Opening Jewish culture

As Reb Nachman of Breslov said, hundreds of years ago, “All beginnings require that you unlock a new door,” or in twenty-first century cyber-speak, a new portal. Open Jewish Culture (OJC) is an initiative to showcase Jewish culture in the capital, under the auspices of the London Jewish Forum, a diversely drawn representative charity bringing together leaders from across London’s Jewish life. The Jewish community of London is the largest in the country, but still amounts to fewer than 200,000 people. However, within that community there is incredible diversity: it is both an ethnic and a faith-based grouping made up of numerous strands of religious and political thought. There are rich Jews and poor Jews, gay Jews and straight Jews, Black Jews and white Jews, disabled Jews, young Jews and old Jews, refugees and peers. It is very probable that there are almost as many Jewish visitors to London in a year, for business, pleasure or transit, as there are members of London’s synagogues. 

COMMUNITY FOCUS
There are a small number of well established Jewish cultural producers, with a track record of working with a wide general audience: Ben Uri for Jewish art, Jewish Music Institute, Jewish Book Council, London Jewish Film Festival and the Jewish Museum. Each tends to have seasons or events at different times of year. In addition, the Jewish Community Centre for London and London Jewish Cultural Centre are also key players. These producers have demonstrated that the audience for well-crafted cultural programmes informed by Jewish perspectives extends well beyond members of the community. For example, since the 1990s, Jewish Book Week (mounted by the Jewish Book Council) has stepped up attendances from hundreds into tens of thousands, not just by attracting more Jews but also by reaching many non-Jews and tourists. There is also an enormous amount of cultural activity that never reaches a wider audience, either because the producer has limited resources or because the work is being done for a focused membership. Many youth groups, community associations and synagogues have a vibrant cultural programme that would greatly benefit local life and community cohesion by being made more open to all. Finally, many general venues produce drama, exhibitions, films, heritage and book events informed by or connected to Jewish experience.

JOINING THE DOTS
Until now, each individual producer has had to reach their audience in isolation – often the same target markets at different times. For visitors, particularly from North America, Europe and Israel, trying to map the Jewish cultural topology is impossible. What if there was a way of building profile and reach by combining forces? This is the thinking that lies behind OJC. Our core mission is to bring London’s incredibly rich Jewish arts, culture and heritage to as wide an audience as possible. To achieve this, OJC has produced a month-long opening showcase that is running currently, and a website dedicated to bringing all of London’s Jewish cultural happenings to life. The online culture hub will be an ongoing vehicle for audience development. As well as Jewish Book Week and the opening of the new Jewish Museum, OJC is promoting individual artists, small producers, synagogue/youth/student cultural programmes, and mainstream providers like the British Library. There are over 70 events on the website for the opening month. Some of these were organised specially for the showcase, but many have simply come to light as the project has gained momentum. Over 20,000 highlights guides have been distributed across London.
Using the website as a springboard, there will be mobile, Facebook, and iPhone apps to enable people to find out what’s happening, to share events or to follow specific genres and providers. Behind the scenes, each producer will have the ability to load and amend their own events and there will be a producer-only OJC networking space to promote information exchange. We are also expecting to be able to be able to sell tickets and take reservations online. Viral and online strategies are being deployed to get the message out, and we are encouraging producers to upload video content.