ok, so it's been a while August 12, 2008 |
since I last blogged. I actually can't believe how much has happened to me in the last couple of months. I really need to blog more regularly because there is no way I can remember all the amazing things I have done recently.
The amazing closing event for the 2008 PresenTense Institute
What has taken up the majority of my time has been the PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism which was an extraordinary and intense six week summer fellowship for young Jewish social entrepreneurs. We were a group of 16, most from North America, but a healthy sprinkling of us were from Israel too. For six weeks we lived and breathed our ventures and along the way we were privileged to meet with some of Israel's - if not the world's - leading figures in fields as diverse as social action, social entrepreneurship, environmentalism, hi-tech, venture capitalism and the arts and culture. The institute received some excellent publicity along the way and here are a couple of articles you might like to read:
Jerusalem Post: A Zionist Kick in the Pants
Israel 21c: Israel's bootcamp for social entrepreneurs
For me personally, the institute could not come at a more opportune time. I was literally just starting my business and it was essential for me to fine tune my concept, my business model, acquire a variety of important business skills and to network with the right people. PresenTense delivered all this and more. Over the course of the fellowship I was literally learning and doing simultaneously. Talk about a steep learning curve!
By the end of the six weeks, I absolutely understood what it was I was doing and exactly what I wanted to achieve. As I met with prospective new clients, I became consciously aware of my growing confidence and the increased ease I experienced when explaining to new people exactly what it was I was doing.
So now that I've "graduated" I am getting out there on my own and trying to get this business off the ground. I've already taken on three clients (two theatre companies and an incredible vocal artist) and hopefully more artists will follow soon. The real test starts now as my business will only take off if I can successfully secure international touring opportunities for my artists.
I also wanted to share with you a couple of fantastic theatre experiences I have had recently.
Last week my husband and I went to Jaffo in Tel Aviv to see the Nalaga'at Theatre Company. Nalaga'at is Hebrew for "Please Touch" and the company is the only professional deaf-blind theatre company in the world. We went to see their production, "Not By Bread Alone" and we were blown away by this company's incredible energy and unique performance style. What you must realise is that when I say "deaf-blind theatre company" I mean that each actor is deaf AND blind in the same body. The actors are accompanied by seeing-hearing stage assistants who help guide them through the various scene changes - but other than that, these twelve extraordinary performers hold their own and will leave you spellbound. If you are in Israel I cannot urge you enough to see this company and experience it for yourself - it will be an experience you will never forget.
Last night, I dragged my husband to another show (actually he's enjoying all this great stuff we are going to see these days!) in Givat Ze'ev, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. "One of A Kind" by the acclaimed Israeli theatre company, Nephesh Theatre. "One of A Kind" tells the story of the Ethiopian Zionist immigration to Israel during the mid 1980's when Ethiopia was experiencing both extreme famine and dangerous political destabilisation. This beautiful and sensitively portrayed production tells the story of one young boy, Andargay (which means "one of a kind" in Amharic, the Ethiopian language) and his family as they leave their beloved village and community behind for a distant land that has only ever been the stuff of dream and fantasy in their minds.
What made this an even more interesting performance is that it was specially organised for a large group of American kids currently in Israel on a Taglit Birthright tour. Close to 200 of them filled the theatre and within seconds the auditorium was cacophony of noise - screaming adolescents behaving more like 12 year olds than 18 year olds. They jumped on seats, screamed across the rows to their friends, initiated Mexican Waves and the two boys in front of us were dangerously close to exchanging fists with each other had it not been for the girls on either side of them who managed to calm their overflow of teenage testosterone. "These," I thought to myself ,"are nice Jewish kids?" They were downright feral! What surprised me even more is that their staff made no attempt to discipline them or calm them down. I thought back to the Australian Birthright groups I used to manage and in hindsight they were complete angels! No Aussie kid would EVER behave like these kids.
Following the play, there was a brief music concert by a very cool (but ear-splittingly loud) hip-hop group called "Cafe Shachor Chazak" which means "Strong Black Coffee" - five young Ethiopian Israeli kids from Netanya who brought the house down and instantly created a full on night club for these over-energized, over-sexed adolescents who couldn't wait for the excuse to run up onstage and get down and dirty with the young musicians.
To be fair to the kids, they were having an absolute ball and the experience was teaching them something important about Israel that chances are they would never have learned without coming here and seeing it for themselves. I think Doron was in a mild state of shock by the end of it - he has certainly never been exposed to such a large group of American kids before and certainly not such an unruly group. He turned to me at the end and said, "when I was a kid I thought me and my friends were badly behaved, but I've never seen anything like this before!"
We were kindly offered a lift on their tour bus back to Jerusalem, but we sat right at the front with the staff (we thought it would be safer there!)
