Tali Tadmor | Photo: Kristina Jacinth
CalArts faculty member, musician Tali Tadmor and alumna artist and director Yelena Zhelezov (MFA Puppetry 10) were each recently awarded the Six Points Fellowship. The two-year, $40,000 grant was awarded to nine emerging Jewish artists of varying disciplines.
Tadmor, the only musician in the inaugural Los Angeles cohort, was awarded for her project, Ella Fitzgeraldberg. She will write and compose music for the project, which concerns Los Angeles Jewry in the 40s and 50s and in particular the Yiddish Swing subculture.
From Tadmor:
Many popular artists (including Ella Fitzgerad) covered what is probably the greatest Yiddish Swing hit of all time, Bei Mir Bist Du Sheyn. My vision is to create a retro-night club atmosphere for an event that integrates theater, music and dance. The cabaret portion of the evening will ultimately morph into a full-blown swing-dance party.
Yelena Zhelezov
Zhelezov’s awarded project is a series of participatory installations and video/puppetry that explores Jewish intellectual history. The work, titled PED XING, deals with “ideas of social change and developing possibilities for the future of walkable urbanism in Los Angeles.” Zhelezov says that the project is inspired by the migratory nature of Jewish people, and by the pedestrian lifestyle of the Jewish seniors in Los Angeles.
The video above by Zhelezov and fellow alumna Aleigh Lewis (Film/Video MFA 10) is part of an object-based video project, Iron Fern. Another piece in the series, Open the Door, was commissioned by singer/songwriter Henry Wolfe and directed and designed by Zhelezov.
To hear an audio clip demo of the Tadmor’s project, visit Tadmor’s page on the Six Points Fellowship site.