crEATivity club

Presented together with the Prosserman JCC


NEXT CREATIVITY CLUB

Jewish Broadway: Great Songwriters and Their Songs
Wednesday, May 25, Noon to 1 PM | FREE
Prosserman JCC, Lounge | 4588 Bathurst St

Jewish Music Week comes to the crEATivity Club! It’s no secret that Jewish songwriters invented Tin Pan Alley and the classic Broadway musical. Musicologist Jordan Klapman performs a special new program illuminating the fascinating lives and music of Broadway’s legendary Jewish songwriters: Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, the Gershwin brothers, Richard Rodgers, Leonard Bernstein and more. 



For more information on Jewish Music Week visit www.jewishmusicweek.com 

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PAST CREATIVITY CLUBS

Share the Moment
with artist Stephen Cruise
Meet the artist creating a new project in our neighbourhood & become a part of the art!
Wednesday, March 30, Noon to 1 PM | FREE
Prosserman JCC, Lounge | 4588 Bathurst St

Stephen Cruise is creating a new work of art that explores the life and landscape of North York. This May, his original installation for the Koffler Gallery will transform a forgotten drive-through photo-processing booth in the parking lot of the plaza at Bathurst and Sheppard. Old photographs of the local community will be included, showing the former life of the area. Come hear how the artist is turning an old photo kiosk into a tree of life that preserves memories. Cruise will also show images of his past projects, including his sculptural bench, Hive, located on Sherman Campus. Bring your family photos and snapshots taken in the 70s in North York – at home, in the neighbourhood or even at the former Bathurst JCC! We will scan your photos to include your images in this wonderful artwork that celebrates our community!

ABOUT THE ARTIST
A senior Toronto artist, Stephen Cruise has exhibited nationally and internationally since 1969. His work is represented in numerous corporate and public collections, such as the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, City of Windsor, University of Calgary, City of Toronto, City of Waterloo, and Art Bank, Ottawa. Cruise has also completed major public art commissions, including indigena domain, Civic Centre, Cambridge; a Path a Muse taken, Parc Trudeau Park Garden, Toronto; Vessel, Manulife Rec. Centre, Waterloo, ON; after/before, Don Mills Station, Sheppard Subway, Toronto; bell Measure, Odette Sculpture Park, Windsor; stoneWay, Baycrest Centre, Toronto; one hundred links – one chain, Gibson Park, North York, ON.; Places in a book (6 chapters), Spadina LRT, Toronto.


Drawing Memoir and Memory: I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors
Wednesday, February 23, Noon to 1 PM | FREE
Prosserman JCC, Lounge | 4588 Bathurst St



Artist Bernice Eisenstein’s captivating illustrated memoir is I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors and her drawings are featured in the current Koffler Gallery exhibition, Graphic Details: Confessional Comics by Jewish Women. Through text and drawings, including panels in the comic-book format, Eisenstein captures memories of her 1950s’ childhood in Toronto with her Yiddish-speaking parents, whose often unspoken experiences of war were nevertheless always present. Winner of a Canadian Jewish Book Award, I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors has been adapted into a NFB film, voted by TIFF among Canada's Top Ten Short films of 2010. Eisenstein will share images from the book while reflecting on the process of creating her memoir and the larger process of memory and storytelling.

“A powerful and emotionally charged memoir. . . . Some of the best writing ever on the subject of the 20th century’s most brutal human catastrophe.” — NOW magazine (5-star review)

Presented together with the Prosserman JCC and the Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Bernice Eisenstein was born in 1949 in Toronto, shortly after her parents immigrated to Canada. She is an artist whose illustrations have appeared in a variety of Canadian magazines and periodicals, including the Globe and Mail. She has worked as a freelance editor while also writing the occasional book review for the Globe and Mail. She lives in Toronto.



Wrestling with Angels and Artists
January 26, 2011 | Prosserman JCC, Lounge | FREE
The recent reinstallation of Nathan Rapoport’s sculpture, Jacob Wrestling the Angel, as part of the redevelopment of Sherman Campus offers an opportunity for new appreciation of the monument in light of Rapoport’s major commissions found all around the world. The Koffler’s Head of Programs and Exhibitions, Evelyn Tauben will interpret the sculpture, looking at it in relation depictions by other artists of the theme of Jacob’s nightlong struggle with a divine being.



From Oleh to Oy Vey: Jewish Roots of Flamenco
November 24, 2010 | Prosserman JCC, Lounge | FREE
Experienced dancer, Susan Walker will present flamenco dance, highlighting its lesser known Jewish roots. The Spanish Gypsies, originally from Northern India, are said to be catalysts for the development of flamenco but many believe that Jewish culture in Spain influenced this dance tradition as well. Susan will perform to the music of a traditional Sevillans, a Sevillanas Biblicas (which contains stories from the Torah) and a Segurias, which some believe to have musical influences from the synagogue. Susan will conclude her presentation with a classical Spanish dance from the opera Carmen.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Susan Walker is a graduate of the Teachers Training Program at the National Ballet School of Canada, the dance program at the University of Waterloo, and holds an MA in dance from York University.  She studied flamenco, escuela bolera, classical and regional Spanish dance in Spain, New York, Chicago and Toronto. She performed with the Paula Moreno Spanish Dance Company, Arte Flamenco Spanish Dance Company, and as an independent dance artist.  Susan has taught ballet, flamenco and classical Spanish dance throughout Canada, and both her teaching and performing careers have been enhanced through grants from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.


Modern Family
October 27, 2010 | Prosserman JCC, Lounge | FREE
Author of more than 20 books, Dr. Ben Schlesinger (Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto) is deeply engaged in research on the Canadian Family. He will examine the changes in Jewish family life in the 21st Century, considering issues of co-habitation, later marriage, re-marriage, single parent families, the sandwich generation as well as marriage after age 65.



Jewish Drumming!?!
September 29, 2010
We’re kicking off the season and the Jewish New Year with a bang…a boom and a rat, tat, tat! All are welcome for an interactive drumming workshop with percussionist, rabbi, and educator Aaron Levy. Learn rhythms and techniques on drums from around the world and explore what’s Jewish about drumming.  


Yiddish Humour in Song:  Not All Yiddish Songs Are Sad, Sentimental and Sweet with Binyumen Schaechter
Thursday, September 2 | Noon – 1 PM | FREE
Prosserman JCC | 4588 Bathurst Street | Room 211

It’s a special summertime gathering of the crEATivity Club where we meet at lunchtime for a unique mix of arts, culture and fun.

Who Said There Are No Funny Yiddish Songs? In Toronto for the Ashkenaz Festival, Binyumen Schaechter hails from one of New York’s most influential families of Yiddish linguists, poets, writers, and activists. Himself a talented composer, conductor and performer, Binyumen will lead a fun-filled interactive session looking at the lighter side of Yiddish song, bringing forth little known gems from his repertoire. 

You bring your lunch and we’ll provide nourishment for the soul… and beverages too!



Presented together with the Ashkenaz Festival.

Click here for a full listing of all the events of the Ashkenaz Festival, August 21 – September 6, 2010.