7/30/17 at noon on Governors Island
New York Poetry Festival
Every year on the last weekend in July, the New York City Poetry Festival unites the vast and diverse New York City poetry community on the idyllic summer paradise of Governors Island. The festival invites poetry organizations and collectives of all shapes and sizes to bring their unique formats, aesthetics, and personalities to the festival grounds, which are ringed with a collection of beautiful Victorian houses and tucked beneath the wide, green canopies of dozens of century old trees. Art Kibbutz has been invited 4 times in a row as the only Jewish organization to present Jewish voices at this prestigious event. In 2018 our poetry reading will feature Shira Dicker, Deborah Kolb, Pinny Bullman, and others on July 29th 11:00am - 11:30am. Email to info@artkibbutz.org you'd like to participate as a poet. More information about the festival here. Colonel's Row, Governors Island - Free & Open to the Public. In 2017 in honor of Israeli actor Gal Gadot's star turn in Wonder Woman, Art Kibbutz presented singers, spoken word artists and poets riffing on the theme of wonder women on Sunday, July 30th at noon. What is a Wonder Woman? A woman you admire for her wonderous qualities. She can be a character from folklore, the Bible, history, contemporary life or your own life. Featuring Shira Dicker, Naftali Noah Lehrman, Deborah Kahan Kolb, Jane Mushabac, Pinny Bullman, and Tamra Plotnick. Supported by the Jewish Women's Foundation of NY and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2016 Hillel Broder, Pinny Bullman, and Tamra Plotnick read their poetry. Later that day in our building German-born photographer and writer Julian Voloj explored aspects of identity and heritage in his work. His critically acclaimed graphic novel "Ghetto Brother" (with artist Claudia Ahlering) tells the story of Benjamin Melendez, the founder of the notorious "Ghetto Brothers," a South Bronx gang who initiated an iconic 1971 gang truce. In the aftermath of this peace meeting, a new culture later known as hip hop emerged in the region, while Melendez discovered and reclaimed his Jewish roots. At Art Kibbutz the author was a Bechol Lashon fellow and was in conversation on July 31st with Melendez about his upbringing in the Bronx, New York's gang culture, conflict resolution and Jewish identity.