An online gathering for creatives & culture makers by Jews of Colour for Jews of Colour
PRISM returns with PRISM 2.0: “Show and Tell” edition!
Our inaugural March 2021 convening was amazing and filled with light, love, and lots of creative Jews of diverse backgrounds and identities. Participants asked for more opportunities to share and learn what other JOCISM (Jews of Colour, Indigenous Jews, Sephardi & Mizrahi) artists and culture makers are up to, so we are holding PRISM 2.0 with opportunities to share snippets of your practice in a series of breakout rooms. (No advanced prep required.) Are you a painter or performer, director or dancer, curator or choreographer? Perhaps you're a theatre artist, writer, filmmaker, content creator, or musician? Join us!! We’re a small, grassroots team shaping an intentional, intergenerational space to connect and even spark collaboration -- a growing community that is kind, supportive, queer-positive, cultured and colourful, centred on Jews of Colour (JOC). Maybe you grapple with the term JOC, that’s okay! (So do we!!) If you feel more Jew-ish than Jewish, that’s alright too. Let’s all come together on November 17.
Important Pre-Registration Information: If you’re a Jew of Colour and don’t self-identify as an artist or culture maker or if you’re a Jew with solely Ashkenazi heritage, we respectfully ask you to sit this one out so that a creative community can begin to form among Jewish artists and culture makers of Colour, including Sephardi and Mizrahi creatives. More on this and other frequently asked questions below.
PRISM 2.0 will meet on November 17, 2021 | 5 PM PST | 7 PM CMT | 8 PM EST
This event is free but advanced registration is required. Sign up here.
If you have an accessibility request, please indicate at time of registration or contact us at info@fentster.org
Organized by No Silence on Race, FENTSTER, JQT Vancouver, DNAWORKS & The Workshop
Scroll down for additional information on what to expect from PRISM including responses to commonly asked questions.
PRISM original artwork created by Maxine Lee Ewaschuk combining motifs drawing from Jewish and Korean art traditions, reflecting the artist’s heritage (acrylic gouache and embroidery floss on cotton), 2021.
Members of the core team L to R: Adam McKinney, Carmel Tanaka, Sara Yacobi-Harris, Kendell Pinkney and Devyani Saltzman
CORE ORGANIZING TEAM
Sara Yacobi-Harris | Toronto, Canada (No Silence on Race, filmmaker, M.E.d Candidate, University of Toronto)
Kendell Pinkney |New York, USA (Rabbinical student, Jewish Theological Seminary; Rabbinic Fellow for Reboot, LABA and Ammud - The Jews of Color Torah Academy; Co-Founder of Kaleidoscope)
Adam W. McKinney | Fort Worth, Texas, USA (Professor of Dance, Texas Christian University; Co-Director of DNAWORKS, an arts and service organization committed to healing through the arts and dialogue)
Devyani Saltzman | Toronto, Canada (Writer, Curator, Producer; Outgoing Director of Public Programming, Art Gallery of Ontario)
Carmel Tanaka | Vancouver, Canada (Founder & Executive Director of JQT Vancouver, a Jewish Queer Trans non-profit; Community Engagement Professional)
Evelyn Tauben | Toronto, Canada (Producer, Writer, and Founder / Curator of FENTSTER; JOC Ally)
ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS
No Silence on Race is a movement borne out of the necessity for racial equity and inclusivity within Canadian Jewish spaces. Dedicated to building a Jewish community reflective of its immense diversity, the movement is committed to advocacy, education, and change.
FENTSTER (Yiddish for "window") is an independent exhibition space located in the storefront window of Makom: Creative Downtown Judaism in downtown Toronto. Providing a window onto Jewish life through art, FENTSTER’s work is increasingly moving beyond the window gallery space - catalyzing critical conversations through exhibitions, programs and online gatherings, furthering a commitment to creating an anti-racist Jewish community and to telling diverse stories connected to the Jewish experience.
JQT Vancouver is ‘queering’ Jewish spaces and ‘Jew-ifying’ queer spaces to make them more inclusive, through education, dialogue, art, cultural celebration, and partnerships.
DNAWORKS is dedicated to dialogue and healing through the arts, focusing on identity, heritage, culture, and liberation.
The Workshop is the first North American arts fellowship centering the work of JOCISM (Jews of Color, Indigenous Jews, Sephardi & Mizrahi) artists & culture-makers.
Composite image made from the screenshot of the first PRISM gathering, March 2021.
FAQS / WHAT TO EXPECT FROM PRISM
Who is PRISM for?
PRISM is a convening for Jewish artists and culture-makers of Colour. If this describes you, then you are welcome to join the convening!
Who is a Jew of Colour?*
“Jew of Colour” is a broad term that encompasses people with a wide variety of lived cultural, ethnic, racial experiences. It is a term coined in the US and it is also used in Canada with varying frequency. The term’s origin stems from the necessity to create space for ethnic and racial minorities within a minority. For further reference on the inception of the term Jew of Colour, see this article by Shahanna McKinney Baldon (Director, Edot Midwest Regional Jewish Diversity Collaborative).
