Chutpahdik

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