For the sixth year running, CJP is celebrating Jewish creativity with its Arts and Culture Community Impact Grants, supporting visionary artists across Greater Boston.
This year’s grantees bring an impressive range of work and ideas: contemporary theater reimagining biblical narratives, feature films centering Mizrahi Jewish experiences, abstract paintings inspired by Hasidic mysticism, albums preserving endangered Sephardi and Yemeni musical traditions, and more.
“The artists chosen this year are engaging deeply with and are grounded in Jewish tradition. At the same time, they are pushing it in bold new directions,” said Sophie Krentzman, CJP’s associate vice president of Jewish communal life. “These artists are creating work that matters — work that challenges us, connects us, and opens up new ways of understanding what Jewish culture can be. Supporting them is one of the most exciting things we do.”
Each grant recipient was chosen by a professional artist jury using specific criteria: the work must embrace the diversity and complexity of Jewish identity, community, and tradition; spark questions, foster curiosity, or invite dialogue within the Jewish community or across diverse communities; and creatively interpret or reinvent Jewish teachings, ritual, tradition, or Jewish life.
Since launching in 2020, the program has awarded more than $445,000 for 52 artists to create innovative Jewish arts projects.
The 10 artists receiving grants this year were each awarded $7,500. They will present their work publicly through community engagement events, performances, exhibitions, and screenings in the coming year. Read about each artist, their project, and how you can engage with their music, dance, performance, and visual art.
Ran Bechor
Ran Bechor (Boston), artistic director of Adam Theater, will write and direct “The Flood,” an original play reimagining the Noah’s Ark story through the eyes of a child coping with his parents’ divorce. The production fuses live performance, puppetry, micro-cinema, and original music to explore themes of resilience, responsibility, and hope. Premiering in late spring 2026, the work transforms an ancient biblical narrative into a contemporary meditation on what we preserve through life’s storms and what world we want to rebuild, offering audiences — children and adults, Jewish and non-Jewish — a powerful encounter with theater as a vessel for healing.
Shoshana Ehrenkranz
Shoshana Ehrenkranz (Sharon) will develop and produce “Juice Cleanse,” a feature-length film centering a Mizrahi Jewish perspective. The story follows Eve, a woman recovering from an eating disorder who returns to her dwindling community and discovers a mysterious diet drink taking hold. Blending absurdity, humor, and horror, the film challenges antisemitic stereotypes by flipping them on their head while highlighting the diversity within Jewish identity and bringing visibility to Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews who are rarely centered in film. Through cultural specificity and universal resonance, the project emphasizes the importance of food, ritual, and community in Judaism — traditions that have survived countless attempts at erasure.
Jeffrey Ellse
Jeffrey Ellse (Sharon) will create a series of large-scale abstract paintings inspired by Rabbi Nachman of Breslov’s mystical story, “The Seven Beggars.” Rather than illustrating the tale literally, Ellse will explore the narrative on an intuitive level using personal abstract languages and motifs, mirroring the story’s resistance to logic and clear categorization. The six to 10 works will culminate in an exhibition accompanied by group study sessions and an artist talk, offering viewers an open-ended encounter with Rabbi Nachman’s wisdom while surrounded by artwork that has grown from it. The project invites audiences to see Jewish tradition as a catalyst for imagination, innovation, and transformation.
Lily Henley
Lily Henley (Watertown) will create a new album of original Sephardi music that bridges past and present through song. Building on her first full-length release, the album will feature compositions in both Ladino and English, drawing from archival histories, oral traditions, and the lived experiences of Sephardi communities in the United States. By working closely with scholars, community organizations, and Ladino-speaking elders, Henley will incorporate research and contemporary linguistic revitalization efforts into new musical works. The album will serve simultaneously as art, documentation, and cultural preservation, supporting heritage language revitalization while contributing to a wider understanding of Sephardi history and expanding contemporary Ladino repertoire.
