The COJECO BluePrint Fellowship
All Projects
Project OKNA
Project OKNA is a multimedia installation inspired by diverse individual views and personal stories on the subject of Jewish identity coming from people within the Russian-speaking community. Through an artistic interpretation, Project OKNA explores the unique juxtaposition of Soviet/Russian past with Jewish identity. We are looking through the ‘windows’ into memories, unforgettable moments, conflict, rejection, […]
Luba Proger has a background and education in fine arts, graphic design, and photography. Upon moving to the United States, Luba continued her studies and earned a degree in photography and graphic design from the Pratt Institute, NYC. Luba has been making photographs for over a decade. In recent years she got involved in curatorial work, where she conceived, and developed a number of arts, photography and theater projects. She currently resides and works in New York City.
Luba Proger and Leonid Khanin have been collaborating since 2004 under the name L2coLab. Their combined multidisciplinary education and experience in fine art, architecture and photography has allowed them to create multidisciplinary art and theater projects, addressing ideas of inner beauty, multiculturalism, and belonging. They are experimenting with immersive environments by use of space, innovative video and audio sampling techniques that stimulate viewers’ perception between themselves and their environment.
Leonid Khanin is an architect and an artist. He has been involved in a variety of art projects utilizing conceptual design and realization. His art projects combine set design, video and photography. Through the Blueprint Fellowship, in partnership with Luba Proger, Leonid created a unique theater experience through a staging of The Purim Spiel Shadow Theater which gave new life to the Jewish tradition of the Purim Spiel. The show was performed on an inflatable sphere and accompanied by new musical arrangements of well-known songs from Russian cartoons.
Luba Proger and Leonid Khanin have been collaborating since 2004 under the name L2coLab.
Their combined multidisciplinary education and experience in fine art, architecture and photography has allowed them to create multidisciplinary art and theater projects, addressing ideas of inner beauty, multiculturalism, and belonging. They are experimenting with immersive environments by use of space, innovative video and audio sampling techniques that stimulate viewers’ perception between themselves and their environment.
Queen Esther
Queen Esther: Children’s Purim Shpiel Opera Russian-born Soprano Nika Leoni founded of the performance company Classical Presentations, which created a number of versatile productions, including Albert Markov’s new opera for children Queen Esther, in which she also sang the title role. Queen Esther had its world premiere in New York in 2010 with encore performances in […]
The Russian-born soprano Nika Leoni has toured internationally, appearing in opera and concert at theaters throughout the United States, Germany, Austria, Italy, England, Poland, and the Czech Republic. Her performance repertoire ranges from large-scale opera roles to intimate art songs, and she also made her recent debut as a dramatic actress/singer in a Broadway-style musical play. Earlier this year, Nika Leoni’s first recorded album of Russian Romances and Traditional Songs titled “Dark Eyes” was released on Larion Records.
Re: Turn
Photographic Narratives of Russian-speaking Orthodox Jews
Anna Chana Demidova was born in Belarus and lived in Bulgaria, Netherlands, and Germany before moving to New York in 2010. She studied Business and Political Science and is currently studying Economics at Columbia University. Photography was something that she has always been curious about, and since receiving her first camera, it has become Anna’s true passion.
Reflecting on History or What Became of My Red Star
REFLECTING ON HISTORY OR WHAT BECAME OF MY RED STAR Thur, July 8, 2010 Fifteen NYC-based, Russian-born artists provide reflections on their Russian-Jewish-American identity via paintings, photographs, and mixed-media works at Chelsea’s ICO Gallery. Curated and produced by Olga Monastyrskaya. THE ARTISTS: According to The Los Angeles Times, Yevgenia Nayberg’s art shows a “folkloric approach […]
Olga Monastyrskaya immigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 16. Having graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2003, she has been working as a graphic designer in advertising and publishing industries. Olga has 5 years of classical art school education both from the Ukraine and the United States.
Olga says, “My story is not in any way different… Being such, I am convinced that through the form of visual expression, it will spark a beautiful dialogue with other artists who have their unique stories to tell as well as with the audience, who I hope will recognize their internal and external world in the works on view.”
Resilience Garden
Laura Vladimirova set out to create a community garden in Bath Beach, a Russian-Jewish neighborhood in Southern Brooklyn, with several key goals: a) To create a space that can be used by local seniors, kids and others b) To promote sustainability to the local community; c) To create a space of environmental awareness post Hurricane Sandy by […]
Laura Vladimirova was born in Kiev, Ukraine. Her family, like many others, immigrated to the United States in the late 80’s. The transience of her youth created an insatiable wanderlust in Laura, which she has tried to fill by traveling and living abroad for most of her young adult life. Then, after her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer and passed away, Laura realized that planting roots was the next phase of her growth. Thus, she now works with plants and people in community gardens, rooftops, and anywhere else community can be created around the more natural concepts of life.
