So, as you probably know, most of my correspondence is with people and companies outside of Israel. I did do some good business with a woman at the New Center for Arts and Culture in no where else but the great city of Boston. And about the exact halfway point between my North End apartment and Campus. Meaning I walked past this office everyday without even knowing it existed. Nothing is finalized, but it looks like there is good potential they will book Eshet for sometime in the future, and that means I may be able to see my handiwork for myself one of these days back in the States. Yay. Also, I want to share with you a bit from an e-mail I received from a nice woman in London. Unfortunately, her company won't be able to host our show, but she was kind enough to say, "It fills the heart with much pride that such wonderful work is being created in Israel and that so much talent is to be found in this small country." Definitely posted that on our new facebook page! Facebook has been my fun new project. I asked if I could make the page because our current facebook profile is in Hebrew and deals only with local productions. Hebrew is of no use to me and my international market, so I made a new one in English focusing on the plays I am marketing abroad. Check it out here and feel free to become a fan or post a comment. I am hoping to beef it up a bit, but I think its pretty cool so far. I also made a LinkedIn page today for the company (and myself while I was at it) but I'm pretty clueless as to how the site works so I'll have to play with that one before I can really use it. Feel free to find me if you have a profile.
Today, Amy, Mike, Ricky, and their intern Allison (all from WUJS) came to visit me at work. I got to take a little break from the computer to tell them what it is that I do exactly and a bit about the company. It was nice to fill them all in (and I felt kind of important). I also learned that Amy is teaching a theatre class for the Year Course program (MASA post high school - pre college). When I mentioned my background was in theatre education, she got excited and said we needed to talk. I hope I can offer her lesson plans or games and maybe even help out in the classroom a bit. I'll keep you posted.
Speaking of networking, I may have mentioned earlier that Ricky asked me to be on a panel at the JCCs of North America convention. The panel consisted of Me, Seth, another guy from my program, and 2 other girls, one who just made aliyah and one who completed Career Israel last year and is still here... The discussion was about how the JCCs can reach our age group, college and post college, where they felt they were lacking. They are hoping to develop more programming to bring our age group to the JCC and basically to promote Israel without relying on Taglit-Birthright. Fair enough. I haven't set foot in a JCC since Shining Lights and unless they change their programming wasn't planning on it probably until I have kids of my own. Haha. So, we told them what would bring us in. We discussed how we can get Israel news on our own, but Israeli culture would be a big draw to an organized facility. Israeli movie night (with free food and Jewish singles), an Israeli cooking class targeted to college students (with free food and Jewish singles) or a concert from an Israeli band (with free food and Jewish singles). I also explained how it could be cool to collaborate with Hillels from local colleges. That way Hillel could do cooler things with their financial support, and the JCC could get a great social database. I also mentioned how cool it would be if they hosted a theatr eproduction/workshop from Israel (hint, hint, through EVE). They all laughed, but I did manage to get the business card of one of the JCCs of America Program Directors and a local actor who works as the arts representative for Makom Haaretz, a section of the local liberal English newspaper. He invited me to see his show next week, and although I am not sure I can go, I am hoping to sit down and talk with him and see if we can collaborate at all. I would love to get him to post a story about EVE or one of our shows. Overall, it was an awesome opportunity to talk, and a great chance to network. I also feel, that as I was talking to them about Israel, and telling them my story, that I solidified a lot of thoughts that have been floating through my head. As the only one on the panel not considering or in the process of aliyah, I had a different perspective to share, but I also confirmed for myself that this won't be my last time here. Now, after spending time here, I am eligible to staff Birthright, which means an endless supply of free trips back here. Don't worry Mom, I'm not moving here, just not planning to let it get too far behind me.
That's about all for now, just a quick plug. If any of you know of any Jewish Theatres, JCCs, or anything of the sort that may be interested in hosting an Israeli production, let me know. We are hoping to do a North American tour of Eshet in late 2010/early 2011 and would love to get as many stops as possible. Shameless marketing, I know, but figure its worth asking. Check out the facebook page again for info/pix from Eshet and some of the other shows, and please pass it on to anyone you know who may be interested. Thanks a bunch! Love and miss you all : )
No comments:
Post a Comment