Yiddish New York is a community-based and community-created festival. We value a diversity of participation and viewpoints, and equity in our actions. We believe that the arts we practice — music, theater, dance, visual, literary, culinary, film, social justice, and other — are primary means of cultural continuity, and we are in an ongoing process of discovery and creation that we believe is most effective, fun, creative, and meaningful when done under a large and welcoming tent.
Yiddish New York welcomes and does not discriminate against any faculty or participant based on age, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, class, sexual orientation, gender or perceived gender identification, or levels of physical ability. Our audience-specific programs (such as our scholarship program) do not constitute discrimination, but rather constitute targeted outreach to increase participation by historically underrepresented groups.
Yiddish New York has a zero tolerance policy towards acts of discrimination, harassment, or violence towards any festival participant or staff member, that might be based on one of these categories of personhood. Patrons or staff who discriminate against or harm others will be removed from the festival. No ticket refund will be issued to patrons who discriminate against or harm others.
If festival participant or staff experiences discrimination, harassment, or violence from staff or another festival participant while at Yiddish New York, or while engaging in Yiddish New York business, they are welcome to report the incident(s) to any of the YNY Curators/Organizers listed below. In turn, the Curator/Organizer who has received the report will relay the information to the rest of the committee to investigate, and if the complaint is confirmed, will remove that person from the festival. In the event that discrimination, harassment, or violence is conducted by one or more Curators/Organizers, you are welcome to report the incident(s) to other Curators/Organizers.
Thank you for helping to make Yiddish New York a safe space for our diverse community!
YNY 2023 Curators/Organizers: Aaron Bendich, Edy Borger, Nicole Borger, Sarah Gordon, Esther Gottesman, Itzik Gottesman, Tine Kindermann, Jeyn Levison, Frank London, Ethel Raim, Pete Rushefsky, Deborah Strauss, Judy Sweet, Josh Waletzky YNY Coordinator: Clara Byom