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Contemporary Jewish Museum
The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) is a non-collecting museum at 736 Mission Street at Yerba Buena Lane in the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The museum, which was founded in 1984, is located in the historic Jessie Street Substation, which was gutted and its interior redesigned by Daniel Libeskind, along with a new addition; the new museum opened in 2008. The museum's mission is to make the diversity of the Jewish experience relevant for a 21st- century audience through exhibitions and educational programs. The executive director is Kerry King.
The museum closed in December 2024 due to financial problems, and in 2026 announced that it would sell its building to provide funds.
The Contemporary Jewish Museum was founded in 1984 and was housed for over two decades in a small gallery space at the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco near San Francisco's waterfront. In 1989, the museum initiated a planning process to address the growing community need for its programs. The result was the decision to create a more expansive and centrally located facility with increased exhibitions, an area dedicated to education, and added program areas including live music, theater, dance, literary events, and film. In June 2008, the CJM opened a new 63,000 square-foot facility in downtown San Francisco.
During the 2000s, negotiations were held to potentially merge the CJM with the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley (now the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life). However, the talks failed to produce an agreement to combine the two institutions.
In late 2024 the museum announced that it would suspend operations for at least a year due to ongoing financial struggles, shutting its doors at end of day on December 15, and would reduce its staff. Kerry King, the museum's executive director, stressed that the closure is not intended to be permanent and the building would remain available to host events. In March 2026, the museum announced that to ensure its continuation, it would sell its building. The announcement also mentioned that the museum would be "hiring for a curatorial position, collaborating on exhibitions and programming with other institutions, and planning for forums at which audience and supporters can provide feedback on the museum's future".
The CJM is not a history museum, and does not have a permanent collection. It has curated and hosted a broad array of exhibitions each year in collaboration with other institutions, with the intent of making "the diversity of the Jewish experience relevant for a 21st-century audience."
The museum did have one commissioned object on permanent display, the 90-foot long, 12,000-pound Lamp of the Covenant by Sacramento artist David Lane, a massive, arc-shaped sculpture made of recycled steel, numerous globes of the world, animal figurines, Jewish letters, and Edison bulbs, suspended above the museum's lobby. Lane, who calls himself an outsider artist and is not Jewish, says the work is meant to evoke time, space and the dialogue between man and God.
Exhibitions have explored the history and reception of Jewish texts, holidays, and culture; the place of Jews and Jewish artists in San Francisco and California; and the impact of Jewish artists, writers, photographers, filmmakers, designers, musicians, performers, and entrepreneurs on the broader culture.
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Contemporary Jewish Museum
The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) is a non-collecting museum at 736 Mission Street at Yerba Buena Lane in the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The museum, which was founded in 1984, is located in the historic Jessie Street Substation, which was gutted and its interior redesigned by Daniel Libeskind, along with a new addition; the new museum opened in 2008. The museum's mission is to make the diversity of the Jewish experience relevant for a 21st- century audience through exhibitions and educational programs. The executive director is Kerry King.
The museum closed in December 2024 due to financial problems, and in 2026 announced that it would sell its building to provide funds.
The Contemporary Jewish Museum was founded in 1984 and was housed for over two decades in a small gallery space at the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco near San Francisco's waterfront. In 1989, the museum initiated a planning process to address the growing community need for its programs. The result was the decision to create a more expansive and centrally located facility with increased exhibitions, an area dedicated to education, and added program areas including live music, theater, dance, literary events, and film. In June 2008, the CJM opened a new 63,000 square-foot facility in downtown San Francisco.
During the 2000s, negotiations were held to potentially merge the CJM with the Judah L. Magnes Museum in Berkeley (now the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life). However, the talks failed to produce an agreement to combine the two institutions.
In late 2024 the museum announced that it would suspend operations for at least a year due to ongoing financial struggles, shutting its doors at end of day on December 15, and would reduce its staff. Kerry King, the museum's executive director, stressed that the closure is not intended to be permanent and the building would remain available to host events. In March 2026, the museum announced that to ensure its continuation, it would sell its building. The announcement also mentioned that the museum would be "hiring for a curatorial position, collaborating on exhibitions and programming with other institutions, and planning for forums at which audience and supporters can provide feedback on the museum's future".
The CJM is not a history museum, and does not have a permanent collection. It has curated and hosted a broad array of exhibitions each year in collaboration with other institutions, with the intent of making "the diversity of the Jewish experience relevant for a 21st-century audience."
The museum did have one commissioned object on permanent display, the 90-foot long, 12,000-pound Lamp of the Covenant by Sacramento artist David Lane, a massive, arc-shaped sculpture made of recycled steel, numerous globes of the world, animal figurines, Jewish letters, and Edison bulbs, suspended above the museum's lobby. Lane, who calls himself an outsider artist and is not Jewish, says the work is meant to evoke time, space and the dialogue between man and God.
Exhibitions have explored the history and reception of Jewish texts, holidays, and culture; the place of Jews and Jewish artists in San Francisco and California; and the impact of Jewish artists, writers, photographers, filmmakers, designers, musicians, performers, and entrepreneurs on the broader culture.
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