Organizers of the upcoming JCC Maccabi ArtsFest in Marin aren’t scrambling for teen participants or host families.
What they do need are audience members — 1,900, to be exact.
Director Celina Tousignant wants to pack Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium for the Aug. 12 showcase performance highlighting all 170 participants’ work at ArtsFest, which runs Aug. 8 to 13 at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center in San Rafael. The Marin JCC is a first-time ArtsFest host.
“Our biggest call out to the community, Jewish and not, is for people to attend the final show,” said Tousignant, adding that 100 volunteer shifts still need to be filled. “Five dense days with artists-in-residence manifests into a professional show that is inspiring, free and great for all ages.”
ArtsFest is designed to inspire Jewish teens ages 12 to 17 through a dynamic combination of workshops, performance, exhibition, community service and social activities.
Teens aim to develop their individuality through the medium of artistic expression, while strengthening their bonds to their Jewish heritage, community and Israel. This year’s theme, Hineini (“Here I am”), celebrates the artists in their purest form.
The Osher Marin JCC will represent the largest delegation, with 35 members. Teens from the JCCSF, Peninsula JCC and Addison-Penzak JCC also will participate.
JCC delegations coming from outside the Bay Area include Boca Raton, Fla., Orange County, Los Angeles–Westside, Philadelphia and Minneapolis. Israel also will send a group of teens, and there also will be a concurrent ArtsFest in Baltimore.
Guiding the teens in their specialties — acting, culinary arts, dance, digital photography, jazz, musical theater, rock, vocal music and visual arts — will be artists-in-residence, who were selected by ArtsFest organizers to share their talent and experience in an intensive workshop structure.
Marsha Attie, cantorial soloist at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, will lead about 13 teens who specialize in vocal music. Together, they will tackle a cappella arrangements, including an R&B cover of teen sensation Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb.” They’ll also take on reggae legend Bob Marley’s “By the Rivers of Babylon.”
Taking charge of the rock ’n’ roll is Jesse Brewster, a Bay Area singer–songwriter who said ArtsFest is “right up my alley” since he teaches electric and acoustic guitar, as well as bass, and leads summer rock camps in Marin for kids of all ages.
“A lot of kids haven’t been in a band situation,” Brewster said. “I hope to influence them in that way and inspire more people to play music.”
When the teens put down the guitars, spatulas and scripts for the day, their evening social calendar is filled with chances to let loose, mingle and explore Marin.
Planned activities include a pool party and barbecue; a ferry cruise and dance party on the San Francisco Bay; and an evening with the host families.
“The days are very dense,” Tousignant said. “On one hand, that’s part of the fuel for this program. But because the teens are experiencing so much in such a short time, they need some down time.”
In addition to the flurry of workshops and activities, the teens also will participate in the Day of Caring and Sharing, a staple of the JCC Maccabi ArtsFest and Games.
They’ll split their time between beautifying a duck pond within walking distance of the JCC and creating a multilingual mural at a Benicia school with a high population of underprivileged students.
“What sets ArtsFest apart from other Jewish camps or any activity in the arts is this intersection of powerful identities,” Tousignant said. “We’ve got teenage artists, and they’re all Jewish. That’s the where the magic of ArtsFest comes from.”
JCC Maccabi ArtsFest runs Aug. 8 to 13 at the Osher Marin JCC, 200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael.
The showcase performance is 7 p.m. Aug. 12 at Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael.
To reserve seats, call (415) 444-8060. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information about ArtsFest, visit www.jccmaccabiartsfest.org.