President’s Message

This past year, the Skirball marked twentyfive years since opening to the public on April 21, 1996. It has been a quarter century full of wonder and welcome. More than ten million visitors have joined us here for festivals, field trips, conferences, and concerts. Groundbreaking exhibitions have changed the way museums think about audience engagement and how an institution’s values can be shared through art and storytelling.

Like many of you who celebrated anniversaries and birthdays and milestone moments this past year, we approached this anniversary with nostalgia and longing for those crowded, noisy memories of gatherings in the past. As the public health crisis in our community worsened in the early months of 2021, we focused on the essential Jewish values that have made the Skirball a place of hope and safety all these years.

welcome the stranger.You shall not oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land

of Egypt. (Exod. 22:21)

pursue justice. You shall not stand idly by while your neighbor bleeds. (Lev. 19:16) show kindness. The world is sustained by compassionate deeds. (Pirke Avot 1:2) build community. How good and pleasant it is to dwell together. (Ps. 133:1) seek learning. Great is study, for it leads to

action. (Talmud, b. Kid. 40b)

honor memory. Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. (Deut. 32:7)

At the Skirball, we seek to bring meaning and understanding to all people by telling the stories of these ancient Jewish values. As we imagined finally being able to welcome visitors back to our museum galleries and cultural programs, we asked ourselves, “How can our oasis bring courage and comfort to those reeling from pandemic loss?”

From this discussion was born the three-phase exhibition Sustain: From Loss to Renewal, which evoked both ancient Jewish mourning rituals and current pandemic stories in Los Angeles. With Sustain as its centerpiece and renewal as its focus, this anniversary issue of Oasis commemorates our twenty-five-year history and highlights how our most recent offerings continue to give life to the Skirball’s mission. Whichever page of this volume you might wish to open—I hope you will feel the overwhelming gratitude we have for all those who have made this work possible.

Thank you.

Jessie Kornberg

Ramona Trent

President and Chief Executive Officer Skirball Cultural Center