Art and Humanity in Peril: The Story of Degenerate Art

Tuesday, December 2, 2025 • 12 Kislev 5786

2:00 PM - 3:15 PMKol Rinah

Bill Sitzer, docent and educator at the St. Louis Art Museum, will provide an illustrated introduction to art labeled 'degenerate' by the Nazi party. Bill is a fascinating lecturer with deep experience in guiding discussion and promoting visual literacy.

In-person at Kol Rinah, please RSVP.

Bill Sitzer (he/him) has been a docent and educator at the Saint Louis Art Museum since 2014. He is currently a member of the Museum’s Interpretive Materials Group and is a past chair of its Docent and Educator board. Prior to his retirement, Bill spent more than forty-five years in a career where he had the opportunity to cultivate and appreciate the value of careful listening and observational skills. He is now a certified Visual Thinking Strategies facilitator, coach and trainer. VTS is an important method of museum engagement that focuses on visual literacy, collaborative listening, respectful dialogue, and community building.

As an educator in the learning and engagement department at SLAM Bill initiated, together with staff colleagues, community academics and clergy from many religious traditions, an interfaith tour program. These tours focus on recurring themes of faith across history and cultures, drawing on the exceptional collection of the museum. He has worked with other museums to help them establish their own interfaith tour programs based on their own collections. He has published a case study addressing this initiative in the Journal of Museum Education, the premier publication promoting and reporting on theory, training and practice in the museum education field, and serves as a Peer Reviewer for that Journal.

Bill is part of a team that moderates the weekly New York Times multimedia fixture, “What’s Going On in this Picture.”

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Thu, October 30 2025
8 Cheshvan 5786

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