Jewish Artist Initiative (JAI) 1

2008-2009 Annual Report

Jewish Community Foundation- Cutting Edge Grant Initiative

Annual Evaluation Report (Summary)

1. Restate Goals and Objectives

The Quest for Transformational Jewish Art is a three-year project to reinforce Jewish communal
goals and help change the relationship between Jewish artists and community leadership. We
intend to establish cultural bridges and expand discourse between Jewish artists from Los
Angeles and Tel Aviv. We have made significant progress on our goals and objectives for
2008-2009, including:

Goals and Objectives for 2008/09

• 80% staff position and a small or shared office
o JAI hired 80% staff member Anne Hromadka in November 2008 as the Program
Director who became fulltime in January 2009
o Lease finalized with the WJCC mid-April 2009

• Energetic membership outreach especially to younger and emerging

artists
o JAI recruited three new young/emerging members
o JAI is planning an exhibition at Hebrew Union College-JIR/Los Angeles for the
fall of 2009 showcasing work by young Jewish artists (ranging in age from 23-
45)
• Dates have been selected
• Twelve artists have been notified of their selection
o In the Fall 2009, JAI is launching a new program initiative called
the Emerging Artist Havurah, which will include:

• Formalize relationships with partners: TA/LA Partnership; AJC, Skirball

Cultural Center, and HUC-sites for programs and exhibitions, etc.

o JAI collaborated with the Jewish Federations’ TA/LA Partnership Visual Arts
Committee several times in 2008/2009 including:
(Program details included later in this report.)
• Exchange with Israeli artist Judith Margolis at the LimmudLA
Conference February 13-16, 2009
• Joint event at Barnsdall on 3/29/09
• Co-Hosted Zimmer Event 06.03.09
• JAI agreed to Co-sponsoring Israeli Artist Yanai Toister
o JAI also developed a new relationship with Yiddishkayt creating a community-
wide arts and Yiddish Passover Seder entitled Doikayt
o JAI agreed in June 2009 to act as an consultant for Hebrew Union College-JIR/LA
o JAI has reached out to the American Jewish University (AJU) Gallery
o JAI also began to formalize a relationship with USC Hillel

• Arrange two artist exchanges and collaborations with Israeli artist

1. Israeli artist Judith Margolis at the 2009 LimmudLA Conference
2. Barnsdall Art Park on 3/29/09
3. In May 2009, JAI agreed to co-sponsor Israeli Artist Yanai Toister in July
2009
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2008-2009 Annual Report
Jewish Community Foundation- Cutting Edge Grant Initiative

o Yanai had to postponed his trip two weeks before arriving

o JAI will honor our financial commit to Yanai should he come at a
later date
4. JAI hosted Israeli Artist Jan Tichy for an evening program on July 20,
2009 at the Westside JCC

• Update website to reflect programmatic changes required by grant

o New website was launched in June 2009 and includes

• Develop series of programs, retreats, study and discussion groups

• LimmudLA Panel Discussion 2/15/09

o Location: Hilton Orange County/ Costa Mesa

Kol Ha'olam kulo/Gesher Tsar me'od/ The Whole World is a

Narrow Bridge: Panel Discussion with artists Judith Margolis and
Victor Raphael
Panel was a conversation centering on concepts of Jewish
cultural identity as it relates to the broader Los Angles audience.
Also illuminated the interconnectedness of our global society
through the creation of a significant dialogue between Israeli
artist, Judith Margolis and Los Angeles artist, Victor Raphael

• Barnsdall Art Park on 3/29/09

o Location: LA Municipal Art Gallery
o Event co-sponsored by LA/ Tel Aviv Partnership

From There to Here: Contemporary Southern California artists from

Israel
o Walk-through of exhibition with curator Sarah Cannon and two
Israeli artists (Lidia Shaddow and Adam Berg)
o Exhibition focused on Israeli artists living in Southern California

• Doikayt 4/02/09
o Location: Westside JCC
o Co-produced with Yiddishkayt
o Event sponsors included Westside JCC, Progressive Jewish
Alliance, and the Jewish Community Foundation

Doikayt
A unique Community/Arts/Yiddish Passover Seder where the
concept of Doikayt, or "hereness," guided the evening as the
universal themes of slavery, and liberation were interpreted
through a variety of artistic mediums including theater, music,
dance, the visual arts, and Yiddish lore and language.

• Ruth Weisberg Lecture at The 2009 Conney Conference:

Performing Histories, Inscribing Jewishness 4/23/09
• Location: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Creating Community: Jewish Artists Organize
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2008-2009 Annual Report
Jewish Community Foundation- Cutting Edge Grant Initiative

Ruth spoke about seven current Jewish artist organizations

including JAI and their various purposes. The other six included
four groups in NYC, one in Chicago, and one national
organization.

o David Kaufman Lecture 5/27/09

o Location: Westside JCC

o Professor Dr. David E. Kaufman, Associate Professor of American

Jewish Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of
Religion in Los Angeles presented a lecture titled Lost and
Found: a Travelogue of Abandoned Synagogues of Eastern
Europe

Lecture concerned his first trip to Eastern Europe in the early

1990s soon after Glasnost and the opening up of that world to
researchers and other interested parties. His discovery of the
abandoned synagogues and Jewish cemeteries of the area
(primarily southeastern Poland, and later in Ukraine as well)
was revelatory.

