The COJECO BluePrint Fellowship
Children & Family
“The Secret Society” A Russian Language Picture Book
Yevgenia Nayberg is writing and illustrating a Russian language children’s book about the contemporary immigration experience through the eyes of a child. The book, titled “The Secret Society,” approaches the subject of being different metaphorically, through the story of a left-handed little girl and her “secret leftie society.” The story resonates not only with children, but […]
Yevgenia is an award-winning illustrator, painter and stage designer. A native of Kiev, Ukraine, she graduated from The National School of Arts. Yevgenia’s paintings have been featured in solo exhibitions in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles and Moscow as well as in numerous international group art shows. She designed sets and costumes for over 40 theatrical productions and received a number of prestigious awards for her stage designs. Her illustrations appeared in magazines and children’s books as well as on album covers, book covers and theatre posters.
Arlekino Theatre
Arlekino Theater Troupe cultivates interest for cultural arts in Russian-speaking Jewish children, while instilling an appreciation for their Jewish heritage. This project has been flourishing as part of the Generation R programming at the JCC Manhattan since 2011, nurturing children’s self-expression, inquiry, and exploration, and promotes Russian language development. The program includes dramatic play, music, dance, […]
Jane Tuv is the Director of Russian-speaking Children & Families Programs. Under her leadership, program offerings catering to Russian-speaking Jewish families and children at the JCC tripled, with participants coming from all boroughs of New York for classes, holiday events, Shabbat dinners, and performances. Through Jane's meaningful programs for the Russian-speaking Jewish community and her dedication to high-quality, progressive early childhood education, a vast number of underserved Russian-speaking families who felt disconnected from the greater American-Jewish community, have shown a significant spike in involvement in Jewish life, and have brought the traditions experienced at Generation R programs into their home.
In addition to her role at Generation R, Jane is the founding director of Arlekino Theater Troupe, a performing and fine arts program, which strives to instill an appreciation for Jewish heritage in the arts in young children whose parents emigrated from the Former Soviet Union. She has partnered with more than 20 Jewish organizations in the Tri-State Area to bring expressive arts education to the Russian-speaking Jewish diaspora. An informal Jewish educator, Jane designs programs with a focus on the Reggio Emilia approach, nurturing children's curiosities, imagination, and self-expression.
This year, Jane became one of five recipients of the Jewish Education Project's Young Pioneers Award for her work at Arlekino and Generation R and was also selected as one of Jewish Week's "36 Under 36." This past February Jane also launched a progressive Russian language program for infants and toddlers in her neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, which has garnered high acclaim. Jane's teaching career spans Pushkin Academy of Russian Heritage, the Farber-Bruch Early Childhood Center at the Marks JCH of Bensonhurst, the Saul and Carole Zabar Nursery School at the JCC Manhattan, and the Parenting Program at Temple Shaaray Tefila.
Bobe Mayces
Проект “Бабушкины сказки” באָבע-מעשׂיות “Бабушкины сказки” – это аудио-диск еврейских сказок и преданий для детей на русском языке. Это те сказки, которые нам и вам рассказывали бы наши бабушки, если бы они, во-первых, слышали их от своих родителей, а во-вторых, имели бы возможность, не боясь, рассказывать их своим внукам. В некоторых семьях так и случалось, […]
Masha Shkolnik is a journalist and a songwriter who was born in Moscow, Russia. Masha is known for her journalistic career with RTVi cable network as a reporter followed by working as a host and a manager for Russian radio stations in New York such as Novaya Zhizn’ and Davidzon Radio. Masha has recorded two CDs with her songs and is working on recording the 3rd. Masha develops her career in the areas of learning and development and as a hobby organizes creative events and camps for kids: www.children123.com. Masha’s articles, poems, lyrics, and MP3s as well as CDs for sale can be found at www.mashashkolnik.com
Central Park: An Original Musical Story
A musical, performed by talented children from the Russian Jewish community, with songs composed by BluePrint Fellow Dina Pruzhansky based on poems by masters like Samuil Marshak, Renata Mucha and others. Two performances of the Musical (one in Russian and one in English) took place on March 17, 2014 at JCC Manhattan. Both of the shows […]
Dina Pruzhansky is a Russian-Israeli pianist and composer based in New York. After winning a number of nationwide music competition in her native country Azerbaijan, she moved to Israel. Since 2006, Ms. Pruzhansky resides in New York City. An alumna from Mannes College for Music, she has appeared in solo and chamber music recitals throughout the United States, Russia, Israel, Belgium and Germany, and has shared the stage with many leading artists, including the soloists of the Metropolitan and San Francisco opera houses and the soloists of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. New York City recital venues include Merkin Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, Steinway Hall, Bechstein Piano Center, Union Club, the Yamaha Piano Salon, Scandinavia House, The Ukrainian Institute, the Russian Permanent Mission to the U.N. and others.
