The Foundation for Jewish Culture currently administers grant programs that fund documentary filmmakers, writers, playwrights, scholars and performing artists. Since 1960, the Foundation has awarded over $2.2 million to 600 scholars and 170 artists. Many of our scholars have become leaders of Jewish studies programs on campuses across the country. Our grantees have created 77 documentary films and 81 plays, and continue to leave their imprint on communities across North America. This year, audiences in major American cities, including San Francisco, New Orleans, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Chicago and Washington, D.C., as well as in international cities such as Vienna, Toronto, Tel Aviv, Sao Paulo, Warsaw, and Jerusalem, viewed documentary films supported by the Foundation. Works by our grantees in literature, scholarship and playwriting reached New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin, Toronto, and Jerusalem, among others.

We are currently developing programs to support composers, poets, and visual artists.

CURRENT PROGRAMS

FILM

The Lynn and Jules Kroll Fund for Jewish Documentary Film supports postproduction of original documentaries that explore the Jewish experience. Grants range from $15,000 to $50,000 and are usually awarded to up to six filmmakers annually. This Fund was established in 1996 with a lead grant from the Righteous Persons Foundation and sustained with major support from the Charles H. Revson Foundation. Funded films include Off and Running, Orthodox Stance, The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, Trembling Before G-d, Budrus, My Architect, Encounter Point, Waltz With Bashir, Waiting for Armageddon, and William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe. They have been nominated for Academy Awards, received Emmy and Peabody Awards, and been featured at major film festivals worldwide including Sundance, Toronto, and Tribeca.

LITERATURE

The Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers highlights debut fiction by contemporary writers exploring Jewish themes, and offers a prize and writer’s residency. Past recipients include Gary Shteyngart, Nathan Englander, Lara Vapnyar, Scott Nadelson, and Anya Ulinich.

The Gantz Zahler Grant for Jewish Nonfiction Publishing is awarded biannually to a nonfiction book project.

THEATRE

Please note: Due to market conditions, the Foundation's Board of Directors has determined that grants for New Jewish Theater Projects cannot be awarded in 2009 or 2010. If you would like to be notified of the application's availability, please email grants@jewishculture.org to be added to the (E)mailing list. Please note that the Foundation does not fund individual projects outside of our established programs.

New Jewish Theatre Projects supports between four and six nonprofit theater companies with grants of up to $5,000 for the commissioning of new plays, musicals, or multimedia works of Jewish significance. This program provides funds for play or performance development, which can include commissioning fees, playwright’s residency expenses and research and workshop expenses. Since its inception in 1994, new plays have been produced by the Long Wharf Theatre, InterAct Theater Company, Theater for the New City, Manhattan Theatre Club and Theater J, among others.

SCHOLARSHIP

The Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Fund for Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships in Jewish Studies supports the completion of a dissertation, typically in the fifth year of study. Preference is given to individuals preparing for academic careers in Jewish studies, although occasional grants are awarded to students in other fields of the humanities or social sciences who demonstrate a career commitment to Jewish scholarship. In 2010, the Foundation granted four fellowships in the range of $16,000.

The Sidney and Hadassah Musher Subvention Prize is awarded biannually for an outstanding first book in Jewish Studies.

The new Jewish Studies Expansion Project (JSEP) capitalizes on the documented impact of university Jewish studies programs as a gateway into Jewish life during the college years and provides university students with enhanced opportunities for Jewish learning. Funded by the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation and the Jim Joseph Foundation, JSEP places recent PhDs in six universities to teach Jewish studies courses and stimulate engagement in the Jewish community.

The first cohort of universities consisted of: American University, Washington, D.C.; Northeastern University, Boston, MA; Ohio University, Athens, OH; Towson University, Towson, MD; Tulane University, New Orleans, LA; and University of Delaware, Newark, DE. The current cohort includes: Colgate University, Oberlin College, Portland State University, Syracuse University, the University of Arizona, Tuscon, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS

The Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists, an innovative strategic partnership between Avoda Arts, the Foundation for Jewish Culture, and JDub Records, and made possible with major funding from UJA-Federation of New York, currently supports artists in the New York area who are developing new projects that explore a Jewish theme.