Leonard Bernstein: The Power of Music

FAIN: GI-256063-17

National Museum of American Jewish History (Philadelphia, PA 19106-2197)
Ivy Weingram (Project Director: January 2017 to October 2021)

Implementation of a traveling exhibition about American composer Leonard Bernstein on the centennial of his birth.

The National Museum of American Jewish History (NMAJH) respectfully requests an Implementation Grant to support the special exhibition, Leonard Bernstein: The Power of Music, opening in March 2018. For a generation of Americans, Bernstein personified classical music and produced a rich repertoire of original compositions for orchestra and the theater. This exhibition will expand the scope of national discussions about and previous analyses of Leonard Bernstein by focusing on his Jewish identity and social activism in the context of his position as an American conductor and his works as a composer. This will be the first museum exhibition dedicated to exploring Bernstein as an historical figure through this unique lens, and the first opportunity to access this caliber of scholarly analysis and material culture related to Bernstein in a museum setting.