2014 annual report

A taste of our Music. The recipe for our Future.

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Harnessing Music’s Innate Power to Build Community Our events are celebrations, of both Jewish artistry and

community. In 2014, BJMF presented events across the

region including:

How do you measure your investment in the Boston Jewish Music Festival?

Do you do it because you love education or celebration? A passion for Jewish culture is the foundation for our work, but it is not the end all. Results matter. Few organizations, whether start-ups or established institutions, can demonstrate the kind of powerful results as the BJMF.

Numbers alone don’t tell the complete story. How do you measure the impact of a room full of young Jews dancing to an Israeli rock band? Can you quantify the long-term effect on Jewish identity when three generations of a family attend a BJMF concert together?

This year, we’re providing the facts and finances that are vital measures of our growth, but we’ll do something more. We’d like to share some of the stories that demonstrate the BJMF’s unique ability to show how great music brings us together, helps us remember our past, and inspires our future.

Do you support a Jewish music festival to keep the music alive or to sustain innovative

Jewish culture? Do you invest in the BJMF because music is a sure-fire way to attract the

unaffiliated or to make sure that our music is a vibrant part of the Boston cultural scene?

Belmont

Boston

Brookline

CambridgeCambridge

LexingtonLexington

MarbleheadMarblehead

Natick

Nashua, NH

Needham

Newburyport

Newton

Providence, RI

Revere

Somerville

Swampscott

Waltham

Wayland

ʻ̒It’s a deep, beautiful, It’s a deep, beautiful, It’s a deep, beautiful, organic part of Jewish organic part of Jewish organic part of Jewish life, Jewish heritage. life, Jewish heritage. life, Jewish heritage. It’s a beautiful way to It’s a beautiful way to It’s a beautiful way to celebrate and bring musicians and their music to the public.music to the public.music to the public

SURVEY RESPONSESURVEY RESPONSESURVEY RESPONSE

ʻ̒One lucky Israeli got to celebrate his 10th birthday with one of his musical idols, Dudu Tassa.One lucky Israeli got to celebrate his 10th birthday with one of his musical idols, Dudu Tassa.

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Why our audience continues to grow:

We know that each genre of music attracts its own audience; as we expand our musical offerings, we are expanding our audience. New events, such as the Klezmer Dance Party and The Sarajevo Haggadah, brought new people to the BJMF.

As we expand our roster of venues, including first-time locations like The Natick Center for the Arts, Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, Bentley University and Temple Emanu-El in Providence, we expand our audience.

We continually look for new marketing opportunities. This year we dramatically increased our WBUR sponsorships and advertising on the MBTA. We also inserted BJMF brochures in the weekly Jewish Journal.

Our brand is getting better known and more established in the marketplace.

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bjmf by the numbers

Attendance

Not only is our attendance growing, but a recent study that

compared Boston Jewish culture presenters found that the BJMF

draws the broadest spectrum of ages and reaches the highest

percentage of people under age 40.

EVENT ATTENDANCE

Shai ben Tzur (Outside the Box) 2000

Heartbeat 150

Malachei Mambo [ 2 concerts ] 250

Symphony by the Sea [ 2 concerts ] 395

Theo Bikel 815

Aaron Bensoussan 325

Hebrew Play 100

Like Wildflowers 285

Peter Himmelman 180

Amanda Monaco Jazz Pirkei Avot 60

Ezekiel’s Wheels 110

Alicia Svigals Klezmer Dance Party 206

Yaeko Miranda Elmaleh [ 2 concerts ] 195

Mama Doni [ 2 concerts ] 155

Shira Yoga 28

Three New Voices 120

Sarajevo Haggadah 350

Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis 275

Matti Kovler Bittersweet Café 125

Israel Dance Festival 800

Songs of Shabbat 925

Educational Workshops 65

TOTAL 7914

Harnessing Music’s Innate Power to Build Community

One lucky Israeli got to celebrate his 10th birthday with one of his musical idols, Dudu Tassa.

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Where else but at the BJMF could you walk into a shul, hear a wonderful evening of jazz inspired by Pirkei Avot and then get to discuss it with the performer who is a Jew by choice? What a blessing.

RABBI MOSHE WALDOKS

ʻ̒ʻ̒

bjmf by the numbers

Finances

The BJMF is at a stage that is inevitable for many arts

organizations. Our attendance is growing as are both

our earned and philanthropic revenue (more than 56% in

the last 5 years).

Yet we are still not quite at the point where we can adequately compensate the staff, or hire a development professional to help us. Our grassroots organi-zation is growing dramatically but is caught in a catch 22: to fully reach our potential, we need to make better inroads with interested philanthropists, foundations and sponsors—but we don’t have the resources to do so.

However, in 2014 BJMF did receive a generous challenge grant from the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation to establish the BJMF Fund for The Future, an important, and much appreciated, step in strengthening our financial foundation.

