FEBRUARY 22 • 2024 | 19
J
N

“It is an honor for my
husband and I to serve as
Host Committee chairs
along with my parents,”
Jennifer VanBeck said. “We
are passionate about getting
young families more involved
in the Ann Arbor Jewish
community, which has been a
wonderful community to be a
part of since we moved here
in 2018.
“This year, due to
the shocking increase
in anti-Israel activities
and antisemitism in our
community since Oct. 7, we
must all come together to
fight antisemitism wherever
we find it, stand strong with
the Jewish State and find
strength within our Ann
Arbor Jewish community.
Attending this year’s Main
Event is so important with
everything going on, and
we look forward to seeing
everyone on March 13.”

This year’s featured
speaker, Aaron Dworkin, was
named a 2005 MacArthur
Fellow, President Barack
Obama’s first appointment
to the National Council on
the Arts and member of
President Joe Biden’s Arts
Policy Committee.
Dworkin is former dean
and current Professor
of Arts Leadership &
Entrepreneurship at the
University of Michigan’s
School of Music, Theatre
& Dance, which is ranked
among the top performing
arts schools in the nation.
He is a successful social
entrepreneur who founded
the globally recognized
Sphinx Organization, a
leading arts organization
that transforms lives through
the power of diversity in the

arts. He also serves as host
of the nationally broadcast
Arts Engines show with a
viewership of over 100,000.
Dworkin has written
The Entrepreneurial
Artist: Lessons from Highly
Successful Creatives and
four other books including
his memoir, Uncommon
Rhythm: A Black, White,
Jewish, Jehovah’s Witness,
Irish Catholic Adoptee’s
Journey to Leadership and a
poetry collection, They Said
I Wasn’t Really Black. He

serves as the Poetjournalist-
in-Residence of the city of
Ann Arbor’s Bicentennial,
the Rodham Institute, Fisher
Foundation, Wright Museum
of African American History,
Complexions Contemporary
Ballet, Grantmakers in the
Arts, Ovation TV and Shar
Music.
Hailed by critics as
“powerful,” “stirring,”
“passionate and heroic,” and
“a tour de force,” Dworkin has
performed his poetry during
his national tours, including

at the Wright Museum in
Detroit, Galapagos Theater
in New York, Harvard
University, Chautauqua,
University of Michigan,
Minneapolis Orchestra Hall,
NJPAC and Orchestra Hall
in Detroit, amongst others.
He has two recording albums
and has collaborated with
artists representing a wide
range of genres, including
Yo-Yo Ma, Damien Sneed,
Anna Deveare Smith, Damian
Woetzel, Lil Buck and others.
His Emmy award-winning
film An American Prophecy
was honored by numerous
festivals, while his visual
digital art project, Fractured
History, has exhibited to rave
reviews.

The Main Event is
the widest-reaching
fundraising event of the
Jewish Federation’s Annual
Community Campaign,
which provides significant
unrestricted funds to
Federation’s communal
partners in Ann Arbor, Israel
and around the world. The
Campaign also supports
community-wide initiatives
of the Federation, such as
combatting antisemitism
and ensuring financial
sustainability of local
community institutions
through the LIFE &
LEGACY® program.
Attendees of the Main
Event will be asked to
support the community
with a pledge to the Jewish
Federation’s 2024 Annual
Community Campaign.

For details and tickets to this
year’s Main Event, visit www.
JewishAnnArbor.org, email info@
jewishannarbor.org or call (734)
645-1619.

Jennifer and Peter VanBeck