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