Roots: The Classics
Cultural event series about Jewish representation in classical arts
Soprano Anya Fidelia made her professional debut at the Caramoor International Festival in the summer of 2005 where she returned during subsequent seasons to work on the roles of Leonora in Verdi’s Il Trovatore as well as Leonora in La Forza del Destino. Ms. Fidelia also appeared in numerous concerts with the company.
Ms. Fidelia’s recent and current seasons include the roles of Suor Angelica; Georgetta in Il Tabarro; Santuzza in Cavaleria Rusticana; Tatyana in Eugene Onegin; Leonora in Il Trovatore; Blanche de la Force in the Dialogues of the Carmelites; Mimi in La Boheme as well as the title roles of Puccini’s Tosca and Madame Butterfly throughout Europe and US. Ms. Fidelia’s domestic and international engagement highlights also include numerous appearances at The Metropolitan Opera Guild; recitals with International Rachmaninov Society in New York City presided by Vladimir Ashkenazy and for the UN VIP guests of the UN Russian Mission, sponsored and hosted by Mayor Bloomberg among others.
Past seasons highlights included such roles as Puccini’s Tosca, Mozart’s Donna Anna andCountess at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia; appearance in Stefan Weisman’s new opera “Darkling” with the American Opera Projects; a soundtrack for Tribeca Film Festival award winner documentary “Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis” and Cannes Festival award winner documentary “Bye-bye, Babushka!” as well as the tour of France with the New York Opera Society.
Ruben Shimonov – Out of the Fringes and Into the Tapestry: An RSJ-Mizrahi-Sephardic-LGBTQ Community Initiative
The goal of this community project is to create a series of enriching and dynamic programs that will engage and empower an often marginalized, yet crucial, segment of the RSJ community: Sephardic and Mizrahi Russian-speaking Jews, particularly those who are LGBTQ. The objective is to both build a supportive and vibrant community of Sephardic, Mizrahi […]
Rus Jews Views
Rus Jews Views aims to destigmatize psychotherapy in the Russian-speaking Jewish community and states the case for psychotherapy as an acceptable and often necessary component of general health and well-being. A manuscript of Victoria’s research is currently being finalized and submitted for publication in a top-tier psychology journal. At least two more publications are pending.
Victoria Drob is a National Board Certified Counselor, holding a master's degree and a license in clinical counseling. Providing psychotherapeutic counseling during her internships as part of her graduate studies has been a life-altering experience for her. For her COJECO Blueprint community project, Victoria conducted research that brought to light the stigmas surrounding the field of psychology in the ex-Soviet culture, in the hopes of dispelling the prevalent myths and misconceptions. Victoria hosted an educational lecture on the benefits of counseling for the Russian-speaking Jewish audience offering insights gained from her research results. Victoria continues advocacy work and research in this field. Her project, Rus Jews Views, can be followed on www.RusJewsViews.com as well as on Facebook.
RUSA LGBT
RUSA LGBT: Russian-Speaking American LGBT Group RUSA LGBT is a network for Russian-speaking LGBTQ individuals, their friends, supporters and loved ones. As part of the Blueprint Fellowship project, RUSA LGBT created a series of meet-ups and events exploring what it’s like to be a Russian-speaking LGBTQ Jew in the US today. The event series culminated in a panel presentation […]
Yelena Goltsman is a Kiev-born human rights and LGBTQ activist. She is the founder
and co-president of RUSA LGBT, an organization that was formed in 2008 to
establish a social network for the Russian-speaking LGBTQ community in the New
York area and beyond. Yelena is a long-time member of Congregation Beit Simchat
Torah and is an outstanding lay contributor to the life of the synagogue, organizing
a wide range of programming and learning opportunities. Her concern for Russian-
speaking LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers and those still oppressed in the
former Soviet Union has made the issue a central component in CBST’s social justice
work. Currently and for the past several years, Yelena is serving on the Membership
Committee of the synagogue.
Russian Jewish Singles Mingle
Create a community for Russian-Speaking Jewish Singles where they can meet, mingle, learn, and stay within the community to create Jewish families. The project will develop culture & learning series with diverse Jewish content in an informal atmosphere of a singles meet up.
Inna was born in Donetsk, Ukraine and immigrated to US with parents in 1993. She is a Brooklyn College graduate with a Business, Management, and Finance degree. While her career is in analytical roles in fashion industry, she loves to travel in her free time. She has a passion for learning and connecting people.
Russian Pavilion – Migration
The Russian Pavilion is a juried exhibition showcasing emerging and established artists from Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Baltic regions during leading international contemporary art fairs in New York, Miami, and other cities.
