The Community Quilt Interactive at the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience (MSJE) received a Gold Award at the Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC) in the Technology Competition. The competition recognizes southeastern museums that integrate the most creative and innovative technology to enhance exhibits.
In collaboration with MSJE and Gallagher & Associates, Cortina Productions designed and produced seven interactive exhibits for the new museum, including the award-winning Community Quilt Interactive, to help advance MSJE’s mission of promoting understanding and recognition of the Jewish experience in the Southern States.
“We are thrilled to be recognized by our peers in the museum industry,” said executive director Kenneth Hoffman, “and I am particularly proud of the creativity and hard work of our staff and of our design partners, Gallagher & Associates and Cortina Productions. Weaving more than 300 years of Southern Jewish experiences into engaging, accessible, and relevant exhibits–during a pandemic, no less–was quite an adventure.”
Each interactive media piece served to augment the physical objects and exhibit content through deeper exploration, encouraging reflection and learning. For example, in the Community Quilt interactive, visitors create a custom quilt square modeled on the museum’s quilt artifact from the Jewish Ladies’ Sewing Circle of 1885. Visitors are encouraged to customize their individual square using a variety of patterns, fabrics, patches and lettering that’s unique to them. They can then add their square to a projected community quilt on a shared table to symbolize their identity and contribution to their community.
Image courtesy of the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience / Photo by Frank Aymami