UJA Federation

In April 2000, the UJA Federation, through the Jewish Toronto Tomorrow (JTT) initiative, embarked upon the largest infrastructure planning and restructuring process that the Jewish community of Toronto has ever known. The UJA Tomorrow Campaign, successfully launched on May 7, 2004 seeks to change the face of Toronto’s Jewish Community at three main city junctions: Downtown, Uptown, and Midtown. The central Midtown Sherman Campus – which includes the Koffler Centre of the Arts, the Leah Posluns Theatre, the Albert and Temmy Latner Jewish Public Library, the Lipa Green Building for Jewish Community Services and an athletic facility – is being redeveloped into the “Central Square” of the Jewish community, and most notably its first ever destination for excellence in arts and culture.

In 2004 the UJA engaged Lord Cultural Resources to help realize its goal of “fortifying Jewish identity through Jewish arts and culture”. Initially, Lord Cultural Resources prepared a plan for the Koffler Centre in the context of the campus redevelopment. However, this work was then extended to include concept and exhibit development, business planning and space planning for the other cultural components that lie at the heart of the Sherman Campus, which includes the National Center for Jewish Heritage and the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre.