ANNUAL REPORT 2014
OUR MUSIC. OUR FUTURE.
BOSTON JEWISH MUSIC FESTIVAL
2014 ANNUAL REPORT
How do you measure your investment in the Boston Jewish Music Festival?
D
o you support a Jewish music festival to keep the music alive or to sustain innovative Jewish culture? Do you invest in the BJMF because music is a sure-fire way to attract the unaffiliated or to make sure that our music is a vibrant part of the Boston cultural scene? Do you do it because you love education or celebration? A passion for Jewish culture is the foundation for our work, but it is not the end all. Results matter. Few organizations, whether start-ups or established institutions, can demonstrate the kind of powerful results as the BJMF. Numbers alone don’t tell the complete story. How do you measure the impact of a room full of young Jews dancing to an Israeli rock band? Can you quantify the long-term effect on Jewish identity when three generations of a family attend a BJMF concert together? This year, we’re providing the facts and finances that are vital measures of our growth, but we’ll do something more. We’d like to share some of the stories that demonstrate the BJMF’s unique ability to show how great music brings us together, helps us remember our past, and inspires our future.
RABBI JONATHAN SACKS
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Music is a form of sensed continuity that can sometimes break through the most over powering disconnections in our experience of time.
bjmf by the numbe r s
Attendance
HEARTBEAT
Our audience continues to grow due to a variety of reasons:
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We know that each genre of music attracts its own audience; as we expand our musical offerings, we are expanding our audience. New events, such as the Klezmer Dance Party and The Sarajevo Haggadah, brought new people to the BJMF.
As we expand our roster of venues, including first-time locations like The Natick Center for the Arts, Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, Bentley University and Temple Emanu-El in Providence, we expand our audience.
We continually look for new marketing opportunities. This year we dramatically increased our WBUR sponsorships and advertising on the MBTA. We also inserted BJMF brochures in the weekly Jewish Journal.
Our brand is getting better known and more established in the marketplace.
EVENT
ATTENDANCE
Shai ben Tzur (Outside the Box)
2000
Heartbeat
150
Malachei Mambo 2 x
250
Symphony by the Sea 2 x
395
Theo Bikel
815
Aaron Bensoussan
325
Hebrew Play
100
Like Wildflowers
285
Peter Himmelman
180
Amanda Monaco Jazz Pirkei Avot
60
Ezekiel’s Wheels
110
Alicia Svigals Klezmer Dance Party
206
Yaeko Miranda Elmaleh 2 x
195
Mama Doni 2 x
155
Shira Yoga
28
Three New Voices
120
Sarajevo Haggadah
350
Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis
275
Matti Kovler Bittersweet CafĂŠ
125
Israel Dance Festival
800
Songs of Shabbat
925
Educational Workshops
65
TOTAL 7914
Not only is our attendance growing, but a recent study that compared Boston Jewish culture presenters found that the BJMF draws the broadest spectrum of ages and reaches the highest percentage of people under age 40.
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bjmf by the numbe r s
Finances
T
he BJMF is at a stage that is inevitable for many arts organizations. Our attendance is growing as are both our earned and philanthropic revenue (over 56% in the last 5 years). Yet we are still not quite at the point where we can adequately compensate the staff, or hire a development professional to help us. Our grassroots organization is growing dramatically but is caught in a catch 22: to fully reach our potential, we need to make better inroads with interested philanthropists, foundations and sponsors—but we don’t have the resources to do so. That said, in 2014 BJMF did receive a generous challenge grant from the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation to establish the BJMF Fund for The Future, an important, and much appreciated, step in strengthening our financial foundation.
INCOM E
Donations Major General
$183,512 $155,500 $27, 012
Grants
$14,500
Advertising & Program Fees
$27,868
Tickets & Merchandise
$63,496
Inkind
$20,000
Total
$309,376
AMANDA MONACO
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It’s a deep, beautiful, organic part of Jewish life, Jewish heritage. It’s a beautiful way to celebrate and bring musicians and their music to the public.
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E X PE N S ES
Administration
$99,515
Program
$124,961
Tickets & Merchandise
$60,642
Total
$285,118
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Having the opportunity to play these songs with Theo Bikel was life-changing.
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CLARINETIST ZOE CHRISTENSEN
THEO BIKEL
our music . our futur e .
Making Sure Music is Part of Our Future
W
hile Jewish institutions lament the lack of young adult engagement, BJMF attracts a significant percentage of this coveted audience. In looking to build a vibrant future for Jewish culture, creating opportunities to educate, inspire and showcase younger artists may be one of the most important things we can do. In 2014, more younger musicians performed at the BJMF than ever before. Our Theo Bikel concert is a perfect example: Theo, about to turn 90, was surrounded by musicians as young as 20. Nowhere else could you see Bikel chanting his family niggun to the hip hop beats of Montreal’s Josh Dolgin or singing songs of the Polish poet, Mordechai Gibertik with kelzmer/ punk/cabaret artist Daniel Kahn.
