Kohav Nolad, a special program of Art City, and some publicity for Art City

One project that Art City began last summer (2009) was to sponsor a local version of the Israeli TV show "Kohav Nolad" כוחב נולד   (like "American Idol" in the US) in which local talented singers compete.  The competition is open for 13 to 20 year olds.  Last summer, when the Art City initiated this program, they did allow a 12-year-old to compete, and she won the contest.  I gather she has an amazing voice.  She has sung in several different events here, including Israel Independence Day and Kiryat Malachi's amazing 60th Anniversary event, which Adam Schwartz and family (from Phoenix) attended.

There have been at least 3  auditions so far, and I attended part of one yesterday, July 19, in the music room of the MATNAS (community center).    Guy (the music director of the bands) and two or three other people were there to judge including Hila Kordana.  She has been videoing all the entrants with the video-camera donated by Ken Brandis of Tucson.

 Two of the men took turns playing a synthesizer to accompany the singers.  This day, all were female, but males had also auditioned.  One was really good, but may not come back because of family (religious) consideration.  The first singer that I heard was great.  I did not take her photo, however, because I did not want to embarrass her.  Hila came in a few minutes later and started video-ing, so I knew it was OK to take pictures.  Here are the others I listened to, many of whom joined Art City activities before Yom Haatzmaut and the 60th anniversary of the town, and participated in the events.  Some are in the production group, and Hila had not realized that they could sing!

This young woman was very shy at first but came alive as Guy coaxed her to sing loader as he played drums to accompany her.

This young woman had a powerful and emotional voice

It was interesting to see how their worked with the singers, having them try in different keys too.  One young woman had a sensual voice but had trouble staying on key.  Although they were nervous, most didn't show it.

                    

This gal is from Kiryat Malachi and is serving in National Service (in lieu of the army) elsewhere.  She came back to town to audition.  I could see her maturity in her singing.  She is 19 and a half....and emphasized that she was not close to 20, the cutoff age!

The final audition is on July 29 at noon. 

Of the 40 or so teens auditioning for Kohav Nolad, the judges need to pick ten.  Then those ten practice before the big show in the 2nd half of August.  I wish I were here to see it.  (Hof Ashkelon is having a similar event on a smaller scale on July 27, whick I plan to go to.)

The summer edition of the local newspaper came out a few days ago, and there were more than 3 pages of articles on things for teens.  The first one below is entitled:  What can one do during vacation?

The picture below, of Art City street theater,  is a close up of the picture above in the lower right corner .

The above article is about the bands.

As a final note, the dance group (Tzuza) is working daily to prepare for the Carmiel dance festival the last week of July.

Tzuza Art City Dancers of Kiryat Malachi visit Phoenix, April, 2010

Sixteen top dancers from the group Tzuza of the Art City dance group in Kiryat Malachi traveled to the US TIPS Partnership communities the end of April and early May to perform in Tucson, Phoenix and Seattle and to interact with members of the local Jewish community.

In Phoenix, the group did a presentation at the JFCS Senior Center.

They also talked and did a workshop at the BJE Hebrew High School.

The students at the Jess Schwartz Jewish Day School enjoyed the workshop and the presentation by the group.

They also danced at the Pardes Jewish Day School.

For part of a day they traveled to Sedona with Jess Schwartz 10th graders.

On April 25th, they were a main attraction at the community Yom Ha'atzmaut Celebration.

Because some of the greater Phoenix Jewish schools, the JCC and the Federation are all on one campus, the dancers had a chance to interact with the high school students almost daily. As a result, they got to know each other well, and on the 11th grade trip to May in a few weeks, it was decided that they would meet again in Israel where they would be hosted by the dancers in the Kiryat Malachi area. After Phoenix, the dancers went to Tucson, where they also performed on the 25th at a huge community-wide Yom Haatzmaut celebration with over 500 in attendance. Some of the Phoenix Jewish youth missed the Israelis so much that they drove up one afternoon to visit. We could really see the people to people connection these youth had made!

See the article: http://www.jewishinseattle.org/news-events/news/tzuza-dancers-take-steps-build-israel-seattle-connection

Art City at Karmiel Dance Festival

Last Wednesday night, August 5th, the Art City dance group performed in front of more than 10,000 in the Karmiel amphitheatre. It was one of 9 groups chosen to be in the performance/competition. Ira was there and told me that the competition was intense. None of the groups were announced by name or place of origin. They just performed--one dance for about 4 or 5 minutes. The dance needed to have some sort of traditional Jewish theme. Art City's was music from the end of the Seder, and plain white rectangles which represented tallitot were a part of the dance. Ira said that the dance was quite complex and dramatic--with different blocks of the 20+ dancers doing different, complex things at the same time.

