What do you think of when you hear the words Jewish Music?  That was the question posed to students who submitted their artwork in the 2012 city-wide Jewish Music Week Student Art Contest.

After receiving their registration packets through their Jewish Day Schools and Synagogue Hebrew Schools earlier in the year, the contest participants began work on their musically inspired creations. 

The students were asked to draw "Jewish Music" - what it means to them personally, what it makes them think of, what it means to people everywhere.  The subject matter inspired the participants, and submissions swirled into the JMW offices like music notes in a windstorm.

Once the March 2012 deadline had passed, the judges set to work. The distinguished panel included Wendy Ng (Elementary Student and Teacher Programs Coordinator, Art Gallery of Ontario), Sara Levine Petroff (Owner/Curator, Petroff Gallery), Rochelle Rubinstein (Toronto-based printmaker, painter, fabric and book artist), Jeanette Kuvin-Oren (Jewish American contemporary artist), and Tiana Roebuck (award winning multidisciplinary artist and educator).

See the judges' choices and celebrate Jewish Music Week in Toronto with a visit to the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre (MNjcc) Gallery, June 1-10.  See the artwork of the contest winners and finalists, as well as the work of those who received honorable mention.  Admission to the exhibit is free.

For a sneak peek of the contest winning and finalist entries, check the JMW website.  The winning submissions are published in this year’s Jewish Music Week brochure and will be included in the JMW Student Art Contest 2012-13 calendar.  

Jewish Music Week in Toronto is a week-long festival of concerts, recitals and musical events throughout the GTA.  All daytime programs are free, and each evening concert benefits a different Toronto synagogue. We celebrate the many styles of Jewish Music (klezmer, Yiddish theatre, Cantorial, Israeli pop, Sephardic), as well as the Jewish contribution to genres not generally considered Jewish (jazz, classical, big band, Broadway, Hollywood movies).