ARtists
Artists-in-residence offer all sorts of incredible workshops and one-on-one mentoring. Love art? Meet them!
Judaism is not just a religion. It is a people, a culture, a civilization. Just as there would be no Judaism without the Torah, there would be no Jewish people without Jewish art. Hillel at the U of C takes great pride in bringing artistic opportunities to our campus for students to access in their personal search for meaningful Jewish expression. We sponsor artists in residence who come from widely-varied Jewish backgrounds and who are expressive teachers of their own artistic media. You don’t have to have any experience with an art form, just a willingness to try. We invite you to stretch your wings and write, draw, jam, bake or some combination thereof with our amazing creators who will encourage you to define for yourself what is Jewish about your art.
Alan Jay Sufrin is an accomplished Midwestern acoustic folk singer-songwriter influenced by both Prince and the Blue Man Group. In June, 2006, he released his first solo EP, Folky American Pop, and has since been making music and honing his craft as a singer/songwriter/producer. His latest project, a duo with acclaimed singer-songwriter Miriam Brosseau known as "Stereo Sinai," (www.stereosinai.com) is lending renewed relevance to ancient Jewish texts by taking original Hebrew, Yiddish, and Aramaic verses and mixing them with synthesized pop arrangements they call "Biblegum Pop." The group won the 2008 Tibera Battle of the Bands, and it has been featured at Chicago landmarks the Chicago Cultural Center and the Cubby Bear. Most recently, Stereo Sinai represented Chicago at the 2008 International Jewish Music Festival Competition in Amsterdam. Alan is also currently showcased on the soundtrack to the novel Candy in Action by Matthue Roth. Contact him at ajs@alanjaysufrin.com or info@stereosinai.com.
Newberger Hillel Center • 5715 S. Woodlawn • Chicago, IL 60637 • office phone (773) 752-1127
Rebecca studied theater and music in NYC, and as a veteran of Jewish summer camps, has learned how to change the world one experiential moment at a time. As a singer, actress, yogini and educator, Rebecca creates inspiring opportunities to explore Jewish sources and rituals. She added yoga to the mix because a deeper connection between mind, body, and soul allows a person to flow with grace and do an amazing handstand… Interested? She’ll show you how!
Rebecca Sykes
Kevin Coval is the author of Everyday People and Slingshots, a hip-hop poetica that was named Book of the Year-finalist (2006) by The American Library Association. He has performed at hundreds of universities, high schools and theaters on four continents and in seven countries, as well as on four seasons of Russell Simmons’ HBO Def Poetry Jam, for which he also served as artistic consultant. Kevin’s writing has appeared in a number of different publications as well as seen on C-Span, WGN-TV, and can be heard regularly on Chicago Public Radio, where he is resident poet and hip-hop correspondent. He is the founder of “Louder Than A Bomb: The Chicago Teen Poetry Festival,” the largest youth poetry festival in the world. Kevin is currently the poet-in-residence at The Jane Addams’ Hull House Museum, faculty at The School of the Art Institute and University of Illinois-Chicago and Minister of Hip-Hop Poetics at The University of Wisconsin-Madison. For more than ten years he has been teaching hip-hop poetics in high schools and colleges around the country.
Kevin Coval
Alan Sufrin
