How to Trap a Demon, Tamar Ettun. Photo by Adam Alcantara.
The Mandel Institute is pleased to announce the second cohort (2026-2028) of the Cultural Leadership Program, a two-year fellowship for artists who aim to reimagine Jewish life and mobilize social change through their creative work.
Eighteen exceptional fellows comprise the second cohort, representing a breadth of artistic disciplines: dance, theatre, music, film, visual art, fiction, poetry, culinary arts, and podcasting. Their works draw from a range of Jewish cultural and artistic lineages, from Ethiopian Israeli food to Eastern European cantorial chants, from Iraqi-Jewish melodies to Minimalist sculpture. They are each accomplished in their fields of practice, with many also shaping culture as educators, organizational leaders, and clergy.
Each cohort reflects a current moment in Jewish culture, as artists turn to their practices to address shared challenges, community needs, opportunities, and aspirations. Though Cohort II of the Program represents a plurality of voices, they are united by a shared desire to mine Jewish culture and values to shape creative visions for the future.
Cohort II of the Cultural Leadership Program
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Acknowledging Our Finalists
The second admissions cycle for the Cultural Leadership Program drew over 460 applications and underscored the dedication and vision that artists and cultural producers bring to Jewish life and their communities. Thirty-one outstanding applicants were selected as finalists, who proceeded to the last round of the admissions process. We admire and honor the finalists not selected in this round of the program: Ester Almo Wexler, Roy Cohen, Ella Cooper, Leela Corman, Lu Coy, Michael Dumanis, Adam Horowitz, Shabtai Pinchevsky, Samantha Shapiro, Dalia Sofer, Tatyana Tenenbaum, Torrey Townsend, and Avery Trufelman.
For more information about the Cultural Leadership Program and to read full biographies of fellows in the second cohort, visit the program page.