Oasis 2023

THE MAGAZINE OF THE SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER 2023

OUR MISSION

The Skirball Cultural Center is a place of meeting guided by the Jewish tradition of welcoming the stranger and inspired by the American democratic ideals of freedom and equality. We welcome people of all communities and generations to participate in cultural experiences that celebrate discovery and hope, foster human connections, and call upon us to help build a more just society.

SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Phil de Toledo, chair

Jessie Kornberg, president and ceo

Art Bilger, vice chair and treasurer

Jay Wintrob, vice chair

Cindy Ruby, secretary

Howard M. Bernstein

Giselle Fernandez

Melvin Gagerman

Marc H. Gamsin

Marcie Goldstein

Ethan Goldstine

Emiliana Guereca-Zeidenfeld

Dana Guerin

Uri D. Herscher, founder

Mitchell A. Kamin

Robert C. Kopple

Kenneth A. Ruby

Jonathan A. Victor

Peter M. Weil, past chair

Susan Hirsch Wohl

D. Zeke Zeidler

John Ziffren

Skirball Cultural Center 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90049 (310) 440-4500 skirball.org

Lindsey Best

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

In the days immediately after the October 7 attacks, my overwhelming emotion was dread. I thought of the future and only saw war and worse. One week after the attacks I was asked to write a public opinion piece on the role of artists as activists and of cultural institutions in the culture wars.

My first thought was of Peter Krasnow, the Ukrainian refugee whose oil paintings we showcased in a collection spotlight exhibition this past spring. In response to the events of the Second World War and Holocaust he transformed his artistic style completely, moving to the abstract and a color palette of highlighter greens and bubble gum pinks. He explained in his autobiography that this was his personal therapeutic approach to the depression he experienced as war raged and his family and homeland were annihilated. Color was his resistance.

Seventy years later his work is not only relevant, but his resilience, his clutching for beauty and light in a period of overwhelming darkness, is instructive. There is no wrong way to cope with loss and pain. As different as each of us is, so will our grieving and our healing be.

To the uninformed eye, it might appear that Krasnow spent the Holocaust period in a pure celebration of technicolor. The story is far deeper, much sadder. You have to look closely, listen carefully, and study to see

that. Would we say to Peter Krasnow, “No to your emotional expression, your desperate attempt to heal yourself, this is tone deaf to the harsh reality around you?” I hope not.

In this year’s edition of our annual magazine, we examine how, through gathering, through creative expression, and through listening, the Skirball has been a place for nuance, for complexity, for learning, and for connection. A place of safety and peace in the midst of uncertainty and fear. An oasis.

President and CEO Skirball Cultural Center

Dlugolecki Photography

This past year, the Skirball continued to welcome a large number of diverse organizations who gathered peacefully and respectfully around hard topics. The following testimonials are just a few examples of the open and vulnerable experiences to be had on campus.

LIBERTY HILL FOUNDATION

“As one of LA’s most dynamic cultural institutions, the Skirball Cultural Center is the perfect location for celebrating the power of community as we work to build a more just LA for all. For this reason, the Skirball Cultural Center is Liberty Hill Foundation’s venue of choice for its annual Upton Sinclair Celebration, which welcomes hundreds of LA community organizers, activists, and philanthropists for a night of community celebration at the venue’s stunning location.”

–Andres Magaña, Deputy Director of PR & Community Engagement, Liberty Hill Foundation

JQ INTERNATIONAL

“Bringing together LGBTQ+ Persian Jews with the allies in their lives—friends, families, and loved ones—at the Skirball Cultural Center was a powerful moment of witnessing that reinvigorated the whole community. So many of our participants reported the transformative power of allies expressing their support for LGBTQ+ people. The Skirball fostered a welcoming, safe, and brave space for everyone to be vulnerable and dig deep together.”

