Ruth Cummings Shares Insights on Jerusalem Arts and Culture during our Jerusalem Conversations series
Ruth Cummings, a Jerusalemite in residence for 20 years who has worked in resource and program development for some of Jerusalem’s key arts and culture organizations, visited our offices on Thursday, November 13 in Encinitas. She spoke at our “Jerusalem Conversations,” series this month on social activism and building civil society. It was interesting to hear her perspective on Jerusalem and the way the youth is tremendously helping to revitalize the city. Click here to find out about more Jerusalem Conversations happening later this month.
In 2012, Ruth founded and directs a capacity building initiative for the arts, Jerusalem Culture Unlimited (JCU). This pilot project targets next generation artists who run emerging to mid-size Jerusalem-based arts groups to assist them with mentoring and professional development to build best practices, management infrastructure and financial resources. The goal is to raise the level of their work so that the art they produce is more visible and contributes overall to the resilience, creativity and inspiration that is an essential ingredient for the socio-economic future of the city.
Stacie and Jeff Cook understand commitment. They live it.
Black, Jewish and Queer. These three identities weave the fabric of who I am, but it took a long time to believe that they could exist together.
Lee and Toni Leichtag established the Leichtag Foundation in 1991 following the sale of their business. Lee and Toni were lifelong entrepreneurs with a passion for innovation and for supporting talent. They believed that only with big risk comes big reward. Both born to families in poverty, Toni to a single mother, they strongly believed in helping those most in need and most vulnerable in our community. While they supported many causes, their strongest support was for young children and the elderly, two demographics who particularly lack voice in our society.
Lifelong Baltimoreans, Rabbi George and Alison Wielechowski and their sons, 11-year-old Lennon and 9-year-old Gideon, are more than pursuing the good life in Southern California. Having moved to San Diego more than three years ago, they are fulfilling a lifelong dream.
You would think that as the executive director of San Diego LGBT Pride, Fernando Zweifach López Jr., who uses the pronoun they, has done all the coming out they possibly can. A queer, non-binary individual who has worked for many years on civil rights issues, López also speaks openly and often about their father’s family, Mexican-American migrant workers who tilled the fields of rural California.