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 […]
Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tatyana immigrated to the US with her family at age 11. She received her BA in Sociology Summa Cum Laude from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Master’s in Instructional Technology and Media from Teachers College Columbia University where she focused on the use of games and social media in education. She has been an educator for 12 years, the past 5 of them at The Jewish Education Project working with day schools and congregational institutions all over North America to innovate classrooms and make learning more engaging and personalized. She currently works at an all boys school on the UES teaching coding and STEAM. She shares a home with her wife and about as many books as could comfortably fill a small public library.
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 is a second grade teacher in a NYC public school, working primarily with English language learners. She immigrated to the US with her family in 1999 from Yekaterinburg, Russia. She received her BA in Literary Studies from The New School and a Master’s in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from CUNY Hunter College. Her short play The Frequencies of Love was put on as part of The Headcase Showcase through The New School in 2012 and was part of a reading series at La MaMa theater.
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 is from Odessa, Ukraine. She immigrated with her family in 1995, and continued her education in Computer Science at Hunter College, where she began to be active at Hillel. Her passion to educate children fully developed when she became a mom. In 2008 she founded a company, Happy Tunes Inc, that specializes in Children Enrichment and Entertainment. Since then, she taught mathematics, Russian, and Music&Movement classes at various children centers and Jewish organizations. She wrote curricula and took part in creating and editing textbooks. She was awarded Maestro of Outreach title in Kindermusik International in 2012. In the same year, she created a local community, Families of Russian speaking Jewish Long Island, as her BluePrint Fellowship project of COJECO that is continuing to bloom and attracts families with children from birth to high school ages. Currently her project is known as BRIJE of Mid Island Y JCC. She organizes Holiday celebrations, Shabbat gatherings, and volunteering events. Every event is unique and provides Jewish components for every age group. Diana's strong background in STEAM education, love for Olympic sports, and her passion to teach help to ensure her continuing success in her work.
Handmade Charity NYC
Handmade Charity is a nonprofit project aimed at developing creativity and help social integration for kids with special needs by conducting cooking and creative master classes in local cafes and restaurants. The project has been successfully launched in Moscow two years ago with the active support of local Jewish community. Currently “Handmade Charity” hosts events […]
Ekaterina Schaltuper was born in Moscow in 1986. She received a bachelor's degree in Economics and Marketing in Russian State University named after G.V. Plekhanov. She started her career at the age of eighteen as an account executive at a British PR company MMD. After graduation Ekaterina started working for a restaurant group "Novikov Group", doing brand management for eight leading restaurants in Moscow. She immigrated to New York in 2008 where she got involved in the fine jewelry industry for several international brands. Currently Ekaterina works for a consulting company Mega Projects as a Sales Director for nine emerging jewelry brands. Outside of professional interests, Katya is learning to play piano and vocal, she travels widely and enjoys living with her husband Mark.
Ekaterina was born in Moscow, Russia in 1987. After graduating from university, she continued her career in the finance sector. Ekaterina started working in a Big 4 company and got experience in Russian oil and gas sector. She continue her career abroad and moved to Switzerland, where she worked in a multinational company. During these years Ekaterina has travelled all over the world with her new job, from the US to South Africa and China, and has also worked a lot in many European countries. At the beginning of 2014 she moved back to Moscow, working for an IT company. Ekaterina and her husband now live in New York.
Jewish Children’s Museum Tour
For his community project, David Bas organized a workshop and tour for Russian-speaking Jewish families at the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn. The workshop, attended by over 50 people, was followed by a discussion on the influence of Jewish roots and traditions on our parenting choices.
David Bas organized a workshop and tour at the Jewish Children’s Museum for children and families. The workshop was followed by a discussion on the the influence of Jewish roots/traditions on our parenting choices.
