JWFA Hosts Fall Art Panel

Thought provoking was the buzz as the Jewish Women’s Fund of Atlanta hosted a panel of local art mavens at The Temple on Sept. 27 for a noon luncheon.

JWFA chair Lisa Freedman welcomed the group which got off to a fast start with panel moderator Dina Fuchs -Beresin, JWFA director of strategic programs, posing questions to: Jody Feldman of The Alliance Theatre; Cathy Fox, former art and architecture critic for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and founder of ArtsATL.org; Leslie Gordon, executive director of The Breman Museum; Fay Gold, contemporary art expert; and Pamela Gold Alexander, actress, singer, and dancer.

JWFA members decide on grants as funders looking for creative ways to support social change for Jewish women and girls, such as Sustaining Grants Women’s Leadership and Signature Grants which can impact the social landscape. The group stands up for gender equality in the Jewish community and advocates for safety, equity, respect, leadership opportunities, and solutions through mental health support.

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Dina Fuchs-Beresin, Lanie Kirsch, JWFA CEO Rachel Wasserman, and Sara Zaban Franco chat before the program.

During the pre-event, trustees and associates told the AJT about their motivation to be involved in JWFA. Debbie Kuniansky, a 10-year member said, “I love learning how to read grants, examine needs and allocate donations with a critical eye. Are we a drop in the bucket or a main funder?”

Rachelle Schlaffer added, “I learned a lot from the ACT program and want to expand as a trustee to learn more and DO more.”

Lanie Kirsch offered, “I like acting together as one body with the other women, to make positive change.”

Leslie Shenk, Tanya Alexander, and Debbie Kuniansky discuss the role of being a trustee.

Initiating the formal panel program, Fuchs-Beresin was prepared with stimulating topics, starting with challenges that face artists today. Feldman talked about how COVID worked to decrease programming and made it harder to find work.

Alexander is irked by those thinking that the arts is “like icing on a cake, superfluous. During the pandemic though, people rethought some of that by doing their own TikToks, creating their own art.”

Fuchs-Beresin’s hottest topic was about gender equity in the arts where 85 percent of a recent study reported negative harassment issues; she then recognized positive female leadership at the Whitney Museum, museums in London, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. Gordon noted that arts administration is dominated by women and LGBTQ persons; and Feldman noted that gender never held her back. Fox added that men in the past didn’t want to give up power.

Panelist Pamela Gold Alexander, Lauren Schrager, and Leslie Reitman enjoy the buffet lunch.

Feldman also discussed how the pandemic was used as time to reflect and “women found their voices and regrouped.”

The most senior panel member, Fay Gold, recently touted for her nonagenarianism and contribution to Atlanta’s art scene, got the most laughs. “I have never been held back. I came to Atlanta in 1966 and thought the High Museum’s exhibits were appalling. Atlanta had two ideas about modern art: ‘Picasso’ or ‘I don’t like it.’”

After that, she began taking groups to New York to educate about art. She concluded, “Look at Georgia O’Keefe and Peggy Guggenheim, female greats!”

Fox added, “You used to have to be a white male. Now, most exhibits are for people of color or women.”

Panelists (from left) Jody Feldman, Fay Gold, Cathy Fox, Leslie Gordon, Pamela Gold Alexander, moderator Dina Fuchs-Beresin, and far right (red dress) Lisa Freedman, JWFA chair, executed a stimulating program.

Fuchs-Beresin dipped into the notion of non-Jews landing acting roles of Jewish characters, like “Fiddler on the Roof” currently playing at City Springs. She said, “It’s nice to give the role to someone who has lived the experience, but there is a finite pool.”

Fox cautioned, “That’s a slippery slope getting too deep in the woods.” Gordon hopped on, “Judaism is a religion not a race. Acting is a craft…can Michelangelo only be played by an Italian? It’s the quality of the acting.”

Gold noted, “In the upcoming film, ‘Maestro,’ Bradley Cooper plays Leonard Bernstein.”

The final topic of the panel was artificial intelligence. Feldman said, “It’s here to stay.”

Alexander added, “We have to learn to use it as a tool. And be cautious, I had to delete a default consent that could be used for future recordings.”

JWFA CEO Rachel Wasserman took to the podium to boast that last spring, the fund hit the $2 million mark, with the third year of Signature grants. She stated, “65 percent of our grants were in pilot programs. Somebody has to be first.”

Recipient Rabbi Ariel Wolpe praised the grant money she received to further her goals with Ma’alot.

A lot to digest. And a salute to the good works of JWFA.