“But I think there’s a real craving for a museum that tells a story about Jews that is triumphant and joyous.” Many Jewish museums “can be a bit depressing - it’s pogroms and the Holocaust, which is important,” said Jacobs, who directed the 2008 documentary “Four Seasons Lodge,” about a Catskills bungalow colony populated by Holocaust survivors. The museum’s first pop-exhibit, curated by the International Center for Photography New York in partnership with the Bard Graduate Center, will be open from early July through the end of the summer at the yet-to-be renovated site of the future museum. They are hoping to host the Borscht Belt Film Festival in Ellenville in the fall create a stand-up comedy outpost at Ellenville’s Shadowland Theater, featuring monthly shows there and create year-round programming in both New York City and upstate. Looking ahead, Jacobs said the goal is to have the Borscht Belt Museum and its spin-off festival evolve into a brand. In addition to having a good time and learning about the Borscht Belt, “We want to bring culture back to the Catskills and … develop Ellenville as a kind of a regional cultural hub,” he said. Jacobs expects some 8,000 to 10,000 attendees at the festival throughout the day. There will also be the first exhibit of the work of the late Holocaust survivor and painter Morris Katz - who was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Record as both the world’s fastest and most prolific artist - put together by a curator from the New-York Historical Society. Other highlights include a “Rocky Horror”-esque screening of “Dirty Dancing” - in which participants are encouraged to dress as their favorite characters and can sing and dance along to the film, set at a Catskills resort - and a concert from the klezmer group The Shul Band. Similar to the Borscht Belt, the festival aims to be a place to “discover new talents,” she told the New York Jewish Week. Pohl, who is a member of the festival’s advisory board, said that rather than choosing a big headliner, the organizers wanted to focus on comedians they can’t see on Netflix, or maybe haven’t heard of yet. With a focus on comedy, the festival’s events include “The Borscht Belt Classic,” a homage to family-friendly Catskills comedy, and a talk with writers Alan Zweibel and Bill Scheft about their experiences writing and performing stand-up comedy in the mountains.Īnother comedy performance is Luci Pohl’s “Immigrant Jam,” which pays tribute to immigrant culture and experiences - Pohl herself is a Jewish immigrant from Germany - and a standup comedy showcase presented by the Manhattan club the Comedy Cellar. The Borscht Belt Festival aims, however briefly, to revive the traditions and culture of the Catskills’ golden age. By the 1980s, most resorts and hotels that populated the Borscht Belt were defunct. “These institutions shaped American Jewish culture, enabling Jews to become more American while at the same time introducing the American public to immigrant Jewish culture,” according to the Catskills Institute, an organization at Northeastern University promoting research and education about the region and the era.īy the late 1960s, however, with the rise of air travel, more resorts allowing Jews and younger generations choosing other vacation destinations, the lure of the Catskills began to dim. Of course, Jews also came to the Catskills because they were barred from vacationing at many other popular locales - and therefore they created a vacationland of their own, packing Jewish-owned resorts like Grossinger’s Catskill Resort Hotel and Kutsher’s Hotel and Country Club.
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