The Inextinguishable Symphony

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June 2009 Featured video presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQFrT1LEJ8 April 2009 Thanks to so many of you who have contacted me about the Project, I wanted to post a status about its production efforts. The project has been on temporary hold since 2007. The decision to do was necessary for various reasons, among them it is an independent endeavor and a labor of love that requires a lot of continued fundraising efforts and personal attention. Because of a few supporters and their strong encouragement, we are continuing with a new effort. The TIS Project is gearing up to produce a fresh new program about the Jüdische Kulturbund and how its story is relevant today. Feel free to share your thoughts with me about how the story of the Jüdische Kulturbund might be relevant to you and others in our world today. I have started an online community for this discussion, which you can access on facebook and at http://tisproject.ning.com/ Sincerely yours, Gail Prensky Executive Producer The Inextinguishable Symphony Project The Inextinguishable Symphony Project, a multimedia project, is a remarkable and moving account of Jewish musicians in Nazi Germany and the little-known story of the Jüdische Kulturbund, the Jewish Cultural Association—the all encompassing Jewish arts organization that was smiled upon briefly by the Nazis until it was disbanded in 1941 and its members shipped to concentration camps. By April of 1933, Germany's National Socialists had expelled more than 8,000 Jewish musicians, actors, and other artists from German orchestras, opera companies, and theatre groups. Jews were later forbidden from attending "Aryan" theatres. In the summer of 1933, the Jüdische Kulturbund, or Jewish Culture Association, was created. The Kulturbund was a heart-rending paradox. Proposed by Jewish performers as a response to their exclusion from German cultural life, the organization was appropriated by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister, as a ploy for foreign consumption (“You see, we really aren’t treating the Jews so badly after all”). Nevertheless the Jüdische Kulturbund became a spiritual refuge to some of the finest musicians and music in Europe, a beacon of artistic light in the gathering European gloom of the 1930s. The Inextinguishable Symphony Project offers a compelling testament of an important and little-known part of pre-World War II history about love, music, the human spirit, and survival. Few know about the Jüdische Kulturbund. In fact little has been written about the performing arts of the 1930s. Surviving artists and subscribing members of the Kulturbund immigrated to the United States, to Australia, and to Uruguay. Others remained in Europe. They changed the cultural landscape with their art. They survived and inspired millions through their passion for culture, their heritage, and their love of art and music. The Inextinguishable Symphony Project, created by Executive Producer Gail Prensky in collaboration with a talented team of producers and designers, will present a 90-minute documentary film for Internet, film festivals, and television broadcast as well as extensive companion programs about the extraordinary history of the Jüdische Kulturbund. The Project is expected to reach people in the United States and around the world in major cities from Los Angeles to Berlin, Sydney to Shanghai. The first-hand accounts of the Kulturbund are disappearing rapidly, as Kulturbund survivors are now in their late 80s and 90s. This is our last opportunity to share their stories and preserve this important piece of pre-World War II history. We invite you to support this testament to the redemptive power of music and the triumphant nature of the human spirit with communities across North America and around the globe. Power of Music, Resiliency of the Human Spirit, and the Will to Survive. The Legacy of the Jüdische Kulturbund. We want to tell this story to the world. Please support our efforts. The Frankfurt Kulturbund Support and Sponsorship Opportunities We are seeking Support and Sponsorships from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Please help our independent effort by making a tax-deductible contribution. For more information about becoming a contributor or a sponsor of the Documentary Film and/or the Companion Programs please contact info@tisproject.com.		Kurt Singer conducting the Kulturbund (photo credit: Bildarchiv Abraham Pisarek) NEW: Online Educational Resources document HONORARY BOARD Stuart Eizenstat Partner, Covington & Burling Henry Raymont Journalist Patricia Schroeder President and CEO Association for American Publishers, Inc. ADVISORY BOARD Philip V. Bohlman Professor of Music and Jewish Studies University of Chicago Alice Kelly Producer, ZDF German Television William Gilcher Media Director, Goethe-Institut Inter Nationes Hana Umlauf Lane Editor, The Inextinguishable Symphony John Wiley & Sons, Inc. David Marwell Director, Museum of Jewish Heritage Sylvia Rogge-Gau Historian, German-Jewish cultural history Ned Rorem Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Daniel Asa Rose Author Ori Soltes Professorial Lecturer in Theology and Fine Arts Georgetown University Jerome Shestack Council member at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Phillip Silver Associate Professor of Music Research and Performance in the field of Entartete Musik University of Maine Leonard Slatkin Music Director, National Symphony Orchestra Bret Werb Music Specialist United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Eugenia Zukerman Flutist and Corrrespondent CBS News' Sunday Morning -