Launching for the first time ever this year, JFest WPG is a weeklong celebration of Jewish culture and the arts – reimagined.
Our inaugural festival features an eclectic showcase of global Jewish art and culture, encompassing not merely the traditions of eastern Europe, but also Sephardic, Mizrachi and Israeli culture, and all manner of cross-cultural fusion.
Though strongly focused on music, JFest is a multidisciplinary festival, including visual arts, workshops, and kids’ programs.
JFest is unlike any other festival we have held before. We are reimagining culture and welcoming in a new generation of people of all faiths, backgrounds, and demographics.
JFest WPG is proudly presented by The Asper Foundation with support from the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg,the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, and JNF Canada
Glowing Embers: New Works by Manitoba Jewish Artists
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 26 – 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Rady JCC Adult Lounge
FREE – No Registration Required
Glowing Embers brings together a collection of exciting and vibrant new works by both emerging and established Jewish Artists from Manitoba. The work runs from conceptual to realist and everything in between and highlights ideas of belonging, community, and home.
The talented artists included in this exhibition are the Rimon Art Collective (comprised of Mishelle Aminov, Yael Freifeld, Halley Ritter, Etel Shevelev, and Shan Pullan) and independent artists Elena El, and Joel Novek.
At the opening reception you will see the show, meet the artists and curators, and get to share in some light refreshments.
Gallery will be open to the public on:
- Sunday, October 27th (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.)
- Tuesday, October 29th (5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.)
- Wednesday, October 30th (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.)
- Thursday, October 31st (5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.)
- Saturday, November 2nd (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.)
- Tuesday, November 5th (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.)
- Thursday, November 7th (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.)
Rimon Art Collective
We are רימונים (Ri – mon – eim);
Rimon means “pomegranate” in Hebrew. Much like our namesake, we each contain multitudes. A group of young Jewish artists, we have come together for both creativity and comfort as a supportive family seeking refuge in the transformative powers of art and community. As first to third generation immigrants, our diverse backgrounds, stories, and experiences converge in a tapestry of expression, proudly reflecting the rich mosaic of our shared heritage and unique identities.
Yael Freifeld is a graphic designer and artists living in Winnipeg Manitoba. Yaels practice focuses on the complex identity of third culture children that live in bi-cultural households. She takes inspiration from her Ashkenazi Jewish identity, eastern European roots and time living in Israel, by combining them into intricate and detailed patterns.
Mishelle Aminov Kosonovsky, an Eastern-European Jewish immigrant and Israeli-born artist, creates multidisciplinary, print-based works exploring themes of tradition, nostalgia, identity, and the immigrant experience. Her art captures the ephemeral, inviting viewers to reflect on their memories and personal journeys, blending cultural heritage with contemporary expression.
Etel Shevelev is an Ashkenazi Jewish-Israeli interdisciplinary artist with a focus on illustration. As a first and second-generation immigrant, she explores the many layers that construct Jewish identity in Israel and the diaspora, particularly through the lens of a Jewish woman. Etel explores themes of missing home, unravelling her secular-Jewish identity, and the many things that make her – herself.
Halley Ritter is an artist, curator, and educator living on Treaty 1 Territory. Halley is fixated — in her life and work — on memory, tradition, connection, and collective identity in the context of contemporary Jewish culture. Halley explores her big ideas and even bigger feelings through painting, printmaking, and installation art.
Shan Pullan is an interdisciplinary artist living in Manitoba, on Treaty 1 and 2 territories. Her work explores interpretations of memory, fear of memory loss, and cultural nostalgia. Shan creates visual representations of memory featuring her experiences as a Jewish person in the diaspora which she produces through the physical manipulation of photographic film.
Elena El is a fine artist specializing in Winnipeg cityscape paintings. Her preferred medium is acrylic on canvas. Elena’s paintings have been featured on CBC Canada National, Breakfast Television, Winnipeg Free Press, CBC Manitoba Scene and other local media. Elena studied classic drawing and painting at the College of Fine Arts, Odessa, Ukraine, and graduated from College of Design, Haifa, Israel. In 2006 Elena moved to Winnipeg. Her studio is located at Cre8ery Gallery.
Joel Novek – After more than 30 years as a Sociology Professor at the University of Winnipeg, Joel began painting as a retirement project. He took beginners’ courses in drawing and painting at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and then joined Forum Art Centre in 2010 where he studied acrylics, watercolours and life drawing. He also attended plein air workshops in Mexico and Sicily. He served on the Board of Directors of Forum Art from 2012 to 2019 and, for many years, volunteered and exhibited at the Forum’s annual Fresh Art Shows. He enjoys painting scenes depicting people and places, mainly but not exclusively in Winnipeg and around Manitoba. His favourite subjects include sports and games, active transportation, and people at leisure, as well as diverse aspects of urban life.
Idan Raichel -Piano – Songs – Live
Sunday October 27th – 7:30 pm
Canadian Museum for Human Rights
SOLD OUT
Direct from Israel, Idan Raichel brings his intimate piano songs performance to Winnipeg. In this concert, Idan realizes his dream of getting up close to his audiences and presenting his songs in their original format of piano and voice.
Idan Raichel is an Israeli superstar producer, keyboardist, lyricist, composer and performer. Idan has become not only one of the most successful artists in Israel but also one of Israel’s leading music ambassadors abroad representing a world of hope in which artistic collaboration breaks down barriers between people of different backgrounds and beliefs.
Idan has produced songs in Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Creole and Swahili – just to name a few of the languages and cultures with which he has worked.
