2011 July

Arts and culture are such an important part of our community, our society and our country. When people come together to be creative, share their talents and explore the arts, they can put aside conflict to find a common language.

This month, the Cape Town Holocaust is bringing the Brundibar Project to Cape Town, which aims to remember and honour the past, as well as utilise the arts to bring people, communities and children together in dialogue. Based on an opera performed in the Terezin ghetto during the Shoah, the project will comprise of a performance of this opera, a play, art exhibitions, workshops and a guest speaker. See page 15 for more details of this wonderful initiative.

The Cape Town Jewish community has always invested in arts and culture, and can be proud of the many artists, musicians, writers, actors, directors, singers, dancers and photographers that have come from the community to contribute to South Africa’s rich arts and cultural heritage. This is why the Cape Jewish Chronicle is introducing a new ‘arts and culture’ page to the Chronicle, which will aim to nurture and chronicle the creative talent and contributions of our community. This month, we begin by interviewing Mandy Weiner (author of the bestselling book Killing Kebble) and artist Jared Ginsburg. Read these exciting articles on page 24.

Nurturing and preserving the cultural heritage of our community is equally important, and the South African Jewish Museum is one such institution that does this every day. Museum director Andrew Goldman discusses the importance of preserving the past and present, and our rich communal heritage, on page 4.

Finally, the Chronicle is part of our community’s creative life, and assisting the paper by contributing your voluntary subscription is one way to ensure that the paper continues in the year to come. See the cover of the Chronicle for details of how to send in your voluntary subscription for 2011. Thank you for your support!