The Jewish Arts and Culture Renaissance is Flowering!
Despite all that’s going on in the world—or perhaps in part due to it—something wonderful is brewing in the world of Jewish arts and culture. Here is a sampling of what CANVAS grantees have been up to.
CANVAS Gratitude Alert!
This is the time of year when we feel compelled to express our gratitude: for contemporary Jewish creativity, for our good fortune to be able to support it, and for you.
CANVAS Year Two: Moving Forward, Looking Back
This is the time of year when we share what we at CANVAS have been up to. It’s our annual peek behind the curtain to help explain our grantmaking and field-building efforts for the Jewish arts and culture world. It is also a chance to share how we’ve grown.
“The power of building community” — Welcome C.O.O. Sarah Burford
The CANVAS community is growing! We are excited to welcome one more creative professional: Our new Chief Operating Officer, Sarah Burford.
CANVAS Invests Additional $195,000 in Creative Communities
We’re doubling down on arts networks, the key to the arts and culture ecosystem, with a new round of funding. This week we’ve announced a new round of Jewish arts & culture grantmaking: $195,000 to nine emerging arts networks in amounts ranging from $10,000 to $25,000. This latest grant cycle brings our total commitments to the sector to over $1.6 million over the past 18 months. I want to briefly explain our philanthropic approach here and address the question: why are networks key to...
First Year, First Impressions
Who would be crazy enough to launch a fund supporting Jewish arts and culture in March of 2020? To our own amazement, we did.It’s been barely a year since we made our first grants to Jewish arts and culture networks. Since then, CANVAS has committed more than $1.4 million to the encourage and strengthen modern Jewish creativity in North America.We’re just getting started. But before we look ahead, we'd like to take stock of what’s happened thus far. Meeting a Need, Filling a Gap We founded...
Why Fund Jewish Arts and Culture?
At JFN's 2021 conference, Hyperallergic Editor Hrag Vartanian asked Jewish funders: Why invest in Jewish arts and culture? Passover comments from the audience illustrated by the New Yorker's Liana Finck. See the drawings and watch the video.
Download Your “Dwelling” Companion Book
We are pleased to share with you this gorgeous companion to Dwelling in a Time of Plagues, a Jewish creative response to the real-world plagues of our time. This coast-to-coast offline/online exhibition involves dozens of museums, public sites, and online platforms. Dwelling in a Time of Plagues invited ten artists and ten writers to respond to two questions: What has most plagued you in this year of plagues? What has liberated you? The companion...
Watch the ‘Dwelling in a Time of Plagues: Passover’ Opening Event
Meet the artists and authors behind "Dwelling in a Time of Plagues," a project launched by CANVAS, in partnership with Asylum Arts, the Council for American Jewish Museums, the Jewish Book Council, LABA, and Reboot. The program features short talks by the following participating artists and authors: Julie Weitz, Tal Beery, Olivia Guterson, Mike Wirth, Hillel Smith, Maya Ciarrocchi, Bareket Kezwer, Rebecca Soffer, Moriel Rothman-Zecher, and Sarah Blake. https://youtu.be/32f5ISaK1n4
Introducing the CANVAS Compendium
CANVAS works to achieve a 21st-century Jewish cultural renaissance through grantmaking, advocacy, and education. The brand-new CANVAS Compendium is part of this effort — a newsletter designed to convey the highest quality and remarkable diversity of contemporary Jewish creativity. Each week we will share with you a few of our favorite projects and practitioners. We’ll keep it brief, and we’ll make sure it’s highly curated, but we predict you’ll be amazed by how energized the field is. For...
Cartoonist Liana Finck and the Art & Culture of Funding Jewish Art & Culture
At a session of the Jewish Funders Network's 2021 International Conference, Hyperallergic Editor Hrag Vartanian facilitated a discussion asking some of the biggest investors in Jewish arts and culture: Why do we invest in Jewish arts and culture? Do we fund art for art’s sake, or do these investments overlap with our broader philanthropic goals? And how do we measure and evaluate impact in this sector? Scroll down to watch the video. Since the session took place shortly before Passover and the...
‘Dwelling in a Time of Plagues’ is Back for Passover
When we observe Passover later this month at the traditional seder meal, we will recite the 10 Plagues that God is said to have imposed on the ancient Egyptians as punishment for not freeing their Israelite slaves. But this will be the second consecutive Passover marked by the modern-day plague of Covid-19, which has killed more than 2 million people worldwide and dramatically restricted all forms of social interaction. In this uniquely challenging moment, one in which individuals are...
A Tour of “Dwelling in a Time of Plagues”
https://youtu.be/nl86kZtMzIk Tour the coast-to-coast exhibition "Dwelling in a Time of Plagues" with the artists and museum directors whose collaborative work caught the attention of the art world and received global acclaim this Sukkot. Featuring artists Mirta Kupferminc, Adam W. McKinney, and Tiffany Woolf, along with leaders from CANVAS, CANVAS grantee organizations, CANVAS funders, and the participating museums.
The Story Behind the CANVAS Logo
When I (Ella) was asked to design the logo for CANVAS it was explained to me that this new funding collaboration would target the “Jewish cultural renaissance” — a new generation of artists that are exploring and creating innovative ways to preserve and reimagine Judaism and Jewish identity, making them relevant and meaningful for the times we are living in. CANVAS aims to provide support to these creators as well as to allow more individuals and organizations to access arts and culture as a...
