UW–Madison Division of the Arts: 8th Biennial Conney Conference on Jewish Arts: Supporting and Encouraging New Narratives of Jewish Identity in the Arts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 24, 2022

MEDIA CONTACT:  
Douglas Rosenberg | UW-Madison Division of the Arts | rosend@education.wisc.edu

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8^th Biennial Conney Conference on Jewish Arts: Supporting and Encouraging New Narratives of Jewish Identity in the Arts

Madison, Wis. – The Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies presents the 8th biennial Conney Conference on Jewish Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, from March 27-30, 2022. All events are free and open to the public.

The Conney Conference on Jewish Arts will address themes of interdisciplinarity, diversity and intersectionality in the changing landscape of the Jewish Arts. In a moment in which we are experiencing a generational shift among Jewish-identifying artists to a more inclusive and polyvocal, fluid understanding of Jewish identity, the politics of Jewishness are foregrounded in astounding new ways. From graphic novels to digital art and highly charged dance and performance, to theater, music and literature, we see both a return to ritual and a search for new narratives of the contemporary Jewish experience. The 8th iteration of the Conney Conference on Jewish Arts will focus on the remarkable evolution of the field as it has expanded into the future while acknowledging its own histories.

Curator, writer and artist Aimee Rubensteen is the featured keynote speaker. Professor Ori Soltes will deliver a special lecture titled “Transcendent and Interdisciplinary: Butterflies in Holocaust and Post-Holocaust Imagery” on Tuesday, March 29 at 11:00 a.m. at the Pyle Center (702 Langdon Street) in honor of Marv and Babe Conney, for whom the conference is named.

For more information, visit conneyproject.wisc.edu/2022-conney-conference/.

The Conney Conference on Jewish Arts is directed by Professor Douglas Rosenberg and is generously made possible through the Mildred and Marv Conney Fund and the UW–Madison Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies. Promotional support provided by the UW–Madison Division of the Arts.

About

The Conney Conference on Jewish Arts supports the multiple ways in which historical narratives concerning Jewish identity in the arts are both fluid and contested and how, throughout history, those practices are culturally inscribed. We are interested in new interpretations, new theorizing and new ways of thinking about and visualizing Jewish culture through the arts and throughout history to the present and into the future. The Conney Project on Jewish Arts looks at all aspects of Jewish identity across multiple disciplines and through its biennial conference. We are interested in broadening this discourse to include any and all historical periods as well as geo­graphical locations and expanded notions of inclusive Jewishness. We seek to open up new discussions that inspire critical debate around both traditional and contemporary approaches to creating and circulating work of Jewish content in literature, theater, the visual and performing arts as well as in art-related scholarly writing and research. We are interested in expanding the field of discourse surrounding Jewish identity in the histories and visual cultures of artmaking, scholarship, literature, music and other art related practices in which Jewishness exerts a significant presence. We welcome all models of presentation from artists and scholars ranging from the traditional to the performative and all people who wish to participate in this dialog are welcome.

Biographies

Aimee Rubensteen | aimeerubensteen.com

Aimee Rubensteen is a curator, writer and art historian. With an interdisciplinary approach, Aimee curates physical and virtual spaces for viewing, but also, for touching, smelling, listening, eating and questioning. She is the founding art editor of PROTOCOLS, a cultural and political journal cultivating art and writing from across the global Jewish diaspora. Previously, she worked as an acquisitions curator for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and she co-founded Rojas + Rubensteen Projects. Aimee earned her master’s degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She is based in Miami, FL.

Ori Soltes

Dr. Ori Z. Soltes is Goldman Professorial Lecturer in Theology and Fine Arts at Georgetown University. He is the former director and curator of the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

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Kraus-Anderson to begin new Gundersen Tri-County Hospital and Clinic in Whitehall, Wis.

New hospital is an investment in rural healthcare

WHITEHALL, Wis. (February 2022) – Kraus-Anderson (KA) is about to begin construction on Gundersen Tri-County Hospital, a new hospital and renovated clinic for Gundersen Health System in Whitehall, Wis.  The new facility, which will replace the current 60-year-old hospital, serves Whitehall, Blair, Independence and surrounding communities. Construction will begin in March and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2023.

Designed by GROTH Design Group, the two-story, 69,000-square-foot hospital will feature private patient rooms, a trauma center and helipad landing zone near Emergency Services.  The hospital will also include an ER, imaging, lab, pharmacy, surgical, dietary, rehabilitation and transitional care.  A new ambulance and maintenance building will also be built on the site. The project will also remodel the current clinic.

Gundersen Health is a comprehensive not-for-profit healthcare system that serves 22 counties in western Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota.  Gundersen Tri-County Hospital — an investment in rural healthcare — has 250 staff and 30 providers and serves 19,000 patients annually.

Kraus-Anderson has served as construction manager on numerous Gundersen Health System’s projects, including:

–  Legacy Building, a 430,000-square-foot, six-story hospital with emergency and critical care services with helipad in La Crosse;

–  Heritage Building, a renovated a six-story hospital with various therapy and imaging services in La Crosse;

–  Behavioral Health, a two-story, 54,000-square-foot inpatient hospital in La Crosse;

–  Gundersen Winona Clinic, an 86,000-square-foot primary care clinic in Winona;

–  Gundersen Tomah Clinic, a two-story, 77,000-square-foot medical office building with a cancer center in Tomah.