Anat Hochberg
Anat Hochberg (Jamaica Plain) will record “Ahavat Hadassah,” a full-length album dedicated to the musical traditions of Yemeni Jews. Featuring approximately 11 tracks drawn from both the men’s and women’s singing traditions — Hebrew liturgical poetry as well as Arabic secular songs — the album reflects the full breadth of Yemenite Jewish expression. Hochberg has studied this repertoire intensively with teachers in Israel, and a previous CJP grant enabled her to deepen this study and present a Boston concert that will form the foundation of this recording. The album, accompanied by a companion booklet of texts and translations and a public release concert, will expand access to Yemeni Jewish music and contribute to a growing movement of cultural reclamation among Mizrahi Jews.
Lisa Link
Lisa Link (Boston) will create a photo-montage art exhibition and community gathering for National Nature Photography Day on June 15, 2026, at the West Roxbury Branch of the Boston Public Library. The exhibit will feature 2D prints exploring environmental challenges through a Jewish lens, sparking dialogue about climate justice and amplifying Jewish voices engaged in environmental work. The accompanying gathering will invite Jewish and non-Jewish community members to connect, learn, and exchange ideas. Link’s artistic practice has often focused on environmental themes, and this project represents her ongoing commitment to creating work that introduces audiences to aspects of Jewish culture while addressing urgent ecological concerns with deeply researched content and visually compelling design.
Rachel Linsky
Rachel Linsky (Boston) will develop “Looking Back, Stepping Forward,” an evening-length dance work in collaboration with her company and Ezekiel’s Wheels Klezmer Band. Building on their prior collaboration, the work fuses Yiddish dance traditions with contemporary choreography, exploring how diasporic identity is carried and transformed across generations. Central to the piece is highlighting the value of individual expression within the context of a group — an approach core to Yiddish dance and klezmer music. Each performance will be followed by a dance workshop inviting audiences into the research, creating a joyful, participatory model of cultural exchange that reflects on how we carry our roots forward into contemporary life while allowing traditions to evolve.
Sandra Mayo
Sandra Mayo (Lexington) will create “Malegría: Breath Amid the Depth,” an immersive, site-responsive installation exploring how we live with simultaneous joy and sorrow. Conceived for the 2026 Jerusalem Biennale and featuring four Boston-based artists with deep ties to Israel, the project draws from Jewish ritual, memory, and sonic tradition to create a space for emotional contradiction and spiritual reflection. The installation features an interactive labyrinth, textile and AI-blended works, soundscape, and magnetically activated fiber sculptures. Following the Biennale, the work will return to Boston enriched by Israeli audiences, offering a forum for dialogue and emotional resonance as communities continue to breathe together amid the depth of interwoven histories.
Arnon Shorr and Josh Edelglass
Arnon Shorr (Sharon) and Josh Edelglass (Medfield) will complete “Festival of Forgotten Tales,” a series of all-ages comics blending Jewish holiday traditions, folklore, and popular genres. Having already released stories featuring a Sukkot werewolf, Passover mummy, and High Holidays unicorn, the team will create final tales including a Chanukah story and Lag Ba’omer adventure, culminating in a collected anthology with educational extras and bonus content. At book events in schools and synagogues, young readers have enthusiastically discovered Jewish identity reflected in fantastical, adventurous ways. The project engages children in Jewish culture and traditions while building an audience for broader publication and distribution.
Devra Sari Zabot
Devra Sari Zabot (Chelsea) will produce “Searching for My Jewish Father,” a short documentary examining Jewish identity through the World War II Red Cross diaries of Gerald Limon, a prisoner of war who hid his Jewish identity even within his private writings. The 10-minute multi-format film creates a conversation between Gerald and his daughter, Patricia, who was just 3 when he died, using animation, archival materials, and sound to bring the past alive. Patricia’s discovery of her father’s diaries decades later — and her struggle to find mention of his Jewish faith — takes on new meaning after Oct. 7, 2023, prompting reflection on when and why we choose to share our Jewish identity and how disclosure can connect or alienate us from our communities.