JCC East Bay needs volunteers for arts
Have some extra time on your hands? The JCC of the East Bay in Berkeley is looking for volunteers to help out with its Cultural Arts Project.
Inspired by the success of the JCC’s 25-year-old Jewish Music Festival, the Cultural Arts Project is part of the effort to keep JCC relevant for the younger generations. The project is made up of performance series Prism Stage; the Brew, a monthly music series; literary talk series Off Page; and Cinemingle, a film salon.
Volunteers are needed to help set up, usher, and sell tickets, food and beverages. Admission to the events will be free for volunteers.
For more information about volunteering, contact Jennifer Crawford at jenniferc@jcceastbay.org, or call (510) 848-0237 ext. 118. To learn more about the Cultural Arts Project, contact Ilya Tovbis at ilyat@jcceastbay.org.
Magnes Family Day will celebrate new building
The Judah L. Magnes Museum is inviting children and their parents to a sneak preview of its future home Sunday, July 13.
On Friends and Family Day, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Magnes will provide free tours of the building at 2222 Harold Way, a small street between Shattuck Avenue and Milvia Street, in downtown Berkeley. There also will be art projects and games related to architecture and building.
Currently located at 2911 Russell St. in Berkeley, the Magnes is on track to move to the new site in the spring of 2010.
Friends and Family Day activities are geared toward children ages 2 to 12, but all are welcome to attend the free celebration. For more information, visit www.magnes.org.
Choreographer, professor receive culture awards
An Israeli choreographer and an American professor of performance studies have received Jewish Cultural Achievement Awards.
The Foundation for Jewish Culture honored Ohad Naharin and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett at a June 12 ceremony.
Naharin is the renowned Israeli choreographer and artistic director of the internationally acclaimed Batsheva Dance Company. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is a professor of performance studies at New York University.
The foundation also presented a special citation for service to Macy Hart, president and founder of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life, for his service as past chair of the Council of American Jewish Museums. — jta
JCC talk to focus on Yiddish theater
S.F. State theater professor Joel Schechter will give a public reading from his new book, “Messiahs of 1933,” which explores the once-vital cultural touchstone of American Jewish life known as Yiddish Theater. The reading takes place next week at the Jewish Community Center of the East Bay.
“Messiahs of 1933” looks at lesser known or forgotten aspects of Yiddish theater, including the Artef collective, the Modicut puppeteers and the Yiddish Unit of the Federal Theater Project. Schechter included many photo illustrations and translated excerpts of several Yiddish plays.
Published by Temple University Press, “Messiahs of 1933” retails for $30, and is available at www.temple.edu/tempress. Schechter appears 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, at the JCC of the East Bay, 1414 Walnut St., Berkeley. Admission is free. For more information, call (510) 848-0237.
Snoop Dogg urged to cancel Israel show
A pro-Palestinian organization has asked hip-hop musician Snoop Dogg to cancel a fall concert in Israel.
In a June 29 letter to the artist, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel said, “We strongly urge you to cancel your plans to perform in Israel until the time comes when Israel ends its illegal occupation of Palestinian and Arab territories and respects the relevant precepts of international law concerning Palestinian rights to freedom, self-determination and equality.”
The concert is scheduled for Sept. 18 in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan. The letter challenged Snoop Dogg’s credentials as a hip-hop artist, saying that young Palestinians look to his music as a method of protest, and said his appearance in Israel would be another way of denying Palestinians their rights.
“Try to find out, for instance, how many Palestinian rappers, particularly those in besieged Gaza, will be allowed to attend your concert,” the letter said. “By performing in Ramat Gan, you are helping to perpetuate this special form of apartheid that denies us our rights.” — jta
KQED airing Israeli documentary
“9 Star Hotel,” a powerful memoir of Palestinian men working illegally as construction laborers in the Israeli city of Modi’in, will air on KQED on July 22.
The one-hour documentary by Israeli filmmaker Ido Haar explores the double lives of young Palestinians caught between Israeli security laws and a Palestinian Authority they see as having failed them. Haar captures the conflicted feelings these men have about their cultural identity as they work for Israeli contractors by day and are forced into hiding from police by night.
This is the second documentary by Haar, whose first film, “Melting Siberia,” was highly praised by Israeli critics. “9 Star Hotel” will air 10 p.m. July 22 on KQED Channel 9.
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California