With 10 years to help plan the new Contemporary Jewish Museum, Connie Wolf thought of everything.
Make that, almost everything.
“People wanted a place to sit down in the lobby,” said the San Francisco museum’s executive director. “We didn’t have benches there, but we do now.”
Otherwise, Wolf reported, attendance and programming at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, which opened June 8, has gone better than expected. The first-year attendance goal is 150,000 visitors, a target Wolf predicted the museum will meet or exceed.
However, she did not provide j. any up-to-date attendance figures.
“We’re still analyzing” the numbers, Wolf noted, “but we’re feeling great about that. Membership response has been greater than we anticipated. It’s surprising how well things have worked out. More positive than I could have imagined.”
As additional evidence that the museum has had strong attendance, Wolf noted that the number of tours for visitors (included in the price of admission) is being increased from two to three. And so far, Wolf said, nearly 4,000 people have contributed to artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ tikkun olam art project, which asks visitors to write what they can do to make the world a better place.
With upcoming exhibits such as Andy Warhol’s “Warhol’s Jews: Ten Portraits Reconsidered,” Wolf said she is confident the museum will continue to draw well.
“The quality of the experience is high,” she added. “People are taking the time to look, enjoying the space, taking the cell phone tour. People are taking pride in [the museum]. It’s a beacon for them.”
Making it easier for visitors to get to the museum, San Francisco Muni announced this week the start of a new CultureBus line (74X), which will run brightly colored buses to and from local museums, including the CJM. Service on the bus line begins Saturday, Sept. 20.
When pressed to cite anything that
hasn’t gone perfectly well, besides the benches and the occasional misplaced sign, Wolf drew a blank.
She even pointed to the museum’s eatery, Café on the Square, as further proof. “There’s been no complaining about the food. No complaining about the food? In a Jewish organization?”