Welcome! Welcome!

This is my third day working as the Outreach Coordinator at the JMM so it’s about time that I introduce myself to the public via the blog. As my title implies, I will be getting to know the friends (and soon to be friends) of the JMM very well. With all of the great blog posts before me though, this is an intimidating place to start. So here I go…

Rachael is already hard at work!

My name is Rachael Binning and I’m the newest staff member at the JMM. I originally hail from Huntington Beach, CA, but now live on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. You may be wondering why I decided to relocate from sunny California to the East Coast. Well, the reason is because I was very determined to work at a highly regarded cultural institution like the Jewish Museum of Maryland. After gradating from college with a degree in History and Jewish Studies I worked at the Jewish Federation in Boston. A year later I moved about an hour south to Providence, RI where I received my MA degree in Public Humanities at Brown University. The program is designed to train students to be liaisons between higher education and the public. Now, it is essentially my goal to make the public as enthusiastic about the JMM and its mission as I am. I’m looking forward to bringing more people into the museum and expanding the museums reach outside of its physical walls.

I moved to DC, with my dog “Wednesday” in tow, about a month ago and am really enjoying my new neighborhood and my new life. When people are shocked to learn that I drive from DC to Baltimore for work my response is always “Hey, I’m a Californian. I can handle the commute.” In the end the drive is worth it because every day I get to look forward to learning more about the JMM and the community it serves.