Yesterday, Jamie Richman walked in to my office at 3:19 with an exhausted smile on her face,

 

“It’s done,” she said, as she ‘plopped’ in to one of the chairs.

 

What was done was the Savannah Jewish Cultural Arts Festival that was held over 24 days this month.  It was (what one community member called), “Chutpahdik” to attempt such an ambitious group of programs and it was all planned and programmed during a significant spike in COVID. 

 

We had to have faith that the numbers would come down (they did, just in time) and that people would come out.

 

Did they come? 

 

We project that over 600 individuals took part in one of the events-film (9 movies), speaker (five different topics), cooking/baking (four classes), arts & music (four events), or celebrations/receptions (four events).

 

The Konter Weiland Comedy Night (paired with a comedy themed Kids Night out) had almost 250 participants….not a sell out like in preCOVID days, but a wonderful gathering.  We saw people we hadn’t seen in many months.

 

The movies had varying numbers of participants.  While there weren’t large groups for in person showing, there were dozens more who participated from the comfort of their couches.

 

The Savannah Jewish Federation is so grateful to the sponsors/Friends of the Festival. They were people who believed in what we were attempting to do and made it all possible.  Our deep thanks to

 

PRODUCERS

Ellen, Edwin, Melinda & Peggy Byck

In Memory of Kaye Kole

Marcy & Jerry Konter

Congregation Mickve Israel

 

DIRECTORS

Finger & Associates Plastic Surgery Center

Stacy & Jeffrey Lasky

 

PLAYWRIGHTS

Dayle & Aaron Levy

Jane Feiler

AM Goldkrand

Toby Hollenberg

Harvey Lebos

Arlene & Allan Ratner

Jodi & Kenneth Sadler

 

ARTISTS

Lynn & Dick Berkowitz

Carole Cohen

Michelle & Rodney Cohen

Connie & Tom Glaser

Sandy & Skippy Goodman

Carol & Joel Greenberg

Bunny & Jim Montag

Jeanne & Bob Rosenwald

Linda & Steve Sacks

Savannah Regional Film Commission

Leslie & Alan Seidman

Debbie & Joe Sistino

Susan Timna

Linda & Michael Zoller

 

We could not have possibly attempted a festival as ambitious as this without their generous support.

 

We could not have possibly attempted a festival as ambitious as this without the many volunteers from the JEA and Federation Boards.

 

We could not have possibly attempted a festival as ambitious as this without all the hard work from Jamie, DJ Horton, Julie Schwartz, Jackie Laban, Sonya Carpenter, Sarah Docar, and Vicky Lunick.

 

 Our deep thanks to each and everyone of them

 

Shabbat Shalom