Conference packs an artistic punch
Panel discussions explored topics of antisemitism in Australia in the 21st century – including in the arts – and reimagining Jewish stories through live performance.
ADELAIDE has a very small Jewish community, but with the support of the Adelaide Holocaust Museum and Andrew Steiner Education Centre (AHM), and plenty of keen volunteers, the city successfully hosted the 2023 Australian Association for Jewish Studies Conference.
Held at Flinders University from February 12-14, and with a theme of “The Arts, Jews and Wellbeing”, the conference drew academics, artists, and Jewish education experts from across Australia, and even as far as Israel, America, England and Malaysia.
They explored how the arts have shaped Jewish culture in the past and present, and how participation in, and interaction with, the arts are essential for resilience, and a sense of community.
Fittingly, the event featured an exhibition called Yetzirah Artistic Creation, at Adelaide’s Beit Shalom Synagogue, showcasing artworks made by members of South Australia’s Jewish community.
Keynote speakers were Sydney Jewish Museum CEO Kevin Sumption, and Rebecca Guber, the founding director of The Neighbourhood in Brooklyn. Guber also played a key role in establishing not-for-profit organisation Asylum Arts, and the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists.
Panel discussions explored topics of antisemitism in Australia in the 21st century – including in the arts – and reimagining Jewish stories through live performance.
Professor Emerita Suzanne Rutland (University of Sydney), Angelica Jacob (University of NSW), Evangeline Jarman (Deakin University), AHM curator Pauline Cockrill, and Dr Dvir Abramovich (Anti-Defamation Commission) were among the Australian speakers.
Session topics spanned Jewish arts and culture in the Torah, the arts and the Holocaust, artistic boycotts, the dynamic between the arts and wellbeing, and reviving traditions through art and culture for future generations.
The 2023 conference was convened by AAJS president Professor Ghil’ad Zuckermann and Jasmine Beinart (University of Adelaide), Kathy Baykitch (AHM), and Dr Tully Barnett and Professor Peter Monteath (Flinders University).
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