Since 2014, I’ve had the honor to be the art director for the Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) family purim carnival- an all-age community event in south Brooklyn. Purim is a Jewish holiday with flavors and traditions similar to Carnival or halloween— a mid-winter time for transgression, mischief, catharsis and togetherness , traditionally observed with with pageants, carnivals and revelry. The JFREJ family carnival is the little sibling of the Aftelakhis Spectacle Commitee’s annual Purimshpiel. Working adjacently to this project has been deeply informative to me of how art can do the work of bind a community together through expression of shared values. Supporting this offshoot family event is always a place of experimentation and profound learning, a highlight of my year
Each year the carnival is built through a series of youth-centered workshops, where we translate struggles of the moment in to ideas for carnival games, and then design and make the games ourselves! Some favorites have included Whack-a-Meanie, Inequality Bowling, the Knock Down the Wall game, the Send Jeff Bezos to Space game and my personal favorite: the No Fun Zone- which each year includes instructions in how NOT to have fun at the carnival. Over the years, the organizing and educational team for this project has included Anna Jacobs, Autumn Leonard, Emma Alabaster, Niko Bialek, Pippi Kessler, Sarah Ferholt and others!
