LABA 
After 14 years, LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture has embarked on a dynamic visual transformation. A new visual identity, the product of a process that isn’t just about a new look, but a reflection of the profound growth and expanding vision of the 14 year-old program. From one New York City location, we have
By Ben Nadler. I live in the United States, a place where people regularly encounter angels. If you spend any amount of time traveling through this country, you will meet plenty of folks who have seen one. These divine beings seem to appear just out of reach, beside hospital beds and car wrecks, outside windows,
I did a thing… With the incredible support of the LABA Fellowship, every step of the way, I am proud to announce the release of my newest album, “Bachurs Can’t Be Choosers”. In this project I pull apart the boiler plate narratives I was fed in my upbringing and challenge the notion of Chosenness from
“The Capitalist System…it’s good enough for Norman Thomas, It’s good enough for the Jewish Shammes [servant], But it’s not good enough for me.” When I came across this anonymous quote last winter in a book called The Downtown Jews I had no idea how much it would inform the creation of my LABA piece, Rachel Joravsky is Thriving
By Laura Beatrix Newmark, Director LABA New York “…like the strength of a blessing, as we go Quietly on with what we shall be doing, and sing Thanks for being enabled, again, to begin this instant.” -from At the New Year by John Hollander, And so it goes, after 15 months of pivoting our LABA
By, 2021 LABA Fellow Annie Berman Our current Zeitgeist is filled with dreams of renewal, reawakening, return – a return to a better world. Is that even possible? Are human beings capable of creating a world anew, or can we only work towards reforming, healing. Are there limits to human imagination? I write this as
by Ronit Muszkatblit In The Absence of a Proper Mourning is an outdoor audio visual installation that will be shown at The Jewish Museum of Maryland by LABA artist Tal Beery. This piece is a part of Dwelling in The Time of Plagues, a Jewish creative response to real-world plagues of our time, generously supported
by 2021 LABA Fellow Doron Perk When I started to work on a dance piece to honor the memory of my grandfather, Prof. Kalman Perk, I knew I would use Mendelssohn. He loved classical music, mostly opera. He knew all the names of composers and singers. Mezzo, a channel for mainly operas and ballet, would
by Ronit Muszkatblit, Director of Arts and Culture, Artistic Director of LABA Dwelling in a Time of Plagues is a Jewish Artist collaboration that spans six cities: NYC, Baltimore, Toronto, Boston, Charlotte and Detroit, funded by CANVAS a Jewish Funders Network. Seven Jewish artists have created original pieces that represent a current plague of our
by 2021 LABA Fellow Dvir Cahana The theme for this year’s Laba art fellowship is “Chosenness”. And so, in writing this blog, one question keeps coming up in my mind. What makes this week chosen from all other weeks? This weekend is a very exciting weekend in the Jewish calendar. Not because I am going