The competition was quite stiff, with groups of teen dancers representing the major cities in Israel. One did an amazing performance, with dancers representating different animals in Noah's Ark. Ira thinks that they took the top prize.

While the Art City group did not win any of the top three performances, they were "ooo-ed" and "awwwwwed" by the audience. They did an amazing job, holding their own among the stiff extremely talented national competition. I was so excited to hear Ira describe what they did and how the audience reacted, and I can imagine how excited all the teens were to be able to perform on that stage and in front of so many people.

It is hard to believe that this dance group began less than two years ago. Kol hakavod to them and to TIPS for supporting this amazing endeavor.

The Kiryat Malachi Art City Dance Group Tzuza won second place amongst 60 groups competing for the best in jazz on Thursday evening. There competed against 60 other groups, so the 2nd place award was VERY impressive.

TIPS Trip Boosts Morale, Programs

TIPS Trip Boosts Morale, Programs
Report from the Field
by Ken Miller

When the conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip escalated and hundreds of missiles and mortars began landing in southern Israel it became very tentative whether we would be able to hold our annual meeting for the TIPS (Tucson, Israel, Phoenix and Seattle) Partnership 2000 in Israel. A number of the members, including me and fellow Tucsonian Ken Brandis, felt it important to travel to our partnership region of Kiryat Malachi and Hof Ashkelon in Israel to show our solidarity. with Israel and with our friends and co-workers. In the week before our January 29 departure, the military situation de-escalated enough for our Israeli associates to agree that we could.

Our first night in Israel, the eight USA TIPS representatives joined some 30 of our Israeli counterparts for an informal dinner. One Israeli member, who resides in a community bordering Gaza that has been shelled for years, stated how moved she was that Americans had come to the region at this time. Knowing the impact our trip had on Israeli morale was enough to make the annual meeting a success - even if we did nothing more during our visit.

We stayed in a hotel in Ashkelon, Israel’s largest city in the south and an area often targeted by Hamas. I was just about to get into the shower when the missile attack siren sounded. A missile landed not too far from the hotel. Luckily no one was injured from this attack but the attack brought home the reality of what our friends and Israel were experiencing. I am a US Air Force veteran and was in Israel during the wars in 1973 and in 2006 but others were seeing for the first time what war was like.

Our meetings focused on TIPS efforts empowering youth, developing young adult programs, establishing educational opportunities at all levels, addressing the needs of the poorer communities and helping to address psychological counseling for children growing up in a war zone. During the current crisis, emergency funding helped transport children and teens out of the war zone into areas where they could experience less stress. In quite a few of the communities in the Hof Ashkelon region, bomb shelters were the only place where the children could safely gather. Tucson raised money for the emergency purchase of heaters to equip the shelters for extended periods.

Seeing the immediate changes in the lives of the children, youth and older citizens in the region evokes much more than a satisfying feeling. Each time we visit, we see how effective the TIPS Partnership 2000 organization truly is - and how much more we can still accomplish.

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NOTE: The above is a piece Ken Miller wrote for the Arizona Jewish Post and the blog, about the trip and meeting for the TIPS Partnership in February.

Facebook has links to all Ken Miller's photos from this annual meeting with the 2nd Art City, Festival B'shekel and last year's 2008 Annual Meeting which has the 1st Art City.

To see Ken Miller's photos: please add the "TIPS Partnership 2000" to your Facebook groups, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55003201630#/group.php?gid=55003201630

The photo albums are listed as links you can click on, which puts you into Ken's photo album section under Ken's Facebook page. You can see the photos by adding Ken's name to your friends list. The url to Ken's page is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=658607391&ref=name#/profile.php?id=658607391&ref=name or you can find Ken's name in the search as "Ken Miller" location of Tucson.

Art City, Kiryat Malachi

In Kiryat Malachi, over 200 teens are involved in Art City, raising the level of all the performing arts and improving the image of the city. Local bands and dance troupes performed for 10,000 enthusiastic and appreciative fans at this year's Festival B'Shekel.