JCC Maccabi ArtsFest® Launches New Website
NEW YORK, NY, May 4, 2009, – JCC Maccabi ArtsFest® opens its fourth season this summer with a brand-new enhanced website and new specialties in two locations. Forty-six JCC delegations so far are bringing Jewish teens to participate in a wide array of fine and performing arts. The New Orleans JCC (August 2-7) in partnership with Tulane University is offering broadcast journalism for the first time with a CBS-affiliate news anchor, and the Merage JCC of Orange County, California (August 9-14) will give teens a chance to produce short films and a television program with a professional producer/director. The two sites are offering ten specialties each to the 46 delegations, including musical theater, rock and jazz bands, interpretive dance, improve/acting, filmmaking, visual art, digital photography, creative writing, and culinary arts. The culinary workshop, brought back by popular demand, has already been almost filled in New Orleans.
JCC Maccabi ArtsFest, a signature program of JCC Association, connects young people entering grades 8-12 with a shared passion for the arts. Through a dynamic combination of workshops, master classes, performances and exhibitions, community service and social activities, the program cultivates Jewish identity and exposure to Jewish values, culture and heritage. The community service project in New Orleans this summer will be to rebuild Storyland, a playground located in City Park, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Merage JCC will host the first delegation from Israel from Modi’in, and will prepare an arts fair for local at-risk children. “It is remarkable how much teens grow in their chosen art forms while forming bonds with other Jewish teens,” said Continental Director Arlene Sorkin, speaking about the impact of ArtsFest. “The closing talent showcase is magical!”
Teens and JCCs can get all the information they want and need at the redesigned JCC Maccabi ArtsFest website http://www.jccmaccabiartsfest.org/. They can look up different artists-in-residence, check on the arts specialties offered at each site, watch videos made at past ArtsFests, connect with other teens through Facebook and YouTube, and sign up for updates. That’s the place for registration, too.
Once more, JCCs across North America are able to apply for financial assistance, defraying some of the costs associated with organizing a delegation. That support, said Sorkin, translated into an increased number of teens being able to attend last year. Scholarships funded by the Soref-Breslauer Texas Foundation are available to teens who might otherwise not be able to participate, and grants are available for delegations. Emily Warshaw of JCC Association is leading a continental delegation from all over U.S. and Canada for those who do not live close enough to a participating JCC.
Reporters/Editors: For interview opportunities, please contact Miriam Rinn, Communications Manager, at (212) 786-5092 or e-mail Miriam@jcca.org.
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Prospective ArtsFest applicants may sign up through their local JCC or, lacking one, may join JCC Association’s Continental Delegation. All applicants are urged to check out the website, www.jccmaccabiartsfest.org for a complete overview. Details include instructions for submitting audition tapes/portfolios and rules of a contest to design the official festival tee-shirt. There are comprehensive bios of the artists-in-residence, as well as their visions and goals – how each artist hopes to help participants grow artistically and personally during their week together.
ArtsFest has been modeled after JCC Maccabi Games®, which each summer brings together thousands of teens from around the world for a week-long Olympic-style sports competition. Both the Games and ArtsFest also feature “Days of Caring and Sharing,” a community service initiative. The Games celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007.
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JCC Association
is the leadership network of, and central agency for the Jewish
Community Center Movement, which is comprised of 350 JCC,
YM-YWHA and camp sites in the U. S. and Canada. JCC Association
offers a wide range of services and resources to strengthen
the capacity of its affiliates to provide educational, cultural,
social, Jewish identity-building, and recreational programs
to enhance the lives of North American Jews of all ages and
backgrounds. Additionally, the movement fosters and strengthens
connections between North American Jews and Israel as well
as with world Jewry. JCC Association is also the U.S. government
accredited agency for serving the religious and social needs
of Jewish military personnel, their families, and patients
in VA hospitals through JWB Jewish Chaplains Council.
Miriam
Rinn
Communications Manager
JCC Association
520 8th Ave., NY, NY 10018
212-786-5092
fax: 212-481-4174
send an e-mail
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