Working with the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis, the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect brings traveling exhibit to Zionsville Community Schools Performing Arts Center
Educating against hate and intolerance is perhaps no more crucial than it is with adolescents, whose minds are open to new ideas and who are not far from graduating into adulthood. It is with this spirit of scholarship and dialogue that the Anne Frank Center has partnered with the Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis to bring a special exhibit to the Indianapolis Repertory Theatre and the Zionsville Community Schools Performing Arts Center in recent weeks.
We were honored to have the opportunity to join the group of community centers, schools and universities, arts organizations, libraries and museums all around the country who have hosted this amazing tribute to Anne Frank,” said Kris Devereaux, Chief Academic Officer for the Zionsville schools. “Our community was touched and lives were impacted by having this display. We are grateful to JFGI for partnering with us.”
First brought to Indianapolis as a companion to the Indianapolis Repertory Theatre’s production of The Diary of Anne Frank, the multi-panel exhibit “Anne Frank: A History for Today” visually displays a timeline following the Anne Frank family through their time in hiding in Amsterdam after fleeing Nazi Germany. The traveling exhibit was developed and produced by the Anne Frank House, an educational organization that serves as a museum at the site of the Frank family’s “Secret Annex.” The exhibit is one of several distributed throughout the United States by the Anne Frank Center USA, with the purpose of teaching every generation about the dangers of intolerance and the lessons of the Holocaust that are applicable today.
AFC worked with JFGI and Zionsville school district administration to extend the exhibit’s time in the area with an installation at the Zionsville Community Schools Performing Arts Center, adjacent to the Zionsville High School, where it could be easily accessed by the nearly 10,000 students in the district.
“The commitment by the Zionsville Community Schools administration to make the exhibit accessible to their students and the broader community is laudable,” says Nina Price, director of Jewish Education Initiatives at the JFGI, “and attests to the impact education can make in combatting hatred. A number of teachers and community members were trained in how to serve as docents for the exhibit and optimize the educational impact of engaging with Anne Frank’s story and how it relates to our world today.”
AFC and JFGI hope that the exhibit will help to foster a deeper cultural awareness and regard for the atrocities of the Holocaust, and in so doing elevate the values of compassion, unity, and understanding.
