"Speaking Out: Jewish Artists Uncensored"

A panel discussion with
David Buchbinder
Reena Katz
Kate Lushington
b.h. Yael
Moderated by Susan G. Cole, senior entertainment and books editor of NOW Magazine

Tuesday November 24, 2009
7:30 p.m.
Winchevsky Centre, 585 Cranbrooke Avenue

The Winchevsky Centre is hosting a provocative panel discussion, "Speaking Out: Jewish Artists Uncensored", featuring musician David Buchbinder, visual and sonic artist Reena Katz, theatre director Kate Lushington and filmmaker b.h. Yael. The panel will be moderated by Susan G. Cole, senior entertainment and book editor of NOW Magazine.

Last May, the Koffler Centre for the Arts 'disassociated' themselves from an art exhibition it commissioned from artist Reena Katz, entitled 'each hand as they are called', and sent a defamatory press release across the country falsely claiming that Katz supports the extinction of the State of Israel. The reason cited for the disassociation was Katz's personal political beliefs -- a link to Israel Apartheid Week on her Facebook page -- and not the content or artistic merit of her work. While Katz did eventually produce this exhibit in an altered form this past October, the Toronto Arts Council subsequently determined that the Koffler was in violation of the City of Toronto's non-discrimination policy regarding an individual's right to freedom of political association. This panel discussion will explore such issues as censorship, artistic blacklisting, and freedom of expression.

Reena Katz uses recorded sound, handmade electronics, wood and live performance to create diverse listening spaces. Her work explores gender, ethnicity, migration and anachronism with a constant reference to collectivity and oral archive, and her collaborations include film and video, poetry, dance and grassroots organizing. Katz's compositions, installations and performances have been exhibited at galleries, festivals and on radio internationally, including Toronto, Montreal, New York and Berlin.

David Buchbinder has been involved in the creation and presentation of world music and jazz for more than 20 years, and has earned a reputation as one of its compositional and instrumental leading lights, through his award-winning Jazz ensemble The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and his creation of Ashkenaz: A Festival of New Yiddish Culture which began in 1995. The past few years, he has been co-presenting projects with his wife, dancer/musician/actor Roula Said, including Imagine the Sound of Peace.

Kate Lushington has worked across Canada in many diverse communities developing new work for theatre as a director, dramaturge, teacher and writer, including six seasons as Artistic Director of Nightwood Theatre. She won a Nellie for her adaptation of Josef Skvorecky's The Bass Saxophone for CBC Radio and a Mouche D'Or for her first short film, Subway Transfer at the On The Fly Festival. She recently directed My Name is Rachel Corrie for Theatre PANIK at Tarragon Extra Space.

b.h. Yael is a Toronto-based filmmaker, video and installation artist, and is Professor of Integrated Media at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Yael's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and has been shown in various settings, from festivals, to galleries, to various educational venues. Previous works include In the Middle of the Street, a documentation of peace actions in Israel/Palestine shot soon after the second Intifada began and Even in the Desert, which focuses on several sites of solidarity work in Israel/Palestine.

$10.00 for non-members: $5.00 for members.
Admission includes light refreshments.

RSVP to 416-789-5502.