Virtual Tour of ‘Shelter in Place’ and Artist Talk with Adam W. McKinney
https://vimeo.com/470262185 "Shelter in Place," at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, is a collaboration with Asylum Arts and one of three installations commissioned for Sukkot as part of Dwelling in a Time of Plagues. Dwelling in a Time of Plagues, a collaboration between CANVAS, CANVAS grantees LABA, the Council of American Jewish Museums, Asylum Arts, and others, is a Jewish creative response to real-world plagues of our time. Adam W. McKinney is a Gay, Black,...
Virtual Tour of ‘Clamor in the Desert’
Just because you're nowhere near Tucson doesn't mean you can't see Mirta Kupferminc's "Clamor in the Desert," one of three Dwelling in a Time of Plagues installations. Check out the virtual tour that The Jewish History Museum (Tucson) has published on its website. You can also view an adapted version of the installation, called "Clamor in the City" in the ground-floor windows of New York City's 14th Street Y. Dwelling in a Time of Plagues, a collaboration between CANVAS, CANVAS grantees LABA,...
It’s Not Too Late To Check Out ‘Dwelling in a Time of Plagues’
While the holiday of Sukkot has ended, “Dwelling in a Time of Plagues,” the national constellation of outdoor art installations commissioned by CANVAS — in partnership with Asylum Arts, the Council on American Jewish Museums, LABA and Reboot — continues. "Dwelling in a Time of Plagues" is a Jewish creative response to real-world plagues of our time. Several new “Dwelling” projects will be commissioned in time for Passover. And the three works commissioned for Sukkot are still on display, all...
Dwelling in a Time of Plagues
We're thrilled to announce "Dwelling in a Time of Plagues," a celebration of life, art, and community during a pandemic year that has upended our daily lives, routines, and interactions. A project of CANVAS, three of its grantees, and three Jewish museums, "Dwelling" is opening for Sukkot with three artists in three cities whose works will challenge, inspire and spark conversation about modern Judaism, social justice, physical boundaries, and our sense of belonging. Learn more at...
Comedy and Catharsis in a Time of Crisis: A CANVAS Conversation
Thursday, September 10, 2020, 1:30pm – 3:00pm EDT This is the second program in the CANVAS Conversations series, "Why We Invest in Our Creative Community.” Jews have always relied on humor to endure difficult times—and this is an especially difficult time. But many of the tools the best performers and producers rely on—the theater, the comedy club, a live audience—are inaccessible or compromised in quarantine conditions. For this conversation, CANVAS has invited four...
WATCH: A CANVAS Conversation with Nathan Englander, Marra Gad and Rachel Kadish
https://youtu.be/7dLTaWCJ3iM A rare and intimate conversation/reading with three major Jewish authors — Nathan Englander, Marra B. Gad, and Rachel Kadish — as they share their work and their reactions to the crises of our times. What is the role of an artist in a pandemic? During a period of profound reckoning? How has their response been informed by their Jewish identities? We hope you will join us to learn the answers to these questions, and ask some of your own. This conversation is...
Supporting Artists in This Moment Is Not a Luxury
Rebecca Guber, director and founder of CANVAS grantee Asylum Arts recently published this important op-ed in The New York Jewish Week: “I don’t typically cry at work. But last week, the tears flowed. I’ve read thousands of grant proposals in my career.
Amid Pandemic Challenges, Jewish Creatives Get Boost from New Arts Funding Collaborative
At a time when arts organizations and artists are reeling from the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new Jewish initiative is stepping in with much-needed grants and an emergency relief fund. CANVAS, a partnership of five Jewish foundations working with Jewish Funders Network, is awarding grants to five Jewish arts and culture networks totaling $736,000 in operating support, and an additional $180,000 in immediate emergency relief for Jewish artists/creatives whose livelihood has...
Why Artists Are Essential Workers — And How We Can Help Them
Writing in The Forward, CANVAS Founder Lou Cove discusses the unique challenges Jewish artists are facing during the COVID-19 epidemic and ways in which people can help them, including by supporting the CANVAS emergency fund. Read the full article here.
Video: Jewish Arts & Artists in a Time of COVID-19
https://youtu.be/ITNE0_wuz94 CANVAS webinar on April 2, 2020. In a prolonged moment of social distancing and sheltering in place, we find ourselves turning to artists for help. Artists and creatives are actively providing entertainment and distraction when we are stranded in our homes. They are helping us empathize with those who are suffering, process our own feelings, and let us try to come to terms with our new reality, together. But artists are also among the first to suffer in this...
CANVAS 2020/2021 Network Grants
The first grant cycle for CANVAS is dedicated to supporting networks of Jewish artists and/or arts organizations. Who We Support (When We Support Networks) Asylum Arts - Visual ArtistsCAJM - MuseumsJewish Book Council - Authors & Presenting Orgs.LABA - Creatives (deep learning)Reboot - Creatives (high-influence, low-engagement) In networks, we see a natural one-to-many opportunity to support a vast array of Jewish creatives. But we also see now that this investment will satisfy some of our...