–Asher Gellis, CEO and Founder, JQ International

Anna Falzetta

In fall 2023, the Skirball partnered with Feminist Majority Foundation to host a daylong symposium celebrating Ms. magazine’s enduring commitment to feminism with the release of 50 Years of Ms.: The Best of the Pathfinding Magazine That Ignited a Revolution. The Feminist Fight Forward: Lessons from 50 Years of Ms., examined the evolution and future of women’s rights with opening remarks from labor leader Dolores Huerta; three breakout sessions including Enshrining Our Rights in the US Constitution, Reproductive Rights in the Fight for Freedom, and Changing the World for Women; and a closing keynote from former Black Panther Chairwoman, Elaine Brown.

Photo courtesy of Liberty Hill Foundation.

Alex Wolf, alexwolfmedia.com

BEST BUDDIES INTERNATIONAL

“We have selected the Skirball Cultural Center as the ideal venue for our LA Champion of the Year Gala for the past three years and counting. The Skirball’s commitment to inclusivity fostered an atmosphere where everyone from our community felt welcome and valued. This accessible environment set the stage to allow us to highlight the talents and contributions of individuals with IDD at the Gala in the most authentic way possible.”

–Samantha Garrick, Director, Development, Best Buddies International

Jimee Sechinbaatar

Jimee Sechinbaatar

SPIRIT AWAKENING FOUNDATION

“Spirit Awakening at Skirball Cultural Center is intentional. Many of the young people in our programs come from challenging, ugly situations; many are healing from unspeakable trauma; many have lost hope in the human scene; therefore, bringing them to Skirball not only lifts them up, it serves as a reminder of what is possible in the human realm and inspires them. Seeing the exquisite beauty of Skirball itself, and performing at Skirball, ignites the hidden artistry and creativity within our students and helps them catch a glimpse of their own dignity, value, and self-worth.”

–Akuyoe Graham, Founder & CEO, Spirit Awakening Foundation

CAMP DEL CORAZON—HAPPY HEARTS FESTIVAL

“Changing venues for a fundraising gala after years at the same location can be scary. Yet, like us, the Skirball is a non-profit organization, and it was refreshing working alongside their mission-centric team who helped us experience their inspiring venue to the fullest!”

–Heather Ryan, Director of Events & Operations, Camp del Corazon

In November 2023, the Skirball hosted a private event for members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a volunteer-led organization formed by the families and friends of the abductees in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7. As part of their efforts to raise public awareness about the hostage crisis, participants shared personal stories of their loved ones.

Photo courtesy of Spirit Awakening Foundation.

Dlugolecki Photography

SIGNS OF THE

Multi-form conceptual artist Chloë Bass addresses Judaic perspectives, immortality goals, and the importance of asking questions.

To reflect on Skirball’s first-ever outdoor installation, Wayfinding, we caught up with its creator, artist Chloë Bass, who explored the significance of the audience’s role in the work, the fluidity of meaningful relationships among organizations, and how sculpted open-ended questions connect deeply to Skirball’s Jewish values.

SKIRBALL: Your training comes not in the visual arts, but in theatre and music. How do you feel your multi-disciplinary background played a role in connecting to the Skirball as a cultural institution?

CHLOË BASS: I think of Wayfinding not just as an exhibition or a series of sculptures, but also as the set for a play. The content of that play is just whatever is happening in the social and environmental landscape around the work. The Skirball is an incredibly unique and special architectural setting with so many different gathering and programmatic uses. Thinking about Wayfinding within that complexity, as well as what it meant to have the work in what I would call a semi-public setting (a private space that’s open to the public within set hours, rather than a fully public setting like a park) was a new kind of consideration of intention. I was happy to find everyone at the Skirball was open to that deep intentionality as well. I was blessed to meet [Skirball architect] Moshe Safdie, who happened to be visiting the Skirball right after we installed my work. He told me that he really appreciated the work’s rhythm within his architecture. That is a compliment that I will treasure forever.

