Imagine a museum that heals while it inspires and unites while it defines. Where exhibits educate, inspire, empower, and challenge visitors without forcing a particular ideology. Where exhibits and programs ask visitors not only to look, but to participate, and, in turn, inspire change in themselves and their community. Discover the Mizel Museum, a place without glass cases and signs that say “don’t touch,” where adults and children of every age, race and cultural background are welcome to learn about one another and celebrate life.
Bluebird Hamsa by Arel Mishory, Mizel Museum Working Artist
Founded originally in 1982 by Dr. Rabbi Stanley Wagner local philanthropists Carol and Larry A. Mizel, the museum explored Jewish life in Colorado. Rabbi Wagner had visited a museum of Judaica in London in the late 1970s and returned deeply inspired. He dreamed of starting a similar project at BMH synagogue, a facility that would enable all people to appreciate Jewish culture. Thanks to a sizeable grant from the Mizel family, the museum, then known as the Mizel Museum of Judaica, formally opened its doors with an exhibition titled Denver Jewry Through the Years: A Family Album.
Through original and borrowed exhibitions, the museum later dedicated itself to the diversity of Jewish life—architecture, ritual and customs—all around the world. Curator Georgina creates exhibitions and programs intended to evoke a reaction, whether a subtle shift of an individual’s prejudices or a larger stir, such as community action. One year, after viewing the Ten Global Artists Interpret Genocide exhibit, a school group was moved to raise money for Darfurian slaves via their annual talent show. “That art can inspire children to live as world citizens and recognize that all human beings must support each other is an example of how our work here at the Mizel Museum is unique and profound,” said Kolber.
In 1994, the museum created a pivotal outreach exhibition program called Bridges of Understanding, a teaching tool using a series of artifacts mounted in accessible display cases designed to travel to schools, churches, synagogues and other museums. The exhibit portrays various rites of passage, as well as ceremonies and festivals of the world’s major cultural groups—Jews, Muslims, Asians, Latinos, Native American and African American. This enrichment program, which provides stimulus for comparison and difference, as well as encouraging ethnic pride, won the museum national recognition and prompted a permanent shift in the Museum’s mission statement and purpose.
The Mizel Museum turned to teaching others not only about Judaism, but about acceptance and tolerance of all people—a basic Jewish value. The Mizel Museum became a portal through which visitors from every background could find insight into their own heritage.
The museum has continued to expand, both in definition and its physical presence. It now encompasses three locations, including Babi Yar Park, an open-air memorial to those lost in the Holocaust in the Ukraine during World War II. Located at Havana and Yale in southeast Denver, the park is a 27-acre refuge for reflection, a place where survivors of crimes against humanity can gather and honor the memories of those lost to terror and genocide. The Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab (The CELL) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan center with the mission to empower citizens to help combat the threat of terrorism. Through exhibits, educational programs and its distinguished speaker series, The CELL seeks to promote personal and community activism in order to help shape a better, safer world. The CELL is located at 99 W. 12th Ave. in Denver.
The Museum’s main campus, located at 400 South Kearney Street in Denver, houses its first permanent exhibit, 4,000 Year Road Trip: Gathering Sparks, a dynamic journey through art, artifacts and digital media that narrates and celebrates Jewish history and culture. The museum also offers summer camps, family events, concerts, an Israeli film series, lectures, performances, art classes and other special events throughout the year.
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