Jewish Choices
A study and a follow-up parenting workshop on helping families develop a framework of incorporating Jewish culture and customs into their life and their parenting choices.
Jewish Fairy-tales
The project will create original theatrical performances for families with children based on famous Jewish children’s books drawing from Yiddish culture and the wealth of the Russian-Jewish literary heritage.
ALEX NOTKIN Was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. Graduated from The St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy 2008. Worked in various Russian and European feature films, TV series, Commercials and theatre productions. Lived in Israel from 1990 to 2004. In 2013, in St. Petersburg, Alex directed his own theatre show ‘The Letters of Vertinsky’ in which he also starred as the lead. This production participated in various European festivals. Alex has also established himself as a well known Voice Over actor: Among his Voice Over highlights are: AVATAR (The Russian Version) in which he dubbed the lead Jake Sully played by Sam Worthington, TERMINATOR 4, SALVATION where he dubbed Christian Bale, Crab Sebastian in Walt Disney’s The Little Mermaid 2 and many more. In 2014 Alex moves to New York City to pursue his acting career, he then completes an acting Conservatory Program at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute and continues working as an actor, Voice Over artist and stage director. His recent U.S. projects include: Theatre: Serge in ‘Art’ which he also directed at the Marilyn Monroe Theatre NY Officer Augustus in the Off Broadway production of ‘Green Card the New Musical’ TV and Commercials Madam Secretary, Mozart in the Jungle, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, Sheepshead Bay, Ponder and Ghostek Commercials Voice Over Mercedes Benz, Metlife Stage Directing ‘Art’, ‘Defendant Maurice Chevalier’-Off Broadway, ‘Loitering’-Off Broadway Collaborated with WZO and Russian Speaking Jewish communities in New York.
Le Grand Voyage
The project will focus on the creation of a theatrical piece about immigration with a Clown troupe. Clown form is a perfect way to express complex life experiences and will become an engaging performance to adults and children alike.
Lyagushki
Interactive multi-media concert for children, incorporating theatrical elements, based on updated versions of songs from classic Russian films and cartoons, as well as his original compositions.
Andrew Tuzhilin is a musician and educator who has been working with children for the past 5 years. At a young age Andrew attended Green Meadow Waldorf School where he began his musical journey, and was introduced to the world of theater. He received his education from the Berklee College of Music and worked on a multi-media project at Brown University. Andrew is currently working on the children’s project Rolie Polie Guacamole.
Magic Streetcar
A Children’s Immersive Theater Project Based on the poetry of R. Mykha and other Jewish authors in Russian An immersive theatrical project for kids (ages 2-5 yo) in Russian. On this interactive journey kids are able to use all their senses and get to know their favorite characters from famous children’s poems. The show premiered with four […]
Alya Adelman was born in Kharkov, Ukraine and immigrated to US in 1994. Alya was fascinated with theater since her early childhood and by the age of 14 already produced her first play for the school graduation. After moving to the United States, she worked with a talented director, Simon Rivkin, who led a Russian acting studio in Boston. In New York, she continues advancing her career at HB and Terry Schreiber studios, as well as learning modern dance techniques with legendary Mary Anthony. She currently performs as part of Lost and Found Project.
Mishpucha Camping
Mishpucha has grown from a tent-camping weekend for Russian-speaking Jewish families in New York, to a Jewish grassroots nonprofit organization serving thousands of adventurous Russian-speaking Jews throughout the Northeast. The first Mishpucha Camping, created as part of the COJECO Blueprint Fellowship, brought together RSJ families for a weekend of informal Jewish learning and outdoor adventure, and […]
Lisa Klig is a community organizer and social entrepreneur. Born in Kiev, Ukraine and raised in NJ, she discovered her passion for Jewish community building while at college. As Program Manager at RJeneration, Lisa designed and implemented innovative engagement programs for Russian-speaking Jewish young adults. Concurrently, with the support of the COJECO Blueprint Fellowship, she founded her own nonprofit initiative, Mishpucha – providing culturally authentic, adventurous engagement for RSJ families throughout the East Coast. In 2011, Lisa joined the COJECO team as Program Director, overseeing all program development, marketing, and grant management. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their very fat cat, Yura.