COVID-19: KRAUS-ANDERSON’S COMMITMENT TO JOB SAFETY

As the world continues to deal with and adapt to the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kraus-Anderson’s top priority remains safety. The company has implemented stringent social distancing practices and other elevated safety protocol on construction job sites, details of which can be found at https://www.krausanderson.com/about/kraus-anderson-responds-to-covid-19/​.

About Kraus-Anderson

Established in 1897, Kraus-Anderson (www.krausanderson.com) is one of the nation’s premier commercial general contractors and construction managers, which has been leading the charge in sustainable design and construction for the last 25 years. With deep experience in healthcare construction, the company is currently ranked 16th in the nation among the top health care general contractors in the U.S. by Modern Healthcare magazine. Kraus-Anderson, an EEO/AA employer, is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. and has regional offices in Madison and Milwaukee, Wis., Bismarck, N.D., and Duluth, Bemidji and Rochester Minn.

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Broadwing Advisors’ Q4 2021 Madison Office Market Report

Office space demand remains uncertain as some companies start to lease space while others reduce their footprint. Click here for the Madison Office Update.

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Turning Pointe, Madison Ballet’s 40th Anniversary Season Finale

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2022

Turning Pointe, Madison Ballet’s 40th Anniversary Season Finale
Celebrating the company’s past as it steps into a brilliant future

Madison, WI – By March 2022, Madison Ballet will have waited over two years to return to performing its celebrated program of new and modern ballet. 2020’s Inside Out was the last production Madison Ballet produced before the pandemic forced its stages closed. Now, with Turning Pointe coming to Promenade Hall in March, Madison Ballet’s artists and audience can once again appreciate the full depth and power of dance.

This production will mark the close of the organization’s 40th anniversary season, a time when it has thrived in spite of unprecedented challenges. It will also serve as the passing of the torch to a new Artistic Director from Sara Stewart Schumann, who has led the company dancers since 2018. To celebrate the incredible work of the past while keeping an eye on the future, Turning Pointe captures the wide span of ballet repertoire with highlights from previous collaborators and new works by emerging choreographers.

Program:

Birthday Variations, Choreography Gerald Arpino, Staged by Kim Sagami, Courtesy of the Arpino Foundation

Guitar Concerto, Choreography Ja’ Malik, Premiere

Ethos of Force, Choreography Kia Smith, Premiere of Live Performance

Rubies Pas de Deux, Choreography George Balanchine, Staged by Nilas Martins, Courtesy of the Balanchine Trust

Eight by Benny Goodman, Choreography Heinz Poll, Courtesy of and Staged by Richard Dickinson

Birthday Variations is a light ballet by renowned choreographer and co-founder of the Joffrey Ballet School and Company, Gerald Arpino. Birthday Variations features a series of daredevil solo variations and intricate partnering for one male and five female dancers, staged to excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi’s ballet-opera music. The ballet premiered in March 1986 and was praised by the New York Times as “a classical showpiece of classical dancing.”

Turning Pointe premieres Guitar Concerto, a collaboration between Ja’ Malik, founder of Ballet Boy Productions non-profit ballet company, and Oliver Davis, a preeminent composer of contemporary classical music for ballet, film, TV, and concert hall. Ja’ Malik is recognized as a “New York Times choreographer to watch” for his physical inventiveness and theatrical sense. Together, they push the boundaries of classical guitar and sublime dance movement.

Ethos of Force is a powerful ballet originally produced as a collaboration among choreographer Kia Smith, filmmaker Jordan Biagomala, and MMoCA for Madison Ballet’s 2021 film program, Lift Every Voice. Madison Ballet premieres this first live performance of Ethos of Force in Turning Pointe. This thought-provoking ballet depicts feelings surrounding the pandemic, giving voice to Smith’s vision of the human condition through her lens as an important young artist of color.

Madison Ballet will perform the pas de deux excerpt from George Balanchine’s Rubies, the second movement of his full-length ballet, Jewels. Co-founder of the New York City Ballet, Balanchine is widely considered the father of American Ballet, and Rubies is one of his masterworks. Performed to Igor Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, the six and a half minute pas-de-deux is described as quirky and playful. Jewels is considered the first full-length abstract ballet, breaking the traditional boundaries of ballet.

Eight by Benny Goodman is a delightful visit to the 1930s when Benny Goodman was establishing himself as the “King of Swing”, choreographed by Heinz Poll, founder of the Ohio Ballet. The Benny Goodman Orchestra plays eight tunes from Gershwin, Davis, and other jazz artists as dancers perform mixed ballet and ballroom choreography. This jazzy ballet was a national touring favorite of Ohio Ballet’s when Madison Ballet Artistic Director, Sara Stewart Schumann, danced with the Company in the 1990s, including at the Joyce Theater in New York City. 

