Arts
Needs
The entire arts sector (not just Jewish arts) has been dramatically impacted by the pandemic. An April 8 article in ArtsNews reports that collectively, arts organizations have already lost an estimated $4.5 billion.
Fundraising challenges due to potential attitude among funders and government sources that the arts are a luxury and non-essential in a time of crisis.
In light of the current crisis, working artists have seen their incomes evaporate. Performances, gallery openings, standing gigs, book releases, all have been cancelled or put on indefinite hold.
Most art forms depend on bricks-and-mortar venues, such as movie theaters, concert halls, gallery space etc., and while some can be featured in virtual/online venues, they lose much of their power and impact in the process.
Even before the current coronavirus crisis, the Jewish arts and culture sector was already struggling from a lack of coordinated funder support, an issue the new funding partnership, CANVAS, was created to address.
Most artists support themselves financially not only with their art, but with freelance and part-time work teaching or in the service sector, fields where large numbers of people have lost income as a result of social distancing closures and the wider economic downturn.
Responses
In October, the CANVAS funding collaborative, together with Jewish artists, arts networks, and museums, launched Dwelling in a Time of Plagues in response to the pandemic and other contemporary challenges.
Dwelling installations were displayed during Sukkot and will be displayed during Passover of 5781. Designed to be viewed outdoors, these $10,000 commissions were awarded to artists eager to respond to the pandemic’s realities and to grapple with other contemporary crises: institutional racism and ageism, forced isolation, global warming, and the crisis for migrants and refugees.
The first three commissions, by artists Mirta Kupferminc, Adam W. McKinney and Tiffany Woolf, coincided with the holiday of Sukkot. A decade ago the critically acclaimed 2010 Sukkah City project in New York City reinterpreted the form of the sukkah (a temporary dwelling) for that time. Dwelling in a Time of Plagues, which has tapped Sukkah City creator Joshua Foer as an adviser to the project, reinterprets the timeless ritual yet again for today’s unique moment. Each artist was asked to develop an artwork that takes into account the themes of Sukkot, while considering the new realities of social distancing, the outside spaces available, special opportunities at each museum, and themes of social justice.
Exhibit sites for the first round of this project included the Jewish History Museum in Tucson, the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education, and the Holocaust Museum LA. Each piece responds to the issues facing its host community, and to our collective plight as Jews and as human beings. The 14th Street Y in New York City will be displaying the art and videos of all three works in its ground-floor windows through December 2020, and the pieces will also be available to view online.
The project is a collaboration of Jewish arts & culture networks Reboot, Asylum Arts, LABA, the Council of American Jewish Museums. The four are grantees of CANVAS, a Jewish Funders Network philanthropic collaborative dedicated to elevating the field of Jewish arts and culture.
“Dwelling is an act of museums and artists responding together,” said Melissa Martens Yaverbaum, executive director of the Council of American Jewish Museums. “In a time when we need art to help illuminate and animate our collective experience, this project brings talents across Jewish culture together to present new, thoughtful, works in time for the holiday.”
“The sukkah is intended to be a shelter for all to reflect, rejoice, share, and acknowledge the changing of seasons,” said Lou Cove, Founder of CANVAS. “Dwelling invites us all — curious, concerned, courageous — to gather under the metaphorical roof of this creative collaboration and share those essential experiences together. For the Jewish creative community, and for the American community as a whole, it is an invitation to connect around the issues that matter most and, in so doing, to become larger than the sum of our parts.”
Learn more about Dwelling in a Time of Plagues and each art installation at www.plaguedwelling.com.
CANVAS, a new arts funding partnership powered by JFN, in April created an emergency fund for artists. Working with its grantees — Asylum Arts, the Jewish Book Council, Reboot, the Council of American Jewish Museums, and LABA — it seeks to provide immediate relief funds to Jewish artists who are experiencing a loss of revenue due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Resources
Amid a Lack of Support, This Funding Collaborative Backs Jewish Arts and Culture
Description - News Article
Source - Inside Philanthropy
March 26
The Nonprofit Work Force Is 7.4 Percent Smaller Than a Year Ago
Description - News Article
Source - Chronicle of Philanthropy
March 12
How Nonprofits Are Helping Workers Cope With Pandemic Fatigue
Description - News Article
Source - Chronicle of Philanthropy
March 9
What Keeps U.S. Art Museums Running—and How Might the Pandemic Change That?
Description - News Article
Source - ArtNews
March 3, 2021
Fidelity Charitable Donors Channeled $9.1 Billion to Charities Amid the Pandemic
Description - News Article
Source - Chronicle of Philanthropy
February 17
Donor-Advised Funds Channeled 30% More Dollars to Charities in First Half of 2020
Description - News Article
Source - Chronicle of Philanthropy
February 2
Jewish Arts Institutions Respond to Racial Injustice—and Covid-19
Description - Article
Source - Hadassah Magazine
January 2021