INCOME

Donations $183,512

Major $155,500

General $27, 012

Grants $14,500

Advertising & Program Fees $27,868

Tickets & Merchandise $63,496

Inkind $20,000

TOTAl $309,376

EXPENSES

Administration $100,789

Production $124,961

Marketing $60,642

TOTAl $286,392 ʻ̒

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our music. our future.

Making Sure Music is Part of Our Future

While Jewish institutions lament the lack of young adult

engagement, BJMF attracts a significant percentage

of this coveted audience.

March declared Jewish Music Month by Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Using Music To Bring Us Together

Police estimated over two thousand people of all ages and ethnicities, Jews and Indians, young and old, locals and tourists, filled City Hall Plaza and enjoyed an un-usual musical hybrid of two vibrant

Donations $183,512

Major $155,500

General $27, 012

Grants $14,500

Advertising & Program Fees $27,868

Tickets & Merchandise $63,496

Inkind $20,000

TOTAl $309,376

ʻ̒ Sponsoring an event to bring the Jewish and Indian communities together was an honor. And the music was so wonderful, we brought Shye back to perform at the India America Foundation gala.

RAJ SHARMA, The Sharma Group, BJMF Donor

ʻ̒cultures. In the spirit of community, BJMF was able to identify and secure funding for this event from Indian, Jewish and community sources, including our first grant from The Boston Foundation.

In looking to build a vibrant future for Jewish culture, creating opportunities to educate, inspire and showcase younger artists may be one of the most important things we can do. In 2014, more younger musicians performed at the BJMF than ever before. Our Theo Bikel concert is a perfect example; Theo, about to turn 90, was surrounded by musicians as young as 26. Nowhere else could you see Bikel chanting his family niggun to the hip hop beats of Montreal’s Josh Dolgin or singing songs of the Polish poet, Mordechai Gibertik with kelzmer/punk/cabaret artist Daniel Kahn.

Working in partnership with Boston’s Outside the Box

Festival, BJMF presented Shye Ben Tzur and the

Rajastan Gypsies, a group of Indian and Israeli musicians, who

perform a mystical musical fusion of Jewish and Sufi traditions.

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coll aborations for success

Building Partnerships that

Build Audiences

In 2014, the BJMF worked with more than 30 organizations

ranging from the Celebrity Series of Boston to synagogues

in New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

By sharing resources, ideas and expertise, the BJMF is able to offer a far wider range of programs. We have also proved to be a significant audience development tool for many organizations including Symphony by the Sea, The Israel Folkdance Festival, the Natick Center for the Arts, the Vilna Shul, Piyut North America, and the many synagogues that participate in our Kabbalat Shabbat programs. BJMF is one of the rare organizations that recognizes and acts as a bridge between secular and religious Jewish identifications.

Symphony by the Sea reported a 30% increase in attendance at their spring concerts which, for the first time, were part of BJMF.

Music to Our Ears

Sharing the Vibrancy of Israeli Culture

The BJMF is committed to presenting exceptional Israeli music as often as possible and for the past two years has commissioned Israeli artists to illustrate our Festival materials. In March, we brought Dudu Tassa and the Kuwaitis to Johnny D’s in Somerville. A popular Israeli singer/songwriter, Tassa’s new project is reinvigorating the music his grandfather and great uncle wrote in the 1930’s and

Too many people are unaware of Israel’s dynamic art and

music scene; sharing this tremendous cultural vitality is

essential for broadening our understanding of Israeli society.

40’s—two Iraqi Jews who were considered premier songwriters in the Arab world. This event, presented with New Center NOW and the Israeli Consulate, drew a capacity crowd of young Israelis and Americans to catch a rising world music star. Tassa’s unique story gener-ated substantial media coverage including features in The Boston Globe and on NPR, further adding to public understanding of contemporary Israeli culture.

30%

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Music to Our Ears

Together, we are making sure that Jewish music and culture continue

to thrive in Boston. Let’s continue to extend a warm welcome for

everyone, regardless of age or affiliation, to experience the warmth

and creativity that are essential to our identity.

Looking ahead to next year, we are in the midst of planning our or 6th festival, February 27 to March 15, 2015, which will showcase Jewish music’s many cross-cultural connections.

Imagine a festival with:

AN EVENING OF YIDDISH AND CELTIC SONGS OF IMMIGRATION

A 60’S STYLE FUSION OF LATIN MUSIC AND KLEZMER

These are just some of the events we’re working on and that your continued support

makes possible.

pl ans for next year

Looking Ahead

A CANTOR AND INDIAN RAGA SINGER SHARING SONGS OF TWO RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS

AN AMAZING ISRAELI ENSEMBLE OF JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND MUSLIMS PERFORMING MIDDLE EASTERN MYSTICAL MUSIC

A SPECIAL KIDS INTRO TO KLEZMER FAMILY CONCERT

A SHOWCASE OF THE BRIGHTEST YOUNG ISRAELI MUSICAL TALENTS IN THE BOSTON AREA

phone: 781-883-2091

30 Maple Street

West Roxbury, MA 02132 bostonjewishmusicfestival.org