Set across our lush outdoor campus, Chloë Bass’s Wayfinding posed questions about human relationships.

TIMES

Robert Wedemeyer Photography

Robert Wedemeyer Photography

Each section of Wayfinding was anchored by an open-ended question presented on a large, mirrored sculpture.

SKIRBALL: You once said the role of the Wayfinding viewer always changes based on “whatever you’re bringing to it in the day that you’re having,” which makes it seem like the project could live forever. What does the future hold for Wayfinding and how do you feel the Skirball may have prepared it for its next journey?

CHLOË BASS: Materially, I hope that Wayfinding does live forever. So far, it’s lived through wildly divergent climates and seasons, including a hurricane, several snowstorms, and some high-level winds. I have my amazing fabrication team to thank for that, particularly Mike O’Toole of Dash 7 Design, who did all the initial materials testing, fabrication, and installation. Emotionally, how the work carries forward is a different kind of complexity. Wayfinding was developed and installed before the COVID-19 pandemic, and luckily the project seemed to have a lot of resonance with people’s feelings during lockdown and beyond. That set a stage for people continuing to receive the work with a lot of openness and vulnerability. The Skirball allowed me to place the work in two new contexts: the West Coast, and the work’s connections to Judaism. Both of those new things taught me more about the impact of specific messages and how they change based on their surroundings. Moving forward, Wayfinding will belong to the Buffalo AKG, which will be its final home. Every

meaningful temporary institutional host (the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and the Skirball) has moved the work forward immensely as I prepare for the impact of what it means to have the project live permanently.

SKIRBALL: Of the five questions that comprise the exhibit, one of the questions added specifically for the Skirball was “How much of hope is forgetting?” How would you answer this question in relation to both the Jewish importance of “Never forget” as it pertains to the Holocaust and other atrocities, as well as other current events around the world?

CHLOË BASS: In light of the horrifying events that have taken place on or since October 7, 2023, it seems to me that quite a lot of hope involves forgetting. That the Jewish people have faced a lack of safety is no secret, and we use the phrase “never forget” to mean any number of things: don’t forget the pain of that, or the desperation; don’t forget who helped, or who didn’t. Yet it seems to me that we have forgotten, in a profoundly dangerous way, within the hope of increased safety and the protection of a nation state, that we can, and do, enact unforgivable violence on others. The hope of the state of Israel has resulted in a devastating forgetting of the deep and unsalvageable dangers enacted when more powerful players enact retaliation.

Wayfinding utilized the entire fifteen-acre Skirball campus through large and small installations.

Robert Wedemeyer Photography

SKIRBALL: What question do you feel the Skirball should be asking itself as it relates to how it exists among the Los Angeles community?

CHLOË BASS: The role of institutions, not just art institutions, seems increasingly complex with relationships to larger publics and communities right now. I guess my question is which sectors of the Los Angeles community feel most essential to the Skirball to have a deepening relationship with, and what it might mean to offer the space to those communities in an ongoing and not necessarily prescriptive way.

SKIRBALL: When Wayfinding opened at the Skirball, you told Forward magazine, “In terms of my work, I am coming from multiple perspectives, my lived experiences and my knowledge of those histories.” Now that some time has passed, do you believe these

factors fostered a deeper connection during your time at the Skirball?

CHLOË BASS: I had an interesting experience during the press preview for Wayfinding, during which I was asked to make a series of short remarks. Honestly, I don’t remember what I specifically said—I’m a bad notetaker and tend to speak off the cuff—but afterwards, someone not affiliated with the Skirball came up to me and said something along the lines of, “Listening to your interpretation of your work and the world, are you sure you’re not a Jewish artist?” This was surprising to me, as I am a Jewish artist, which I stated at the time. In the longer term, I am appreciative of the Skirball specifically for making connections between what seems like an obvious path towards or manifestation of Judaism, and the less obvious, or for whatever reason less acceptable, or visually recognizable outcomes of Judaism.

