $866,724 on September 1, 2026, under the 21st Century Museum Professional Program (CFDA 45.032) to establish a structured fellowship program and national peer-learning network for American Jewish museum professionals.

The award funds a cohort model engaging up to twenty museum professionals in building practical leadership and facilitation skills, developing collaborative mindsets, and strengthening peer networks. Participants will develop and apply leadership strategies supporting collaborative institutional culture, strengthen community engagement through dialogic interpretation and community listening, advance collection stewardship, deploy social media and artificial intelligence, develop interpretive narratives, address difficult subject matter, and build collegial networks and partnerships across institutions. The project includes a structured plan to share resources through talking circles, conference sessions, and shared professional resources that extend leadership tools, interpretive strategies, and peer learning to the entire CAJM membership, supporting staff retention and providing new approaches for addressing antisemitism and strengthening institutional resilience.

The award period runs from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029, with place of performance in Jackson, Mississippi.

The council of american jewish museums (cajm) will establish a structured fellowship program and national peer-learning network to strengthen leadership capacity, professional resilience, and collaborative learning among professionals in american jewish museums. The project offers a cohort model that will engage up to twenty museum professionals in building practical leadership and facilitation skills, developing collaborative mindsets, and strengthening peer networks that address both the external challenge of antisemitism and the internal challenge of professional burnout. Participants will develop and apply leadership strategies that support collaborative institutional culture, strengthen community engagement through practices such as dialogic interpretation and community listening, strategies for stewarding collections, deploying social media and AI, developing interpretive narratives, addressing difficult subject matter, and building durable collegial networks and partnerships across institutions. This project also includes a structured plan to share resources through talking circles, conference sessions, and shared professional resources to provide the entire cajm membership access to leadership tools, interpretive strategies, and peer learning that support staff retention and provide new approaches for addressing antisemitism and strengthening institutional resilience.