“Following a months-long national search, Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council has announced Robyn Awend will serve as its new Executive Director, to start on August 8, 2022. She succeeds founding director David Jordan Harris, as he retires after 18 years at the helm of the innovative and influential Jewish arts nonprofit.

Awend joins Rimon with over 15 years of experience in nonprofit arts and community development, most recently as the Twin Cities Cultural Arts Director for the newly combined Minnesota Jewish Community Center. She was instrumental in making Rimon the successful organization it is today through her many years of service on its Advisory Board.”

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It is with deep gratitude, appreciation, and fondness that we inform you that David Jordan Harris, our dynamic Executive Director for 18 years, and one of the founders of Rimon, has announced his retirement.  David has been a mentor, innovator, and friend to those in the arts community and particularly those Jewish artists and artists with Jewish interests in Minnesota. He has built a nationally acclaimed organization that has the respect and admiration of artists and art lovers throughout our state and the country.

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• Art Changes Lives
• A Room with a View
• A Time to Build
• Breathing New Energy into Jewish Life Creating Art
• Learning Jewish Values The Secret Life of Puppets
• The Environment and Jewish Values
• Going Undercover with Teenage Filmmakers
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In 1999 Rimon published a hard-copy 91-page Minnesota Jewish Arts Directory. It featured profiles of hundreds of Minnesota-based Jewish artists and proved to be a game-changer in how the community understood the depth and talent of the regional Jewish arts scene.

The present moment requires a different tool – a free, online, searchable, interactive database that is easily updated but also maintained for a high standard of consistency and excellence. Thanks to a seed grant from the Minneapolis Jewish Federation and a full-time summer intern from the University of Chicago, Rimon has begun putting this dream into place – just in time for our 25th anniversary year.

If you’re a Minnesota Jewish artist in any artistic discipline, expect to hear from the Rimon office in 2020. If you believe that you or someone you know are not in Rimon’s contact list (you don’t receive e-mails from Rimon), let us know who you are at rimon@bfcampus.org

Artists are essential workers in Minnesota Jewish culture. A comprehensive artist directory will raise the profile of our remarkable community of writers, playwrights, choreographers, composers, actors, musicians, dancers, filmmakers, architects, visual artists, photographers, and other arts workers.

Teen and adult artists were busy this summer deeply engaged in Rimon’s Summer Arts Mentorships. Mannenberg comments, “We explore different perspectives and artistic practices. Themes of identity, community, connection, and how to create an impact with our artistic work – we explore it all in our meetings.”

Mentors Debra Fisher Goldstein, Avigail Manneberg and Alison Morse created in-depth learning opportunities for eight dedicated individuals—Robyn Awend, Liam Campbell,  Hannah Goldsmith, Mir Graham, Dalia Ross, David Rothman, Riv Shapiro, and Denise Tennen.

Mentorships will culminate in a special zoom presentation on Sunday, October 2nd at 2 pm.

Summer Arts Mentorship Video

Creativity is thriving at Sholom. Rimon was delighted to bring writing instruction for the fourth year to the Sholom campuses. The Knollwood Writers’ circle and residents at St. Paul’s Bentson Family Assisted Living Residence picked up their pens and tapped on their keyboards with flair and heart.

Under the tutelage of accomplished teachers Alison Morse and Judy Brier, the groups explored the pleasures of memoir writing, learning new writing techniques, and honing their craft along the way. As always, friendships were deepened and new friends were made as the writers listened to each other’s stories.  Many thanks to the Oren and Sharron Steinfeldt Foundation for its generous support.

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Rimon has been named one of North America’s top 50 innovative nonprofit Jewish organizations in the eleventh annual Slingshot Guide. For FIVE consecutive years Rimon has been recognized by Slingshot and the only Minnesota nonprofit to receive the honor in 2016. Selected from among hundreds of finalists reviewed by 93 professionals with expertise in grant-making and Jewish communal life, the Guide called Rimon, “a model of how to bring both Jewish artists and their art into… the center of Jewish community life through high-impact collaborations, education, arts advocacy, and creative alliances that build community in lasting ways.” Organizations selected in this year’s Guide were evaluated on their innovative approach, the impact they have in their work, the leadership they have in their sector, and their effectiveness at achieving results.

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Rimon recently partnered with teens from Yachad MN to produce unique work inspired by stories, music and discussion with Vietnamese musician and artist, Hoang thi Kim Chi, and instructor, David Feinberg.