Robert Wedemeyer Photography

Robert Wedemeyer Photography

Robert Wedemeyer Photography

Top left: Artist Chloë Bass.

Opposite page, above, and bottom left: Surrounding each question were several small- and mediumsized sculptures modeled after public signage, featuring archival images, repeating phrases, and supporting statements.

Naima Green

Top: Los Angeles Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky interviews civil rights icon Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr.

Above: The Skirball’s Rabbi in Residence, Beau Shapiro, welcomes guests to the Howard I. Friedman Memorial Lecture.

Top right: Associate Curator and Collections Specialist Alissa Schapiro tours Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. through the exhibition This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Movement.

Right: 2022-23 Howard I. Friedman Memorial Graduate Essay Prize recipient, Erin Faigin.

Halline Overby

Halline Overby

Halline Overby

Photo courtesy of Erin Faigin.

STAYING CONNECTED: IT’S COMPLICATED

The Howard I. Friedman Essay and Lecture examine the history of Black-Jewish community relationships.

Established in memory of the Skirball’s founding chairman, Howard I. Friedman, the annual Friedman Prize invites graduate students from across the U.S. and beyond to submit essays offering perspectives on American Jewish experiences. This year’s prize coincided with the Skirball’s exhibition This Light of Ours: Activist Photographers of the Civil Rights Era. The exhibition shared 150 rarely seen photographs taken by Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee members in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi between 1960 and 1968. The photographs gave visitors a powerful and inspiring behind-the-scenes view of desegregation, voting rights, and economic justice efforts led by Black Americans and strengthened by interfaith and multi-racial coalitions, including visible and numerous contributions of Jewish clergy and community. Howard Friedman himself, in his university days, was an outspoken activist for desegregation, leading the student protest at Oklahoma University in 1948.

Friedman Prize winner Erin Faigin, the Julie and Peter Weil Distinguished Fellow in Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explored a different moment in the history of desegregation history. Her essay, published on the Skirball’s website and accessible through the QR link below, delves into the arguments of local Los Angeles activist Bobbi Fiedler. In the 1970s, Fiedler’s grassroots campaign used her Jewish identity to help explain why she would not be comfortable letting the school district assign her daughter’s classroom placement on the basis of her racial identity. Faigin’s work connecting Fiedler’s politics

to her heritage complicates the celebrated narrative of Jewish solidarity with Black Americans during the Civil Rights Era.

On December 5, 2023, Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky took the stage at the Skirball to remember the legacy of Howard Friedman, to congratulate Erin Faigin, and to join distinguished guest Dr. Rev. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. in conversation about Black-Jewish community connections.

“We found a strong bond that existed, and that developed ... If it wasn’t for the Jewish people, we’d have a different attitude towards White folks. Because we could relate to the Jewish people, therefore all White people weren’t the same.”

rev. dr. bernard lafayette, jr.

With a standing room only crowd of 300 plus in the Magnin Auditorium, the evening concluded with the announcement that support from the Karsh Family Foundation will enable the Skirball to continue to explore the connections between these communities through exhibitions and programs for years to come.

Scan the QR code to read Erin Faigin’s winning essay “The Right to Choose and the Housewife Who Got Elected” in its entirety.

EPIPHANIES IN THE EVERYDAY

Rabbi in Residence Beau Shapiro reflects on first impressions and how we find relevance in ancient teachings.

On June 5, 2023, Beau Shapiro assumed the Skirball’s first Rabbi in Residence. His charge? Add to the ways in which Jewish values may be expressed in everyday operations; provide counsel on Jewish history, ritual life, and philosophy; and extend and multiply the Skirball’s connections to community.

Rabbi Shapiro sees Jewish values coming to life everywhere he goes. “The Skirball certainly didn’t invent the idea that it’s Jewish to ‘welcome the stranger.’ But seeing it materialize here has been thrilling. From the minute visitors get out of their cars, that sense of welcome is apparent. There’s a giant welcome sign on the wall—again, not unique—but it’s combined with a parking attendant who’s smiling as they ask how they can help you and a security officer who’s asking how you’re doing, and all in the context of having just parked for free. Actually, that part might be unique!”

