Mariah Berlanga-Shevchuk is the Head of Public Engagement at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education—OJMCHE’s first person in that role—where she’s widening the museum’s public programs and community partnerships.  Before Portland, she co-curated LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes’ landmark exhibition “afroLAtinidad: mi casa, my city,” a home-shaped journey through Afro-Latinx histories and contemporary life that used rooms—kitchen, living room, backyard—to surface issues like food deserts, media representation, and belonging. She’s also been a cultural resources and exhibitions lead at Five Oaks Museum here in Oregon. 

In this episode we cover a lot of ground.  We discuss Mariah’s Mexican American–Ashkenazi–Ukrainian story and how her name carries that lineage, how that lineage informs her Jewish and professional worldview, talk about how a Jewish Museum and the OJMCHE in particular to capture the complex, rich and changing world of Jewish life and culture. And Finally, we map Portland’s grassroots Jewish energy—from Rosh Ḥodesh circles to DIY minyanim and creative pop-ups—and ask how institutions can meet that vitality with openness rather than gatekeeping.

Notes:

Here are links to epople/places/things mentioned in the episode: 

• Art/Lab: Innovating Jewish Arts and Culture artlabpdx.org

• Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education (OJM&CHE) — homepage. ojmche.org

• OPB feature quoting Mariah on Alice Lok Cahana’s art. https://www.opb.org/article/2025/05/08/ashes-into-rainbows-the-art-of-alice-lok-cahana/ 

• afroLAtinidad: mi casa, my city — exhibition page at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. https://lapca.org/exhibition/afrolatinidad-mi-casa-my-city/

• TischPDX  tischpdx.org