Dear Readers,
The American Jewish community has always been proud of a tradition of artistic creativity. Dancer and choreographer Pearl Lang, playwright Lillian Hellman, songwriter Marvin Hamlisch, actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Charles (a Baltimorean), comedian Sarah Silverman, etc.
Who knew that Winona Ryder was born Winona Horowitz? How about visual artists Mark Rothko and Peter Max? Some are well known and others obscure but influential. Oh, and let’s not forget polio survivor Doc Pomus, born Jerome Felder, who wrote dozens of songs including “Save the Last Dance for Me.” Pomus was the subject of a fairly recent NPR story and is worth reading about.
Obviously, the list of Jewish artists could go on for volumes. This month’s issue of Jmore focuses on four young Jewish Baltimoreans who are leading lights in the Baltimore arts scene.
Josh Kohn, a young man who truly loves and understands music, serves as the performance director at Baltimore’s Creative Alliance. He is curating a fascinating and eclectic mix of artists that bring great life to the city.
Zoë Reznick Gewanter is an advisor and senior producer at New Lens, which merges social justice issues with youth media productions in some of Baltimore’s challenging neighborhoods.
Noah Himmelstein is associate artistic director with Everyman Theatre, where he helps to bring Baltimore-based theater to the stage. Broadway plays are wonderful but you’re missing out if you don’t enjoy the breadth and edginess of locally based and less mass market-focused productions.
Sarah Edelsburg, program manager with the Community Art Collaborative, is helping to provide and fund the infrastructure that allows arts organizations to thrive in the city. No organization survives without an organized core.
It’s easy to think that every Jewish kid should grow up to be a doctor or dentist or lawyer, but society needs the arts. Artists push the boundaries and make us think.
They lead us to be a more caring, more fair and more giving society. They foster understanding and social justice. Our society has way too little focus on what is right and what is good.
Three cheers to these young folks and the hundreds more like them that bring art into our lives.
Sincerely,
Scott Rifkin, MD, Publisher
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