After twenty years serving in synagogue and pulpit roles, Rabbi Shapiro’s shift in focus is not just from the theological to the cultural, but to a very different constituency. “I notice some of my team members are used to the broad and diverse range of community members. But for me this is not just new, but remarkable. Skirball is one of few Jewish organizations in the country that is, by design and mission, focused on the entirety of society as an audience, not just any single segment of it. We exist not only to serve a Jewish audience, but

to serve all Angelenos. It’s the only Jewish space I know of in Los Angeles where non-Jews congregate in such large numbers.”

Rabbi Shapiro is continually reminded of one of the most repeated commandments in the Torah, to open our hands to the poor, the widow, and the stranger, (and to note that it doesn’t specify the Jewish poor). “We don’t believe in a hierarchy of who to engage first,” he says. “Our obligation as Jews—and human beings—is to do what we can to alleviate the suffering of others, whoever they are, wherever they are.”

He sees that as he walks the grounds of the Skirball campus. And he sees the connections flowing in lots of directions, not just from the Skirball out. He has also been especially moved that so many community members express a desire to learn more about his new role and all kinds of Judaic teaching, from texts to holiday traditions. As he hears from them, he in turn comes to understand more about the varying needs and interests of all those we seek to serve. Like many organizations today, Rabbi Shapiro sees the Skirball at a critical moment,

contemplating who the next generation of audiences will be. As a part of this process, he hopes to continue to enrich the Jewish identity of the Skirball, especially against the backdrop of war in the Middle East. “In the wake of the horrific events of October 7,” Rabbi Shapiro shares, “we stood by our mission and sought to be a space for people to gather and simply be with one another safely and Jewishly. I’m looking forward to using my role here to continue to create that safe space for people to share their emotions and anxieties, even if only for a few moments during a class, a tour, a gathering, and beyond.”

When the Skirball hosted its annual Hanukkah Festival in December 2023, the effects of the October 7 attacks were still deeply felt. Nevertheless, Rabbi Shapiro was hopeful. “It wasn’t lost on me that an understandable response to the violence, the hatred, the war, and the overt Jew hate would be to hunker down and to turn inward,” he says. “But Hanukkah begs us to do the exact opposite. It’s the story of our ancestors’ fight for their right to practice Judaism and to be Jewish. So, to see hundreds of folks come out on a Sunday evening and

proudly proclaim their Judaism, celebrate, and embrace the light that Hanukkah is all about in a time of darkness, was inspiring. It was exactly what so many of us needed.”

The work of finding contemporary resonance in ancient narratives hardly begins and ends with the Hanukkah story. Rabbi Shapiro finds the story of Jacob especially relevant today. He reminds us that after stealing his twin brother Esau’s birthright, Jacob runs away from home and goes to sleep and wakes up from a dream exclaiming that “God was in this place, and I didn’t even know.” Shapiro underscores the idea that something holy or spiritual or greater than ourselves might be present in the most ordinary places, spaces, or moments—when we least expect it. “This, to me, sums up Judaism as a whole,” he offers. “It’s about transforming an ordinary moment into an extraordinary one. At the Skirball we have an incredible opportunity. We can send people who thought they were just coming for a ‘nice day at the museum’ back to their home with a magical, spiritual, or healing moment they weren’t expecting when they walked through the door.”

CELEBRATING DIASPORA

The celebration of immigration is an acknowledgment of the rich tapestry of cultures and identities that traverse geographical boundaries. Migrant and refugee communities, dispersed across the globe, contribute to the diversity and vibrancy of societies they inhabit. Through events, exhibitions, and public programs, the multifaceted nature of diaspora experience and identity is showcased at the Skirball, fostering understanding, appreciation, and dialogue among individuals from different backgrounds.

