Jewish Museum appoints chair amid funding for new initiative

The Jewish Museum has appointed a new chair to succeed Lord David Young, who stepped down in May after a decade in the role.

Nick Viner will take the reins from Tanya Persey, the museum’s treasurer who served as interim chair after Young’s departure from the role.

He is the co-founder of Circle Sq., a networking group for those over 50. Previously, Viner was a senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group and oversaw the development of JW3 as its founding chief executive.

The Jewish Museum, which remains closed to the public but is set to plan a phased reopening, reports a 188 percent uptick in the number of online users accessing its web portal for students and teachers, when compared to last year.

Viner’s appointment comes amid plans to allow individuals and organisations such as schools, care homes and places of worship to borrow items from their collection for a period.

The initiative, entitled the Object Lending Library and backed by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, would allow groups to “display and learn from objects, and connect to the museum and the wider collection, in their own environment.”