The Wende Museum

Collections and exhibitions:collections: The Wende maintains multiple storage locations in The los angeles area and in germany, which together house its collection of more than 100,000 Cold War cultural artifacts from eastern europe and The soviet union.fiscal year 2022 brought with it hundreds of important acquisitions. Some highlights include:- handmade demobilization albums created by soviet soldiers shortly before The end of their military service; these albums contain photographs, drawings, official documents, letters, and other items from their period of service- materials documenting soviet jewish life and The refusenik movement- chinese photo albums from The cultural revolution- soviet bone records black market music recordings cut into discarded medical x-rays- soviet children's books- hungarian artwork and ceramics- a large collection of chinese materials from The cultural revolution, including posters, badges, publications, and ephemera- an archive related to female east german artists, including correspondences, exhibition documentation, and related ephemera.- two large collections of soviet paintings donations also contributed to The following special collections: The russian-speaking jewry archives, The polish underground archive, brigade books, and meissen porcelain.in fiscal year 2022, The Wende Museum launched a special initiative to become one of The only sources in The world for rare materials relating to soviet jewry, The refusenik movement, and The russian-speaking jewish diaspora.the materials that have been acquired to date for The soviet jewry archives include significant samizdat publications and ephemera, and fiscal year 2023 was dedicated to building infrastructure and The capacity needed to adequately and appropriately digitize samizdat materials that pose inherent digitization challenges.exhibitions: The Wende presented four exhibitions: The medium is The message: flags and banners, martin roemers: relics of The Cold War, questionable history, and soviet jewish life: bill aron and yevgeniy fiks. Events increased in fiscal year 2023 to include film screenings, extensive online and in-person programs related to The exhibitions such as a monthly online series "in search of truth, and a music series featuring experimental music in los angeles. All events were offered to The public free of charge.

Auxiliary activities:the Wende operates a gift shop to sell program-related merchandise and hosts event rentals to promote The venue.

Community programs:public access: The Wende Museum offers free public access to its galleries and gardens on fridays, saturdays, and sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and mondays through thursdays by appointment. The Museum welcomes approximately 15,000 visitors per year. The Wende also provides free global access to art and artifacts through its online collections, and hosts an array of online events attended by people around The world. Education: The Wende produced a number of programs during fiscal year 2023:- high-school docent program- school field trips- arts workshops- family day activities- The Wende teen council- student council- online educational programmingthe Museum also trained 10 college and university interns in Museum skills. There were 7 collections interns and3 curatorial interns.community engagement: The Wende prioritizes community wellness and community engagement as core to The Museum's mission. Community engagement activities include:- monthly family days, with all-ages art activities taught by Museum staff or teaching artists.- an annual gathering of culver city nonprofits at The wende,culminating in The presentation of The Wende nonprofit transition prizeto a local nonprofit that is innovatively serving The community.