The City of Boston Proclaims March 1, 2014 Theodore Bikel Day An Evening with Theo Bikel was one of the most wellreceived festival events, drawing 815 attendees to the Berklee Performance Center in Boston.
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our music . our futu re .
Making Sure Music Is Part of Our Community
BJMF harnesses music’s innate power to build community. Our events are celebrations, of both Jewish artistry and community. In 2014, BJMF presented events across the region including: Belmont Boston Brookline Cambridge Lexington Marblehead
Natick Nashua, NH Needham Newburyport Newton Providence, RI
Revere Somerville Swampscott Waltham Wayland
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Where else but at the BJMF could you walk into a shul, hear a wonderful evening of jazz inspired by Pirkei Avot and then get to discuss it with the performer who is a Jew by choice? What a blessing.
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RABBI MOSHE WALDOKS
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Not only was I honored to sponsor an event that could bring the Boston Jewish and Indian communities together, I enjoyed the concert so much, we brought Shye back to perform at the fall gala for the India America Foundation. RAJ SHARMA
SHYE BEN TZUR
our music . our futur e .
Using Music To Bring Us Together
G
reat Jewish music is rooted in our history--but is meant for the world to hear. In selecting performers, we seek to balance performances designed to bring the Jewish community together with those that can be shared by all. A superb example of this was our July concert at Boston City Hall Plaza as part of the Outside The Box Festival. We presented Shye Ben Tzur and the Rajastan Gypsies , a group of Indian and Israeli musicians, who performed a mystical musical fusion of Jewish and Sufi traditions. Hundreds of people of all ages and ethnicities, Jews and Indians, young and old, locals and tourists, enjoyed the music and were exposed to an unusual musical hybrid. In the spirit of community, BJMF was able to identify and secure funding for this event from Indian, Jewish and community sources, including our first grant from The Boston Foundation.
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THE SHARMA GROUP, PRIVATE WEALTH ADVISORS BJMF DONOR
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SYMPHONY BY THE SEA
30%
Symphony by the Sea reported a 30+% increase in attendance at their spring concerts which, for the first time, were part of BJMF.
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Building Partnerships That Build Audiences
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n 2014, the BJMF worked with more than 30 organizations ranging from the Celebrity Series of Boston to synagogues in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. By sharing resources, ideas and expertise, the BJMF is able to offer a far wider range of programs. We have also proved to be a significant audience development tool for many organizations including Symphony by the Sea, The Israel Folkdance Festival, he Natick Center for the Arts, the Vilna Shul, Piyut North America the dozens of synagogues that participate in our Kabbalat Shabbat programs. BJMF is one of the rare organizations that recognizes and acts as a bridge between secular and religious Jewish identifications.
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YAEKO MIRANDA ELMALEH
DUDU TASSA & THE KUWAITIS
What a great way to celebrate my 10th birthday!
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Sharing The Vibrancy of Israeli Culture
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oo many people are unaware of Israel’s dynamic art and music scene; sharing this tremendous cultural vitality is essential for broadening our understanding of Israeli society today. The BJMF is committed to presenting exceptional Israeli music as often as possible and for the past two years has commissioned Israeli artists to illustrate our Festival marketing materials. In March, we brought Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis to Johnny D’s in Somerville. A popular Israeli singer/songwriter, Tassa’s new project is reinvigorating the music his grandfather
and great uncle wrote in the 1930’s and 40’s--two Iraqi Jews who were considered premier songwriters in the Arab world. This event, presented with New Center NOW and the Israeli Consulate, drew a capacity crowd of young Israelis and Americans to catch a rising world music star. Tassa’s unique story generated substantial media coverage including features in The Boston Globe and on NPR,further adding to public understanding of contemporary Israeli culture.
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2015 LOOKING AHEAD Looking ahead to next year, we are in the midst of planning our or 6th festival, February 27 to March 15, 2015, which will showcase Jewish music’s many crosscultural connections. Imagine a festival with: AN EVENING OF YIDDISH AND CELTIC SONGS OF IMMIGRATION A ‘60’S STYLE FUSION OF LATIN MUSIC AND KLEZMER A CANTOR AND INDIAN RAGA SINGER SHARING SONGS OF TWO RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS AN AMAZING ISRAELI ENSEMBLE OF JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND MUSLIMS PERFORMING MIDDLE EASTERN MYSTICAL MUSIC A SPECIAL KIDS INTRO TO KLEZMER CONCERT FAMILY CONCERT, AND, A SHOWCASE OF THE BRIGHTEST YOUNG ISRAELI MUSICAL TALENTS IN THE BOSTON AREA
Those are just some of the events we’re working on and that your continued support makes possible.
www.bostonjewishmusicfestival.org
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Together, we are making sure that Jewish music and culture continue to thrive in Boston. Together, let’s extend a warm welcome for everyone, regardless of age or affiliation, to experience the warmth and creativity that are essential to our identity.
Address, etc PO BOX Boston, MA
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www.bostonjewishmusicfestival.org