We are fully cognizant that the term “JOC” isn’t all encompassing and doesn’t resonate with every artist who would be interested in such a convening, so we leave it to you to come as you are!
What if I am racially non-White presenting, but I don’t identify as a Jew of Colour?*
Race is a social construct that at the same time concretely affects people’s lives. If you’re sitting in the messiness of trying to decide if you’re a JOC (you object to the term, you are Mizrachi or Sephardic and grappling with the concept of being “white-passing,” etc.), we welcome you in this space in all that messiness.
If you are solely White Ashkenazi by heritage, you can support PRISM by spreading the word about our gathering. And, there might be other ways to support PRISM in the future. This convening is expressly for Jewish artists and culture-makers who identify as People of Colour.
Is this a space for Mizrachi and Sephardi Jews?*
We acknowledge that the term “Jew of Colour” is a collective identity that does not map well onto the long-standing forms of self-identification among Mizrachi and Sephardi Jews. Sephardic and Mizrahi heritage have their own rich history of identity formation spanning back thousands of years across the Middle East, North African, Asia, and the Balkans. Some Mizrachim and Sephardim may be hyper-visible as people of colour in (Jewish) spaces, while others might have proximity to Whiteness, but not identify as White.
If you have further questions or are struggling with whether or not this space is for you, feel free to reach out at nosilenceonrace@gmail.com
Can I participate if I am a White Ashkenazi Jew? Are Jews even “White” in the first place?*
This convening is a space for Jews of Colour. While many Jews of Colour identify as Ashkenazi due to family heritage, or religious rite, this space is for those who do not identify solely as Ashkenazi Jews.
We acknowledge that this may be confusing. After all, in the context of North American history, Jews, much like Italians, Poles, and Irish people were not always considered “White,” but only gradually became classified as such through a long process that spanned the 19th to mid-20th centuries. The constructedness of race plus the shifting realities across generations are real. If you’re on the fence about whether this is a space for you, please contact nosilenceonrace@gmail.com
*These responses were adapted with permission from Ammud - The Jews of Color Torah Academy. Any differences in wording or mission cited here should not be assumed to reflect on the overall mission of Ammud, or vice versa.
Can I join if my artistic work has nothing to do with being Jewish?
Of course!
What can I expect from PRISM? Do I need to turn my camera on?
When you log on to the Zoom meeting, you can expect to find a diverse, welcoming group of fellow Jews of Colour who are involved in the arts in some capacity and who are excited to meet you. This will be a highly interactive, engaged space to build creative community. We would like to invite everyone to turn your camera on for the duration of the convening and participate actively to inform our goal of shaping meaningful connections. (We understand that there are many conditions that make this prohibitive.)
After our welcome / opening, there will be a series of breakout rooms. Some will be randomly assigned and some will allow for choice. (More details on that coming soon!) Kindly log on 5 minutes early so that we can start all together. You will get the most out of this experience if you can make arrangements to join us for the whole time.
Is registration required?
Yes, there is no charge to participate but please do register in advance here by November 12.
I am interested in PRISM but can’t attend - how can I stay in touch?
PRISM is a community in formation. To receive updates and news of future initiatives, please share your contact information with our friends at No Silence on Race: https://www.nosilenceonrace.ca/get-involved
Will this event be recorded?
The convening is intended to be a safe space of sharing, conversation and creation (mostly in breakout rooms) so it will not be recorded. To participate in PRISM, please register in advance and plan to attend on March 16.
Why is this starting so late?
We are aiming to be as inclusive as possible - at least for people living in North America - this means a later start time on the East Coast. We aspire to convene again in the future with an earlier start time so that JOCs on other continents can join us as well.
I have a conflict at the start time - can I still join?
It would be ideal if everyone could log on 5 minutes early so that we can start all together. You will get the most out of this experience if you can make arrangements to join us for the whole time. If you have to come late, still come - we want to have you with us! Someone will be in the main room to greet you and orient you.
I need to leave early - is that okay?
You can leave at any time. But leaving and reentering repeatedly (intentionally) taxes our very small team and makes it challenging to properly set up the breakout rooms. Thanks for understanding!
Is PRISM a new organization? Will this happen again?
PRISM is a convening for Jewish artists and culture-makers of Colour. Our first gathering met in March 2021. We look forward to convening again on November 17 and exploring together what the future holds, as we wish to grow our community. At the moment it is a very grassroots initiative, shepherded by other grassroots organizations.
Why are you spelling “Colour” that way?!?
This is a conversation happening in a North American context, not just the U.S. and the lead organizations are based in Toronto, Canada. Our team decided together to adopt Canadian spelling as a subtle, yet meaningful nod to the significance of Canadian friends and collaborators. Additionally, this is a mindful way of complicating and expanding the dialogue around Jewish communal realities beyond the U.S., which tends to be dominant in many North American Jewish spaces.
With gratitude, we hold this convening of Jewish Artists of Colour on Indigenous lands and commit to doing the work of growing to right relationship with the people who have lived here since time immemorial and with the land itself.