Turning Pointe represents a culmination of 40 years of Madison Ballet honoring the traditions of this art form while adapting to better reflect and serve its community. More than a clever title, this program is an announcement of the intention to return from the challenges of the pandemic stronger than ever.

PERFORMANCE & TICKET INFORMATION

Dates & Times

Friday, March 25 – 7:00pm

Saturday, March 26 – 2:00pm & 7:00pm

Sunday, March 27 – 2:00pm

Friday, April 1 – 7:00pm

Saturday, April 2 – 2:00pm & 7:00pm

Sunday, April 3 – 2:00pm

Ticket Information

Standard: $32

Child/Senior: $18

Tickets can be purchased online at MADISONBALLET.ORG or by calling The Overture Center Box Office at 608.258.4141.

Promenade Hall Location

201 State Street, Madison, WI 53703

For more details and directions visit OVERTURE.ORG/ABOUT/VISIT.

For 40 years, Madison Ballet has been an integral part of the vibrant Dane County arts community. Full-scale productions of inspiring traditional ballets, innovative contemporary performances, and the timeless holiday tradition of “The Nutcracker” reach more than 13,000 people each year. The School of Madison Ballet empowers students of all ages and skill levels with the poise, confidence, discipline, and fundamental life skills intrinsic to the study of dance. Outreach programming, presented in partnership with dozens of local school and community groups, enriches thousands of young people’s lives by introducing them to the joy of dance.

Contact: Lexi Janssen, Marketing Manager

Phone: 262-402-2358

Email: lexi@madisonballet.org

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Wisconsin Union Theater: Black Arts Matter Festival Will Return to Madison In-Person March 23-26

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 22, 2022

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Communications Director
Phone: (608) 262-8862
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu

BLACK ARTS MATTER FESTIVAL WILL RETURN TO MADISON IN-PERSON MARCH 23-26

MADISON, Wis. — While studying at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, slam poet and interdisciplinary artist Shasparay ‘20 saw that Black arts had not been given the attention or platform that it deserved in Madison, Wis., and became determined to help change that. Her talent, hard work and passion led to the creation of the interdisciplinary arts event series the Black Arts Matter (BAM) Festival, which will return for its third year March 23-26, presented by BAM Festival Founder and Artistic Director Shasparay and the Wisconsin Union Theater.

Plans for the Festival, which will occur at Memorial Union, include a national poetry slam, a panel discussion, music and dance. Festival planners are offering tickets for each individual event as well as the option to purchase a poetry slam pass for all poetry slam rounds.

Tickets range in price depending on the event, from about $10-$50. The Theater team and Shasparay are making a limited number of three-day poetry slam passes available for sale through which patrons can experience all three days of the slam at a discounted rate. Patrons are also eligible for an early bird discount on poetry slam all-session passes, if they purchase tickets by March 7. In addition, UW–Madison students can purchase discounted tickets for some BAM Festival events.

The current BAM Festival schedule at Memorial Union includes the following events:

• Poetry Slam prelims, March 23, 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
• Poetry slam semi-finals, March 24, 7:30-10:30 p.m.
• Poetry slam finals, March 25, 6:30-10 p.m.
• “Body Politics”: One-person show called “Full of Herself” performed by Shasparay and panel discussion led by Dr. Sami Schalk, assistant professor of gender and women’s studies, on body policing, self-image, identity and the intersectionality with race, March 26, 2-4 p.m.

“We are unbelievably excited at how this year’s Black Arts Matter Festival is shaping up. Shasparay has helped curate an incredible line-up of poets for the poetry slam, and getting to see her in the role of performing artist in her one-person show is also going to be a highlight,” Wisconsin Union Theater Director Elizabeth Snodgrass said. “The whole Festival is a don’t miss, so everybody should clear their calendars and spend all four days at the Memorial Union!” 

The Wisconsin Union Theater team holds performing arts events throughout the year in collaboration with the UW–Madison students-run Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee.

This series is made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Brittingham Trust, the Evjue Foundation, the Dane County Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission, the Green Bay Packers Foundation, and the Wisconsin Alumni Association.

Those who would like to support efforts like this can give to the André De Shields Fund here. The Fund supports artistic projects and performances created, performed, designed, or produced by BIPOC and other people who are historically underrepresented on stages and in audiences.

For more information about the BAM Festival, click here. 

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About the Wisconsin Union Theater

For more than 75 years, the Wisconsin Union Theater has served as a center for cultural activity in the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The Theater hosts performances in multiple locations, including Memorial Union, and has an expansive history of remarkable performances. The Wisconsin Union Theater is part of the Wisconsin Union, a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more about the Theater: union.wisc.edu/wisconsin-union-theater.

About the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee

The Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee plans and promotes events for the historic Wisconsin Union Theater stages. The student-led committee programs a variety of events to provide a diverse and cultural experience for students, faculty, alumni, community members and visitors. Learn more: union.wisc.edu/get-involved/wud/performing-arts.

[Click here to download Black Arts Matter Festival-related images.]

To read this release online, visit union.wisc.edu/about/news/2022-black-arts-matter.