As you can see, life has been far from boring the last few weeks and although I haven't quite cracked the nut on how to make a decent living out of this new venture of mine, I am certainly having an inspiring and creative time trying to work that out!
The amazing closing event for the 2008 PresenTense InstituteWhat has taken up the majority of my time has been the PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism which was an extraordinary and intense six week summer fellowship for young Jewish social entrepreneurs. We were a group of 16, most from North America, but a healthy sprinkling of us were from Israel too. For six weeks we lived and breathed our ventures and along the way we were privileged to meet with some of Israel's - if not the world's - leading figures in fields as diverse as social action, social entrepreneurship, environmentalism, hi-tech, venture capitalism and the arts and culture. The institute received some excellent publicity along the way and here are a couple of articles you might like to read:
Jerusalem Post: A Zionist Kick in the Pants
Israel 21c: Israel's bootcamp for social entrepreneurs
For me personally, the institute could not come at a more opportune time. I was literally just starting my business and it was essential for me to fine tune my concept, my business model, acquire a variety of important business skills and to network with the right people. PresenTense delivered all this and more. Over the course of the fellowship I was literally learning and doing simultaneously. Talk about a steep learning curve!
By the end of the six weeks, I absolutely understood what it was I was doing and exactly what I wanted to achieve. As I met with prospective new clients, I became consciously aware of my growing confidence and the increased ease I experienced when explaining to new people exactly what it was I was doing.
So now that I've "graduated" I am getting out there on my own and trying to get this business off the ground. I've already taken on three clients (two theatre companies and an incredible vocal artist) and hopefully more artists will follow soon. The real test starts now as my business will only take off if I can successfully secure international touring opportunities for my artists.
I also wanted to share with you a couple of fantastic theatre experiences I have had recently.
Last week my husband and I went to Jaffo in Tel Aviv to see the Nalaga'at Theatre Company. Nalaga'at is Hebrew for "Please Touch" and the company is the only professional deaf-blind theatre company in the world. We went to see their production, "Not By Bread Alone" and we were blown away by this company's incredible energy and unique performance style. What you must realise is that when I say "deaf-blind theatre company" I mean that each actor is deaf AND blind in the same body. The actors are accompanied by seeing-hearing stage assistants who help guide them through the various scene changes - but other than that, these twelve extraordinary performers hold their own and will leave you spellbound. If you are in Israel I cannot urge you enough to see this company and experience it for yourself - it will be an experience you will never forget.
Last night, I dragged my husband to another show (actually he's enjoying all this great stuff we are going to see these days!) in Givat Ze'ev, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. "One of A Kind" by the acclaimed Israeli theatre company, Nephesh Theatre. "One of A Kind" tells the story of the Ethiopian Zionist immigration to Israel during the mid 1980's when Ethiopia was experiencing both extreme famine and dangerous political destabilisation. This beautiful and sensitively portrayed production tells the story of one young boy, Andargay (which means "one of a kind" in Amharic, the Ethiopian language) and his family as they leave their beloved village and community behind for a distant land that has only ever been the stuff of dream and fantasy in their minds.
What made this an even more interesting performance is that it was specially organised for a large group of American kids currently in Israel on a Taglit Birthright tour. Close to 200 of them filled the theatre and within seconds the auditorium was cacophony of noise - screaming adolescents behaving more like 12 year olds than 18 year olds. They jumped on seats, screamed across the rows to their friends, initiated Mexican Waves and the two boys in front of us were dangerously close to exchanging fists with each other had it not been for the girls on either side of them who managed to calm their overflow of teenage testosterone. "These," I thought to myself ,"are nice Jewish kids?" They were downright feral! What surprised me even more is that their staff made no attempt to discipline them or calm them down. I thought back to the Australian Birthright groups I used to manage and in hindsight they were complete angels! No Aussie kid would EVER behave like these kids.
Following the play, there was a brief music concert by a very cool (but ear-splittingly loud) hip-hop group called "Cafe Shachor Chazak" which means "Strong Black Coffee" - five young Ethiopian Israeli kids from Netanya who brought the house down and instantly created a full on night club for these over-energized, over-sexed adolescents who couldn't wait for the excuse to run up onstage and get down and dirty with the young musicians.
To be fair to the kids, they were having an absolute ball and the experience was teaching them something important about Israel that chances are they would never have learned without coming here and seeing it for themselves. I think Doron was in a mild state of shock by the end of it - he has certainly never been exposed to such a large group of American kids before and certainly not such an unruly group. He turned to me at the end and said, "when I was a kid I thought me and my friends were badly behaved, but I've never seen anything like this before!"
We were kindly offered a lift on their tour bus back to Jerusalem, but we sat right at the front with the staff (we thought it would be safer there!)
As you can see, life has been far from boring the last few weeks and although I haven't quite cracked the nut on how to make a decent living out of this new venture of mine, I am certainly having an inspiring and creative time trying to work that out!