director's message

Expectations for the New year

By Charmaine Jefferson Executive Director, California African American Museum

The New Year always offers expectations for brighter horizons and the promises of new opportunities.  That is certainly what is going on here at CAAM.  We began to maximize those opportunities as 2009 ended breaking new ground with unusual collaborations.  Supporting our neighbor the California Science Center's presentation of America I am, CAAM docents are stationed within the exhibit to provide guests with greater insight into our American history.  Next came the opening of our collaborative exhibition with the Skirball Cultural Center which has already opened doors for cross-cultural exchangs for both our institutions.  Here at CAAM the collaborative exhibits an Idea Called Tomorrow and After 1968 have already generated a buzz across the country and the feedback encourages us to look for further opportunities to move into other content-rich relationships.

We have plans for glorious exhibits and special programs in 2010 as well, including our new exhibits on the artistry of John Scott and the world travels of Dance Theatre of Harlem.  Our efforts even continue outside the walls of CAAM when later this year we will present an off-site installation of important works by African American artists.

Our outreach is being maximized at warp speed.  No matter the economic restrictions, expanded content is always on our minds,  It should be the mandate of our culturally specific institutions  to be ever embracing and encompassing.  We will find more open doors for CAAM to enter so that we can share the art, history and culture of African Americans as well as our perspective on the issues we all face on a planet that we all must share.  So many of our forefathers fought for us to be able to tell our stories through our own eyes.  To preserve and recount those stories for generations of our children is a source of pride and proof of our own empowerment.  To speak of it out loud gives literacy and knowledge to all around us.  To go further and utilize our stories and our voice to share opinions and ideas about our present and our collective future with multiple cultures is soul expanding and that seems to be a perfect target for CAAM this year and every New Year...especially when we have you here with us.  Happy New Year!