Artem Mirolevich’s multimedia work gives him a unique voice: an urban mix of Surrealism, Impressionism, and Japanese printmaking. In 2000, Artem debuted his New York show at a foregone Neva Gallery in Greenwich Village, where he humorously proclaimed his relationship with the world as “Post-Apocalyptic Romanticism. America made me the artist that I am.” The scale of his work spans from small-scale objects to large oil canvases and installations, including “Babylon Tower”- the seashell-shaped multimedia project of galvanized wire at the Chelsea Art Museum in 2012.
Artem’s work paints the meticulous deconstruction of the physical earth into its figurative elements, turning to such media as oil, gouache, wire, and ink. He is also occasionally an engraver– like Durer or Piranesi, using a craft that the world has no immediate use for anymore, yet is peacefully nostalgic and ravishing to look at. For his COJECO BluePrint Fellowship community project, Artem will create a separate track of Russian Jewish art as part of his large initiative “Russian Pavilion.”
Short film
A short film that examines how trauma in a Soviet Jewish family can be passed on through generations and its effects. The intention for this film is to bring people in RSJ community together and start a discussion about mental health that can be a taboo subject for our community (and many other immigrant communities ) […]
Marina is a New York City based Russian-Armenian actress, writer, and producer from Moscow. She can be seen performing monthly at The Pit Striker with her indie sketch team Suede and at venues around the city with her indie improv group the idiots. She also performs original characters. She has produced, wrote, and acted in the past two seasons of 2293 Productions’ Reservations at The Kraine Theatre as well the web series The Box. Marina holds a degree in Cinema Studies and Dramatic Literature from NYU Tisch School Of The Arts (2012.) She was the co founder of a curated monthly screening series Black Mariah Films (2012-2015) where she programmed film series that showcased emerging filmmakers alongside classic and art house films. She completed the two year acting conservatory at The Barrow Group Theatre Company where she studied with Seth Barrish and Lee Brock and performed in her first full length play, A Perfect Couple as Emma. Marina continued her acting training at Playhouse West Brooklyn Lab where she completed the two year Meisner training program. She is an Academy level student at Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) where she has been taking improv and character classes since 2015. She has also studied improv at The People’s Improv Theatre (PIT) and at iO Chicago.
Short film
A short film that examines how trauma in a Soviet Jewish family can be passed on through generations and its effects. The intention for this film is to bring people in RSJ community together and start a discussion about mental health that can be a taboo subject for our community (and many other immigrant communities ) […]
Born in Leningrad, Russia, raised in the belly of Brooklyn, Irina has been on the path of metamorphosis from a young age. Although she doesn't remember much of her childhood, she enjoys reading Dostoyevsky and daydreaming of other lifetimes. After being discovered at a young age to play Young Margo in The Royal Tenebaums, Irina went on to be in several more feature films including It Runs in The Family and The Butterfly Effect. She attended the School of American Ballet, LaGuardia High School for Drama, and then CUNY Hunter College where she earned her BA in the highly lucrative field of Philosophy. Irina has since gone on to study at UCB, the Barrow Group under Seth Barrish and Lee Brock, and with international Meisner teacher Andrea Dantas. She works in both theater and film, most recently moving into producing and performing her own content including co-writing and producing her own web series (Frank&Alice), two seasons of Reservations at The Kraine Theater under 2293 Productions, and writing, producing and starring in critically acclaimed short films (Sun on Your Elbows, A Magnificent Gray), the latter of which is now being adapted into a feature film. Irina currently resides in NYC and can be spotted weaving through traffic and avoiding potholes on her bicycle, rain or shine. She wears her helmet proudly. Irina would like to thank her family and friends for their undying love, support and laughing at her jokes even when they aren't funny. She believes in the power of collaboration, being kind, and sharing french fries.
Solomon’s Chair
A big scale installation containing 42 separate pieces will invite audiences of all ages to actively participate throughout the course of three (3) days on display at the auditorium space at the JCC Manhattan. The audience was able to rearrange the pieces and construct their own Solomon’s Chair, an amassing artifact that originally emerged as a result of […]
Zhenya Plechkina is a Ukranian-born artist living in South Brooklyn. Zhenya studied art at the Pratt Institute and the Tisch School of the Arts, and Art Education at the Pratt Institute.Zhenya's teaching experience includes New York City public and private schools, camps and Riker's Island vocational school. Zhenya leads her own Museum Education Series for children and adults. She has exhibited works in a variety of venues in the US and abroad, including the Queens Museum of Art, the Venice Architectural and Moscow Biennials.
After the BluePrint Fellowship, Zhenya went on to become the first Russian-speaking Jewish Joshua Venture Group fellow, where she further developed her initiative, Zshuk Art Initiative.
