IN-PROGRESS SCREENING OF 'IMAGINING PEACE'

Host Phillip Riese, Elise Bernhardt, host Tracey Riese, filmmaker Lisa Gossels, and Lynn and Jules Kroll

Jules Kroll with Board Member Marc Stanley and host Phillip Riese

Host Phillip Riese with Board Members Lynn Kroll and Naomi Caspe

2009 NEW JEWISH CULTURE EVENT AT JOE'S PUB

Jeremiah Lockwood

The Foundation for Jewish Culture and The Forward presented Eli Valley vs the Sway Machinery in the Temple of Self Hatred with special guests Girls In Trouble previewing their new CD, a reading from Irina Reyn, the winner of the 2009 Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers, and other guests and surprises. The event, held on Monday, November 2, 2009 at 7PM at Joe's Pub, was a smashing success.

Performance artist Eli Valley

Eli Valley, maker of mind-bending comics, teams up with Jeremiah Lockwood and The Sway Machinery, makers of mind-bending melodies, for an evening of neurotic superheroes, paranoid turtles, memories, music and mayhem. Valley's work has brought back a marauding sensibility to The Forward, the landmark Jewish newspaper formed in 1897 as a bulwark of secular Jewish culture in America. The Sway Machinery has reinvented and reinvigorated cantorial melodies for a post-punk age.

Girls in Trouble

Girls in Trouble is the songwriting debut of multi-instrumentalist Alicia Jo Rabins, who performs all vocals, guitar parts and string sections for the album. Alicia marries her classical training and folk-punk sensitivity to her penchant for Jewish literature, mysticism and history.

Irina Reyn

Irina Reyn is the editor of Living on the Edge of the World: New Jersey Writers Take on the Garden State (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster). Her work has appeared in One Story, Post Road, Tin House, Los Angeles Times, Town & Country Travel, The Forward, Nextbook, Ballyhoo Stories, San Francisco Chronicle, and The Moscow Times. Irina was born in Moscow and currently divides her time between Pittsburgh, PA and Brooklyn, NY. She is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh.

2009 NATIONAL COUNCIL EVENT IN THE HAMPTONS

National Council members met in Southampton for a private screening of At Home in Utopia, directed by Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film grantee Ellen Brodsky. This event was co-hosted by Elana and Aryeh Bourkoff and Jane Friedman.

Foundation President Elise Bernhardt with co-host Jane Friedman, filmmaker Ellen Brodsky, and co-hosts Elana and Aryeh Bourkoff

Host Aryeh Bourkoff with Sheri Franklin and Keith Curcillo

Colleen and Ehren Stenzler

Sam and Mia Rybeck, filmmaker Ellen Brodsky's nephew and daughter

2009 WORKING GROUP ON JEWISH FILM FESTIVALS AND NEW MEDIA

Co-hosted by Peter Stein and the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, professionals from Boston, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rockland County and San Diego came together to discuss the implications of the internet and new media on their festivals. Peter presented SFJFF's new media initiative and moderated a panel of local film festival directors locating this effort within the larger context of culturally specific work.

Pictured, from left to right: Stephen Gong (Executive Director of the Center for Asian American Media), Peter Stein (Executive Director SFJFF), Jennifer Morris (Festival Director of Frameline), Joaquin Alvarado (consultant to SFJFF new media initiative and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting)

From left to right: Rob Fruchtman (FJC), Bart Weiss (Dallas), Jaymie Saks (Boston), Sandra Kraus (San Diego), Aviva Weintraub (NYC), and Roberta Bloom (Denver)

2009 JSEP RETREAT HELD IN JUNE

The second annual retreat for the Jewish Studies Expansion Program was held on the campus of Towson University on June 15-16, 2009. The retreat focused on helping our six postdoctoral teaching fellows with pedagogical skill building and using Jewish culture on the college campus.

Mentors Jenny Sartori, left, (Northeastern University) and Heidi Kaufman, right, (University of Delaware) discuss the finer points of JSEP during a workshop session on "Creating the Jewish studies syllabus."

Program mentors helped teaching fellows to refine their course syllabi during the retreat. From left to right: Jenny Sartori, Nina Spiegel (incoming fellow, American University), Jarrod Tanny (fellow, Ohio University), and workshop leader Justin Cammy (Smith College).

The retreat also included visits to the Baltimore Inner Harbor, a special reception at the home of Terry and Jim Rubenstein, and the Jewish Museum of Maryland (above).