The Idan Raichel Project has been listed on Amazon as one of the 100 greatest World Music Albums of all time. He has performed for President Obama at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, as well as at the Nobel Peace Prize Gala event in Oslo Norway.
Idan composed the music to lyrics written by Shimon Peres and performed his song to Peres while he was President of Israel.
Idan was named one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world by the Jerusalem Post.
In 2016 Raichel received the Unsung Hero Award from Martin Luther King lll, son of Martin Luther King Jr, in recognition of his service and leadership in achieving human dignity, racial equality and racial harmony for Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to Israel.
Printmaking Workshop – On the theme of “home” with Rimon Art Collective
Monday, October 28, 7:00 pm
Berney Theatre
In this fun, engaging, and collaborative workshop the Rimon Art Collective will teach participants some of the basics of the art of linocut printmaking. They will explain the tools and materials needed and will demonstrate techniques. Participants will then be guided through the process in creating a small piece of their own (on the theme of ‘home’) All works will be printed together on one large paper and displayed as a part of the Glowing Embers art exhibition, all in a celebration of community and connection through shared creativity.
No experience necessary (beginners welcome)
The Secret Poetess of Terezin by Lenka Lichtenberg
Tuesday October 29. 7:30 pm
Berney Theatre
Juno award-winning Lenka Lichtenberg discovered two notebooks of poems written by her grandmother in the years 1942-1945 in Theresienstadt, a WWII concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. The poems became the lyrics for the songs on Thieves of Dreams and also inspired Lenka to create a multimedia performance.
First developed in 2021 for Toronto’s Luminato Festival, the show has been building momentum ever since, including recent performances in the US, Europe and South America.
Through collaboration with esteemed Theatre Director Leah Cherniak, Lenka has transformed the piece into a powerful solo show – The Secret Poetess of Terezin. Recently performed in the Czech Republic, Ms. Lichtenberg and her grandmother’s no longer secret poems, continue to move from strength to strength.
The Secret Poetess of Terezin wins over audiences with its intensely personal yet still universal narrative: passionate stories of love received, embraced, rejected, and lost; of relationships evolving and dissolving under the pressure of monumental historical events.
The songs, along with spoken word pieces, videos and visual projections, offer an immersive and intimate performing arts experience.
Lady Muse and The Inspirations Play Amy Winehouse
Thursday, October 31. 7:30 pm
Berney Theatre
Join the talented and glamorous Lady Muse as she and her fabulous band – The Inspirations – present the music of Amy Winehouse. Featuring special guests Sheena Rattai (Red Moon Road) and INGIA, this all-star cast will be sure to have you dancing in your seat as they revisit the songs of one the 21st century’s most iconic and celebrated singer-songwriters, the inimitable Amy Winehouse. Featuring songs like Rehab, Back to Black, Valerie, Love is a Losing Game and more, in arrangements inspired by live recordings of Amy and her original touring band, this show is a celebration of a too soon departed musical icon and the legacy her voice and records have left behind. The band includes Lady Muse and Sheena Rattai on vocals, Ingia, vocals and alto sax, Sean Irvine, woodwinds, Kyle Cobb, guitar, Carter Graham, keys, Julian Bradford, bass, and Daniel Roy, drums.
A note about the show, from Lady Muse: Amy Winehouse’s music has touched so many people around the world and endured with such a vibrant life of its own, because it is music that was written in her own blood, and reflects the truths of her complex and complicated life. Please note that the themes of her songs include drinking, drug use and domestic abuse, and many are explicit in language content. These songs may not be suitable for all audiences as we present them as they were originally written.
An Evening of Burt Bacharach
Saturday, November 2 8:00 p.m.
Berney Theatre
Burt Bacharach is one of the iconic composers of the 20th century, creating hit after hit for many of the best singers of his era, including Dionne Warwick and Karen Carpenter. Jennifer Hanson and Larry Roy have created a wonderful tribute to the late great composer, in a concert that will leave you wanting more.
Jennifer has long been one of the most recognized vocalists in Manitoba, while Larry has been involved in every aspect of the music scene in Winnipeg as a guitarist and recording artist. The Jenn and Larry ensemble will feature vocalists Erin Propp and Karly Epp, trumpeter Richard Gillis, bassist Gilles Fournier, and drummer Daniel Roy.
YELADUDES KIDS FEST
Sunday, November 3, 10:30 am to 3:00 pm
Main Gym/Berney Theatre
Get ready for an unforgettable day of excitement and creativity at ‘Yeladudes!’ KidFest, our festival specifically designed for kids.
Enjoy interactive games, arts and crafts, live performances, workshops, storytelling sessions, face painting, wall climbing, bouncers, and more.
On top of all this, indulge in delicious treats throughout the day. Don’t miss out on this fun-filled event for children of all ages!
Special guest Rebecca Schoffer, Director of Jewish Family Life & the leader of the Shababa community at the 92nd Street Y, New York, will be on hand. Rebecca is a musical and experiential educator, singer songwriter, cantorial soloist, as well as a director and playwright of Jewish family theater.
Questions about JFest WPG? Contact:
Laura Marjovsky
Director, JFest WPG
204.477.7539 | lmarjovsky@radyjcc.com
JFest WPG Staff:
Karla Berbrayer – Musical Producer, JFest WPG
Shira Newman – Art Exhibit Curator, JFest WPG
Amy Karlinsky – Visual Arts Advisor, JFest WPG
Natali Halberthal – Producer, ‘Yeladudes!’ KidFest