• Zimmer Exhibit Walk-through Co-Hosted by the LA/Tel Aviv

Partnership 06.03.09
o Location: The Los Angeles Federation’s Bell Gallery
o Cosponsored by the Zimmer Children’s Museum and the LA/Tel
Aviv Partnership

the art of language exhibit

The event was a walk-through of the exhibit benefiting the
Zimmer’s Children’s Museum with curator and JAI member Victor
Raphael along with other JAI artists included in this exhibit.

• Guest Lecturer visiting Israeli Artist Jan Tichy 7.20.09

o Location: Westside JCC

Born in 1974 in Prague, Tichy moved to Israel in 1993. In 2008,

his work was exhibited in the Israeli Pavilion at the Architecture
Biennale in Venice. He recently completed a major Chicago
project situated at Crown Hall, a building designed by Mies van
der Rohe on the campus of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT),
as well as a collaborative project with SAIC professor Helen Maria
Nugent for the upcoming exhibition “Learning Modern” at the
Sullivan Galleries. Tichy talked about the range of his works
sharing images and videos.

o Fall 2009 Upcoming Programming

• Emerging Artist Havurah (launching September 2009)
• The Artist Beit Midrash program (launching August 23, 2009)

2. Outputs and Outcomes

Per the evaluation plan and data collection schedule, we created a system for tracking
programs, events, attendance, and membership data. Please see chart below. We have not
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2008-2009 Annual Report
Jewish Community Foundation- Cutting Edge Grant Initiative

yet implemented a system for capturing web data, and we did not create formal surveys or
focus groups as originally intended. However, we did receive a great deal of informal feedback
from participants that is included in this report. In the next six months, we plan on collecting
and analyzing survey, focus group, and web usage data per our evaluation plan.

Short Term Long Term

2008 Input Activities Output Measure Outcome Measure Outcome Measure
Existing
networks and Establishment of
membership; 501c3; model for
Executive other Jewish artist
Board and in Fully equipped office; networks in other
kind staff, trained staff person documentation 6 new programs communities JAI is IRS
Website; Grant Office at the Please see #2 4 programs still under the documentation
from JCF; Building Westside JCC and Progress to Date in Greater slated for umbrella of the USC available from
Establish new organizational New Staff Anne the Evaluation programmatic August- Roski School of Fine USC upon
staff position infrastructure Hromadka hired Report page 1 capacity September 2009 Arts request
Expand
membership with
emphasis on
younger, emerging
artists Please see Focus Groups
#2 Progress to Date 27 artists on JAI is in the
in the Evaluation 10 new artists; 3 new website; 47 artists Increase sense of development
Report page's 1-2 younger artists on the list serve community stage
Short Term Long Term
2009 Input Activities Output Measure Outcome Measure Outcome Measure

contact with potential

partners and alliances Become a resource
HUC-JIR/LA, for other
Federation, USC meeting records; organizations
Hillel, UCLA Hillel, program logs; Working closely
AJU, Yiddishkayt, calendars Please with HUC-JIR/LA
Progressive Jewish see the PR Report Co-sponsorship of see page 11 of
Expand alliances Alliance, Temple Kol and section events, exhibitions, 4 co-sponsored the Evaluation
and partnerships Ami, and Ikar Progress to Date programs, activities events Report 11 requests

Sense of broader
Jewish community; interviews/ focus Interviews/
program records Expanded awareness group focus group JAI
Develop national Please see the and ongoing JAI is in the is in the
and international Evaluation Report development for development Increased development
exchanges 2 exchanges page 3 artists stage connection to Israel stage
joining list serve
Growth of through Website;
membership on site demographic
Website changes and only selected breakdown and Increased sense of Focus Groups
capacity building; artists can join our membership type community; online survey
1000 per month of website 3 new JAI is in the Increased JAI is in the
Redesign Website web hits and location web data beginning members uploaded development awareness; development
for usability of those hits to be collected information stage aesthetic exposure stage
# of attendees
and or
demographics of
attendees (e.g. Focus Groups;
Program records; More exposure to age) and artists observation;
logs; fliers; Jewish art and Jewish featured; post interviews at
Offer programs, advertisements; culture (audience); questionnaire for exhibitions or
events, study reviews --Please more exposure for artists Please see Increased other programs
groups, exhibitions, see PR Report and Jewish artists See Evaluation awareness; JAI is in the
studio visits, video Evaluation report Evaluation Report Report pages 7- aesthetic development
conferences 6 programs; 4 venues pages 7-10 and PR Report 10 experience stage

3. Changes:
a. As of July 31, 2011, the projected expenses for New Program Staff will be less than
originally planned. This amount is due to the fact that the New Program Staff was not
hired until November 2008 and did not start work on a regular basis until mid-
December due to a transition from previous employment. Based on the estimated pay
for the Program Staff in 2011, salary could cover through approximately October 15,
2011 if the grant period was extended.
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2008-2009 Annual Report
Jewish Community Foundation- Cutting Edge Grant Initiative

b. We are asking for a formal extension of the grant by an additional six weeks. Therefore,
rather than ending in July 2011, we would like for the JAI 2008 Cutting Edge Grant to extend to
October 15, 2011 and for the final documentation to be due to the Jewish Community Foundation
by October 15, 2011.

4. Sustainability Plans:
o JAI is currently planning an Executive Committee meeting to begin long range
planning. The goal of this meeting will be to identify several clear objectives for the
three, five, and ten year marks for this organization.

o Due to the current economic downturn JAI did not formally fundraise during September
2008-July 2009. Instead we used this time period to work on our overall infrastructure as discussed
in previous sections of this report. However, JAI is beginning to develop a strategic fundraising plan
including creating a ‘Collector’s Circle’ or ‘Advisory Committee’. This plan will launch in January of
2010 and will include a major fundraising event.