From left to right: JArts Executive Director Laura Mandel, Workshop Artistic Director Kendell Pinkney, actor Micaela Diamond, and Magnes Collection Curator Franceso Spagnolo. Photo: Erica Jaros/Institute of Museum and Library Services.
The CANVAS Compendium: Dispatches from the New Jewish Renaissance
Addressing a Senate panel late last year, FBI Director Christopher Wray noted that although Jews account for only 2.4% of the U.S. population, they are the target of 60% of religious-based hate crimes.
“The Jewish community is targeted by terrorists really across the spectrum,” Wray told the panel.
This is of course cause for alarm. But there was another announcement from the government last year that was cause for encouragement—when the White House made the fight against antisemitism a matter of public policy.
The U.S National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism is a 60-page plan based on four pillars—education, safety and security, reversing the normalization of antisemitism, and building cross-community solidarity.
The list of federal agencies involved is long: a partial summary includes the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, the Department of Labor, The Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Small Business Administration.
The plan supports a wide range of Jewish expression, including arts and culture: research on antisemitism supported by the National Endowment for Humanities; a campaign from the National Endowment for the Arts utilizing artists whose work counters hate; and new curricula developed by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Finally, the strategy called for the The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to partner with the Council of American Jewish Museums (CAJM), a CANVAS grantee network, “to host a summit for museums, libraries, and archives on countering antisemitism.”
Last week, on March 5 and 6 in Washington, DC, IMLS and CAJM spearheaded that very summit, “Museums Respond: Strategies for Countering Antisemitism and Hate.” Over 100 Federal officials and museum leaders discussed how museum-based approaches might work towards mitigating hate. The discussions included:
- Evolving Narratives on Antisemitism in America
- Collections As Evidence / Collections for Engagement
- Convening Conversations with Communities
- Holocaust Memorials, Museums, and Addressing Antisemitism
- Communicating with Children
- Jewish Arts and Creative Expression
- Building and Sustaining Long-term Partnerships
- Re-Charting a Shared Future
CANVAS has long argued that arts and culture should be part of the fight against prejudice. Arts and culture is a compelling way to investigate and reimagine Jewish ideas within the community; it’s a way of humanizing and familiarizing Judaism, Jewish ideas, and Jewish people to other communities.
Ultimately, it is one of the most powerful tools we have to foster empathy, build awareness, and support cross-cultural learning.
In addition to CAJM and its Executive Director Melissa Yaverbaum, talents from across the CANVAS ecosystem played important roles in the proceedings. Among the many distinguished presenters were Rabbi Kendell Pinkney, Artistic Director of the Workshop (another Network Grantee), Laura Mandel, Director of JArts Boston (a CANVAS Distribution Grantee), and Ben Gundersheimer, a CANVAS Advisory Committee Member and Latin Grammy-nominated musician.
Melissa Martens Yaverbaum articulated what many participants were thinking: “I think many of us feel that words are sometimes failing us these days—in the news, in public discourse, and in the ways we describe the course of history, peoplehood, and the complex world we live in. Instead, we might turn to examples that show us how heritage and the arts inform each other and strengthen our shared communities and shared humanity. It’s exciting to think what museums can do next.”
Laura Huerta Migus, Deputy Director of IMLS’s Office for Museum Services, said, “Our goal is to empower and support museums in their roles as community anchors and trusted institutions so that they can become active allies, while encouraging dialogue and advancing equity so that hate has no place to thrive.”
Lou Cove, Founder of CANVAS, also addressed the summit, noting that “Jewish artists feel the chilling effects of a level of distrust and discrimination that they have never known in their lifetimes. And unlike many other groups, most Jews can do a pretty good job of hiding their identities if they want to. Those artists can just decide not to bring this essential part of themselves to their work, and to our museums and libraries, our stages and screens.
“We all suffer when that path is taken.
“So this is a moment to lean in. To support and encourage and grow our creative communities. To showcase their work, to welcome their perspectives, and to engage them as the true ambassadors for Jewish culture.”
As CANVAS has noted, arts and culture can be a fruitful sphere for interfaith dialogue, as well as a vehicle for healing and renewal. We’re very much looking forward to seeing the ideas that come out of the summit and how we can continue to move forward in fighting antisemitism and unashamedly leaning into Jewish arts and culture.
The Jewish arts and culture sector is thriving. Learn about upcoming cultural offerings from around the CANVAS ecosystem here.
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