Mandel Cultural Leadership Program Launched in Boston

In October 2023, the Mandel Cultural Leadership Program began a two-year fellowship for artists and cultural producers who aim to reimagine Jewish life and mobilize social change through their creative work. The program consists of four week-long seminars and robust virtual learning, advising, and wraparound support for fellows’ creative projects.

The inaugural cohort comprised fifteen exceptional fellows representing a breadth of artistic disciplines and areas of cultural production: visual arts, dance, music, film, writing, theater, comedy, video game world-building, and cultural organizing. Fellows’ personal experiences and creative voices reflect diverse Jewish communities and lineages, and their work has addressed a range of social issues, including racial and disability justice, climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, and class inequalities, among others.

The program’s first seminar focused on establishing a new learning community and exploring what is possible when artists come together in collective frameworks. Through faculty-led sessions and immersive field experiences, Cohort I explored diverse approaches to artistic identification, models of cultural leadership, the impact of artist collectives, and the creative possibilities embedded in ancient Jewish texts.

The city of Boston was a canvas for discovery, with daily excursions to connect with local artists, initiatives, and cultural institutions. Special moments included an afternoon at the Museum of Fine Arts to engage with the Howard Greenberg Collection, a day of inquiry about the stakes of public art with leaders from the For Freedoms artist collective, and visits to the historic Vilna Shul and Lehrhaus, a new Jewish tavern and house of study. The seminar was anchored by four salons, which provided time for each fellow to present their work to the group through an artist talk or performance. These sessions highlighted the seminar and brought to life the breadth of the cohort's creativity, influences, and aspirations.

Fellows also participated in several virtual learning units, including short fundraising and audience development courses and a study group with leading experts on Jewish material culture. The second seminar, held in New Orleans, LA, focused on the forces that shape cultural inheritance and the generative role that artists can play in interpreting and adapting Jewish traditions for contemporary communities.

The program also includes a January 2025 trip to Israel for joint learning opportunities with fellows from the Mandel Program for Leadership in Jewish Culture and Mandel Program for Cultural Leadership in the Negev.