The Community Creative Fellowship, powered by CJP and  JArts, is an opportunity for us as a community to be part of the creative process with two top Jewish artists.

More and more people are exploring Jewish culture for new perspectives and approaches to their Jewish identity. The arts enable us to create a meaningful personal identity and also attract, excite, and educate people about the richness of Jewish culture.

The Community Creative Fellowship is designed to support two local creatives who are looking to explore Jewish identity through arts and/or culture. Combining both personal development and community engagement, our creative fellows are expected to create new capstone work that is inspired by the experience of the fellowship in order to meet the following goals:

  1. Support the creation of new work that reflects the artists’ own Jewish exploration
  2. Create a community wide dialogue by engaging diverse communities in this work and artistic process
  3. Develop creatives’ capacity for community engagement and Jewish literacy

Meet the 2022-23 Fellows!

Rachel Linsky

Rachel Linsky is a Boston-based contemporary dance artist. She holds a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography and a B.A. in Arts Administration from Elon University where she graduated summa cum laude. Rachel directs and choreographs ZACHOR, an ongoing project series that seeks to preserve the words of WWII Holocaust survivors through dance. Rachel’s choreography has been presented in national and international dance festivals such as Earl Mosely’s Diversity of Dance “Dance is Activism Film Festival,” Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Prague International Film Festival, and many more. Her work has been awarded funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts, The City of Boston, The Russell J. Efros Foundation, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, and The Beker Foundation. Rachel has been an artist in residence at the Boston Center for the Arts through their new Dance Maker’s Laboratory Program, and at Chelsea Theatre Works. Rachel was recently commissioned by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the JArts to choreograph a new work for their 2021 Hanukkah celebration. Rachel is currently a dancer with KAIROS Dance Theater and The Click Boston. She is on the teaching faculty at Koltun Ballet Boston, Broadway Bound Dance Center, and Urbanity Dance.

Learn More About Rachel

Private: Ira Klein

Ira Klein is an award-winning guitarist, composer, and producer from Jerusalem, Israel, currently based in Boston, MA. He aspires to create deeply rooted, fresh, and idiosyncratic contemporary music. Inspired by his fascination with several folk music traditions (predominantly Ladino and American roots music), as well as his background in jazz and rock, Ira takes a melting-pot musical approach to create his sound. He believes that when ancient songs meet a modern interpretive approach, the creative possibilities are boundless. Ira has taught at Berklee College of Music, the Cambridge Music Consortium, the Club Passim School of Music and the Concord Conservatory of Music. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Music in 2020 from Berklee, and is currently a Masters program student at the Longy Conservatory of Bard College in Cambridge. He has performed widely, including local performances at The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Harvard University’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Smith Center, and Holden Chapel, Boston University Hillel, the Longfellow House Museum, and Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Learn More About Ira

Is your organization or community interested in collaborating with the fellows? Contact Jamie Darsa at jamied@jartsboston.org.

FELLOWSHIP IN THE NEWS

About CJP & JArts

CJP and JArts have worked closely over the years to support and expand the place of vibrant Jewish arts and culture in Greater Boston. As part of their ongoing partnership, CJP and JArts developed and launched the fellowship in the fall of 2020 to support Boston-area creatives as they explore Jewish identity and connect with various communities through workshops. Creatives in all artistic media — visual artists, musicians, performers, writers, chefs, coders, and others — are invited to apply each year.

Meet Our Past Fellows

Paloma Valenzuela

Paloma is a Dominican-American writer, director, and actor originally from Jamaica Plain, MA. She is the creative director of the production operation La Palomita Productions based in Boston and the Dominican Republic. She has collaborated with organizations such as the Urbano Project and Hyde Square Task Force and is the writer/producer/creator of the comedic web series, “The Pineapple Diaries”. The show was featured in the Latina Magazine’s “5 Web Series Every Latinx Needs to Watch Right Now”.

Learn More

Rotem Goldenberg

Originally from Israel, Rotem moved to Cambridge, MA this past year. Her art is for audiences of all ages and exists between the spaces of visual theater, performance, storytelling, and clowning. She believes in using theater as a tool in both social activism and therapy. Rotem has taught and lectured in universities, schools, and community events across the globe. She is an actor and partner in the Holot Theater, a social theater group for Israelis and asylum seekers. As a medical clown, she has worked in children’s departments, rehabilitative geriatric hospitals, and mental health hospitals. Most recently, Rotem served as a social clown with the “Emunah” organization for at-risk youth.

Learn More

Yoni Battat

Yoni Avi Battat is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer specializing in contemporary and traditional Jewish music inspired by his Iraqi and Polish ancestry. He performs and records around the world alongside artists who are at the forefront of Jewish music, including his Yiddish Jazz Band, Two Shekel Swing, and his own Ensemble of Middle-Eastern Jewish music.

Learn More

Adriana Katzew

Adriana Katzew is an artist-educator-scholar. Her photography-based art practice reveals her interest in social documentary, history, and marginalized voices. Adriana’s work strives to unearth stories and memories of people, moments and places, addressing societal conditions. Through her work, Adriana uncovers the individual narratives and humanity of each subject.

Learn More

Interested In Becoming A Fellow?

Our Goals

  • Support the creation of new work that reflects the artists’ own Jewish exploration
  • Create a community wide dialogue by engaging diverse communities in this work and artistic process
  • Develop creatives’ capacity for community engagement and Jewish literacy

Who Should Apply?

Creatives who…

  • Have any level of connection to Jewish identity
  • Have a personal interest in exploring Jewish identity and its role in the creative process •seek meaningful professional and personal development opportunities
  • Interest in engaging with audiences of diverse backgrounds

Stipend, Timeline & Expectations

The chosen creatives will each develop a capstone piece informed by their experience over the course of the fellowship (October 2023-June 2024). Fellowship stipend: $20,000 (9 months, inclusive of time and materials)

Timeline

  • Applications due July 2023, Exact Date to be Announced
  • Fellowship begins October 2023, Exact Date to be Announced
  • Fellowship completion: June 2024, Exact Date to be Announced

Expectations

Creative Fellows will…

  • Develop engagement opportunities that inspire creative connections to Jewish identity
  • Work with an array of community groups, Jewish and not, such as: schools, senior living facilities, synagogues, community centers (10 engagements over the course of the fellowship)
  • Be prepared to facilitate their work virtually in the event that in-person opportunities are not possible
  • Attend all scheduled educational sessions and meetings with mentors (schedule to be set at the beginning of the fellowship)
  • Provide regular documentation of fellowship experience
  • Ensure that social media marketing and growth is a priority of this process
  • Create a capstone piece

Fellowship Support

  • Primary Mentorship: Creatives will have a consistent mentor throughout the process to help facilitate your own Jewish artistic journey and enhance your learning around community engagement
  • Jewish Mentorship: Creatives will also have 3 sessions with a Jewish educator focusing on topics of interest
  • Logistic support: Administrative support for community engagement opportunities, marketing via CJP and JArts marketing channels
  • Additional opportunities to work with experts and other professionals in the creatives’ desired field

To inquire about future opportunities, please contact Jamie Darsa: jamied@jartsboston.org

All of the Culture
With none of the guilt.

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