Cheburashka Wears a Kippah

As a Russian speaking, Jewish, queer couple who wants our future children to be fluent in Russian and know about their cultural roots, we notice that there’s a deficit of Russian-language books with characters who look and live like we do. We see English language children’s literature grow more diverse and inclusive, but find that […]

Valeriya Dvorkin Valeriya Dvorkin

Crossing Boundaries

“Crossing Boundaries” was an Improv Show at The Playback Theatre – a project dedicated to stories of immigration. The performance addressed issues and problems related to immigration and how people’s traditions, beliefs, and views are affected through acculturation into this country. Playback Theatre used a talented cast of actors and musicians (including our own Alex […]

Alexander Alabin Alexander Alabin

Cultural Tips for New Americans

For Cultural Tips For New Americans project, Alina Bliumis gathered advice to help recent arrivals assimilate and understand their new home. She took advice from published guides, public forums, streets questionnaires, social websites, and friends to create tips like: “Never refuse gum if an American offers it to use. Offering gum is a polite way to tell someone that they have bad breath.”

Alina Bliumis Alina Bliumis

Distanced from the Source

“Distanced From the Source” was a group show of 5 artists Irina Khokhlova, Anya Roz, Polina Barskaya,  Viktoriya Sorochinski, and Daniel Veksler. Their work explores the themes of otherness-as-identity through the mediums of photography, painting, video installation, and recorded oral history. “Distanced From the Source” opened on December 17, 2011 at the SET Gallery, in […]

Irina Khokhlova Irina Khokhlova

Dueling Identities: An Exploration of the Russian-Jewish Disposition

A documentary exploring the Russian-Jewish identity through a series of interviews with subjects who immigrated to the US in the early 1980’s-mid 1990’s as kids or teenagers and are currently in their 20’s and 30’s. The event took place on June 18,2015 at University Settlement, 184 Eldridge Street NYC with close to a 100 people in attendance. […]

Irina Dizik Irina Dizik

Every Life is A Song

The goal of this community project is to interview a selection of Soviet Jewish immigrants on their unique experiences and create songs based on their stories of struggle, triumph and sacrifice. My aim is to give voice to and share stories that would otherwise be lost to future generations, while facilitating catharsis through the artistic […]

Tatyana Kalko Tatyana Kalko

Fabula/Syuzhet: A Memoir Through Music

Music album inspired by songwriting legends like Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, Zemfira and Bulat Okudzhava, Fabula/Syuzhet explores the storied tradition of Soviet author song re-imagined for the 21st century. Samantha Shokin is a singer/songwriter and first-generation American whose original music reflects the dual nature of growing up straddled between cultures. Her songs blend English and […]

Samantha Shokin Samantha Shokin

Family Reunion

Create a multilingual, multi dimensional a Capella group that will focus on performing, preserving, and modernizing songs of the diaspora, focusing on the languages, lyrics, rhythm, sentiment, historical meanings. You can dip into all of languages Jews wrote songs in – Hebrew, Ladino, Russian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Yiddish, English. Reinvent, reinvigorate, and re-interpret and re-inspire Jewish […]

Foreign Bodies

Group Exhibition by Alina and Jeff Bliumis, Irina Danilova, Yevgeniya Baras, Vydavy Sindikat Curator: Yevgeniya Baras Each artist in this exhibition is evoking a body or a stand in for the body, and the bodies on view are ethnic, distorted, chaotic, ambiguously gendered. But each artist examines the body through his or her own lens. […]

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Yevgeniya Baras Yevgeniya Baras

From the Past and In the Now

Creation of an ongoing visual document of Russian-speaking Jewish families, discovering the myriad of ever-changing ways culture, languages, and traditions are embodied in our daily lives. A documentary photo exhibit accompanied by written accounts of multi-generational families of Russian-speaking Jewish Americans, and exploration of generational changes as impacted by the immigration and acculturation, and of […]

Misha Gulko Misha Gulko
Natasha Tverdynin Racic Natasha Tverdynin Racic

FRUJELI

FRUJELI (Families of Russian-Jewish Long Island) is non-denominational organization that is designed to unite Russian Jewish families. This project is about creating a community by offering family friendly events, and events for adults such as meeting prominent artists, writers, movie directors, musicians, Jewish educators. Learn more on the website and follow them on Facebook.

Diana Zeltser Diana Zeltser

Gentleman from Cracow Ballet

The “Gentleman from Cracow” ballet is a collaboration between animator Yuliya Lanina and composer Yevgeniy Sharlat. It was inspired by Isaac Bachevis Singer’s story of the same name, which tells a tale of a poor Polish town turned upside down by the arrival of a rich doctor who turns out to be the Chief of Devils. In […]

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Yuliya Lanina Yuliya Lanina

Ghost of The Ancient City

A painting exhibition of modern-day Jerusalem.

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Tatyana Levina Tatyana Levina

GOGA

Multidisciplinary performance, a play with music and live readings based on a memoir book about coming to American in 1988 as a young Soviet girl.

Olia Toporovsky Gomez-Delgado Olia Toporovsky Gomez-Delgado

Grandma’s recipes with a healthy twist

Series of health and nutrition workshops that will educate community members and their children about healthful nutrition that is fun and delicious and can be implemented in all life stages. The workshops will explore traditional Jewish cuisine (grandma’s recipes) and will turn them into healthier, more nutritionally conscious meals, while learning about history and tradition […]