A young visitor takes a close look at one of six artistdesigned sculptures on view at Plummer Park in West Hollywood as part of Be the Change: A Jewishly Inspired Public Art Movement.

In a moving staged reading, actors Sarah Drew, Steven Weber, Mitchell Kummen, and Susan Sullivan shared stories from both Germany’s invasion of Ukraine in 1941 and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine today.

DougJenzen

On view through September 1, 2024, The American Library by Yinka Shonibare CBE RA showcases the names of US immigrants and Black Americans affected by the Great Migration.

During Late Night! This Light of Ours, BODYTRAFFIC Dance Company offered in-gallery performances to celebrate the art of perseverance.

Lindsey Best

Lindsey Best

Above: Serafia Blues Band performs during Late Night! This Light of Ours.

Above: Featuring artists from Jewish, African, and Cuban diasporas—including Antibalas (top), AvevA, Sona Jobarteh, and more—our twenty-sixth Sunset Concert season traced music’s connective threads to the past and its ability to forge cultural bonds and inspire hope for the future.

Lindsey Best

LindseyBest

Halline

Overby

Visitors of all ages clapped, sang, and danced to the rhythm as part of our summertime Family Amphitheater Performances, featuring Louie Cruz Beltran, N8tive Hoop (right), Syncopated Ladies featuring Sole Talk, and Top Shelf Brass Band (bottom).

MercieGhimire

Mercie Ghimire

Mercie Ghimire

LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXT GENERATION

Sarah Reiff (Class of 2024, Barnard College) shares her experience as a Skirball intern in summer 2023 and how it affected her outlook on future career opportunities and staying engaged with arts, culture, and Jewish heritage.

This past summer, I had the privilege of working as the Communications and Marketing intern at the Skirball Cultural Center. As I reflect on my time spent at the Skirball, I’m filled with gratitude. The experience not only deepened my connection with my own Jewish identity, but also helped shape the values I strive to implement in my daily life. Growing up in Los Angeles, the Skirball was a significant part of my childhood; weekends were spent with my grandparents at Noah’s Ark and Lunar New Year was celebrated with my middle and high school in the Ahmanson Ballroom. Being Jewish, the importance of a place like the Skirball, one dedicated to preserving Jewish history and celebrating Jewish accomplishments, was continuously stressed to me. Thus, when I arrived in June to begin working, I thought I already knew what the Skirball was all about. However, as I familiarized myself with the Six Essential Jewish Values in which the Skirball’s mission is rooted, and with the current and upcoming exhibitions, it became clear that my conception of the Skirball’s identity had been confined. While I was right that the Skirball does an incredible job of preserving Jewish history and celebrating contemporary Jewish figures,

I quickly learned that the Skirball also does so much more. In reality, the Jewish heritage that the Skirball is steeped in is not only displayed in its exhibitions about Jewish history, but actively inspires and guides all work that the Skirball does, paving the way for exhibitions like This Light of Ours, which illustrates the Jewish value of pursuing justice. Throughout my summer I also learned that working in a place steered by clear values attracts people with similar values. I was so fortunate to have an incredible community to work with, all of whom encouraged me to strive toward projects that I was passionate about.

Through the Skirball and the people working there, I witnessed a concrete example of how Judaism can guide me in my everyday life, beyond the time I spend at synagogue. I gained incredibly valuable experience copy-editing, creating social media content, and conducting research and outreach, yet what was truly invaluable was experiencing it at an institution that cares deeply about its meaningful and guided work. This type of guidance is what I know I will certainly take with me wherever I go and to whatever career I pursue.

Top: Sarah Reiff (fourth from right) enjoys an ice cream social with other interns and Skirball employees.

Left: Sarah Reiff (far left) with other summer interns from across LA County.

Above: Intern Sarah Reiff. Kim Kandel

Candice Crawford

Ph ot o court esy of