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 been devastated by Covid-19 and its economic consequences. CANVAS expects to surpass $1 million in funding commitments by September. The group seeks to strengthen and build capacity in the field, with the ultimate goal of helping fuel a 21st-century renaissance in Jewish arts and culture.

A note from Dara Weinerman Steinberg, Executive Director of the Lippman Kanfer Family Foundation:

This guidebook explores the tremendous potential of an educated philanthropic investment in the arts as an engine for social change in Israel.

Latest volume of Jewish Funders Network’s “Greenbook” series makes the case for art as an engine for social change, maps the existing landscape, and highlights opportunities for philanthropic action

TEL AVIV—Why invest in art, and why now? A new Greenbook from Jewish Funders Network says the arts represent a powerful opportunity to foster change in Israeli society.

This report, based on in-depth interviews with a broad range of artists, presenters, arts nonprofit leaders, and funders, finds that the field of Jewish arts and culture in North America is in serious need of three things:

• More support for Jewish artists and arts organizations
• More robust distribution networks
• More engaged and coordinated funders
  
  

The first tree I can remember climbing was in Norman Lear’s backyard. Norman and my mother go way back – so far back that I wasn’t even a thought. But when I became one, Norman and Lyn were the first to send baby gifts. You all know him as a TV legend and great culture commentator, but he is much more than that. He has the most positive presence. He’s a rock to the Jewish community. And he is a light that shines brighter than any of the glistening awards on his shelf.

Jewish Funders Network, Righteous Persons Foundation, and Partners in Performance

Those of us who keep an eye on such things see glimmers of a new Jewish cultural renaissance taking shape in the twenty-first century. There is an entirely new generation of artists, authors, musicians, performers and designers exploring innovative ways to preserve and reimagine Judaism and Jewish identity, making them relevant for our times.

But as vigorous as that creativity seems to be, we have yet to see a similarly energetic and strategic response from the philanthropic community.

Funding from JFN Members Aims to Promote Jerusalem as Hub of Israeli Creative Thinking

NEW YORK, January 2, 2014 -- An artists’ project, a dance company, and an NGO that uses film to promote nonviolence among Israelis and Palestinians are among the grantees from the first round of a matching grant program devoted to furthering social and cultural programs in Jerusalem.