NYC Covid Response & Impact Fund Report
Description - Report
Source - NYC Covid-19 Response & Impact Fund
January 2020
“The System Has Never Worked Well.” An Arts Grantmaker Seeks New Funding Models
Description - News Article
Source - Inside Philanthropy
January 5
“The System Has Never Worked Well.” An Arts Grantmaker Seeks New Funding Models
Description - News Article
Source - Inside Philanthropy
January 5
Jewish Philanthropists Have Increased Their Giving During the Pandemic — but Prioritizing Causes Has Never Been More Difficult
Description - News Article
Source - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
January 5
The Pandemic Is Pushing the World’s Most Esteemed Charities to Their Limits
Description - News Article
Source - The Robb Report
December 20

Strategies for Supporting Jewish Organizations in the New Normal
Source - JFN West convening
December 2020
With No Tickets to Sell, Arts Groups Appeal to Donors to Survive
Description - News Article
Source - The New York Times
December 28
Nonprofit Jobs Could Take More Than Two Years to Recover, Study Finds
Description - News Article
Source - Philanthropy News Digest
December 18
Donations Soar But Nonprofits Still Struggle with Pandemic
Description - News Article
Source - Associated Press
December 13
Arts Funding Is Facing an Existential Crisis. To Survive, Cultural Organizations Must Change How They Frame Themselves to the Public
Description - Op-Ed
Source - ArtNews
December 8
Jewish Museums Leap into the Covid Void
Description - News Article
Source - Moment Magazine
November 25
Arts Groups’ Data Shows Fundraising Declines
Description - News Article
Source - Chronicle of Philanthropy
November 18
Nearly a Third of U.S. Museums Remain Closed by Pandemic, Survey Shows
Description - News Article
Source - The New York Times
November 17
Nonprofit Job Growth Anemic as New Covid Wave Looms
Description - News Article
Source - Chronicle of Philanthropy
November 17

Collaboration and Creativity in a Time of Crisis: An Update on the Jewish Community Response and Impact Fund
Source - JFN webinar
October 28
Amidst Continued Protests in Portland, Adam McKinney’s New Show Explores His Black and Jewish Identities
Description - News Article
Source - Dance Magazine
October 30
Education Is Not Expendable: What Will Be Lost as Museums Continue to Make Cuts
Description - Op-Ed
Source - Art News
October 27
New Help for the 20,000 Jewish Communal Professionals Who Lost Jobs During Pandemic
Description - News Article
Source - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
October 8

Sukkot, the Pandemic and a Lynching Come Together in a Multiracial Jewish Dancer’s New Art Installation
Description - News Article
Source - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
September 30

Artistic Sukkot-Inspired Exhibition: ‘Ushpizin of the Silver Screen’
Description - News Article
Source - Los Angeles Jewish Journal
October 5
“Existential Crisis.” IP Survey Finds a Performing Arts Sector Fearing the Worst
Description - News Article
Source - Inside Philanthropy
September 24
“True Partners.” How Performing Arts Funders Can Support the Field in Difficult Times
Description - Article
Source - Inside Philanthropy
September 22
Visual Arts Organizations Scramble to Sustain Fundraising. Many Won’t Survive
Description - News Article
Source - Inside Philanthropy
September 21
The Beating Heart of Humanity: Arts and Culture as Essential Even During a Pandemic
Description - Op-Ed
Source - eJewish Philanthropy
September 3
New Project Aims to Document Covid-19’s Impact on Jewish Community
Description - News Article
Source - Jewish Insider
August 26
How Can We Advocate for the Urgent Needs of Jewish Museums in the United States?
Description - Op-Ed
Source - eJewish Philanthropy
August 3

Literature in a Time of Crisis: A CANVAS Conversation with Nathan Englander, Marra Gad and Rachel Kadish
Source - JFN webinar
July 6

Supporting Artists in This Moment Is Not a Luxury
Description - Op-Ed
Source - New York Jewish Week
July 2
We Aren’t Paying Enough Attention to the Impact of the Pandemic on the Arts
Description - Podcast
Source - Cape Up (The Washington Post)
June 30
We Must Support Our JCCs in These Troubled Times
Description - Editorial
Source - The Jewish News of Northern California
June 25
Museum of Jewish Heritage Cuts 40% of Staff, Saying Pandemic Threatens its Survival
Description - News Article
Source - The Forward
June 22
Why a Website Was the Best Gift I Could Give the Tel Aviv Museum of Art
Description - Article
Source - eJewish Philanthropy
June 21
Arts & Culture in Israel in the Wake of Covid-19
Description - Fact Sheet/Briefing Paper
Source - JFN Israel, Institute for Law and Philanthropy at Tel Aviv University, Forum of Foundations in Israel
May 2020
“The Most Difficult Environment I’ve Seen.” Survey Shows Broad Fundraising Pain
Description - News article
Source - Inside Philanthropy
June 4
How Philadelphia’s Creative Jews Are Handling the Coronavirus Pandemic
Description - News Article
Source - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
June 3

Amid Pandemic Challenges, Jewish Creatives Get Boost from CANVAS, a New Arts & Culture Collaborative
Description - Announcement
Source - CANVAS/JFN
May 19
The Biggest Jewish Coronavirus Relief Fund Will Soon Start Giving Out Loans
Description - News article
Source - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
May 12
Why Artists Are Essential Workers — and How We Can Help Them
Description - Op-Ed
Source - The Forward
April 10