ASYLUM: INTERNATIONAL JEWISH ARTIST RETREAT Promotes Global Community of Jewish Artists, Now thru 3/5

Some 70 top young Jewish artists from around the world will gather in Garrison, NY, today, March 3 through March 5, 2013 for a special retreat. The unique networking and learning experience is intended to help cultivate an international community of Jewish artists. Asylum: International Jewish Artist Retreat, a first-ever gathering of emerging Jewish artists of this caliber, is a joint venture of the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists and ROI Community.

Among those attending will be visual artists, playwrights, choreographers, musicians, composers, photographers, filmmakers, screenwriters, poets, and writers. Artists were selected for being outstanding in their fields and their dedication to careers as creators of new works. Participants include Barak Marshall, a choreographer from Los Angeles and Israel; Jewlia Eisenberg, a musician from San Francisco; Yevgeniy Fiks, a visual artist from New York; Michael Greilsammer, a musician from Israel; Guila Kessous, an actress from France, and Simja Dubov, a musician from Argentina.

"Artists create meaningful experiences in the world," said Rebecca Guber, Director of the Six Points Fellowship. "We believe that empowering Jewish artists from around the globe to advance their careers helps to broaden Jewish culture and the collective Jewish narrative in the world. By bringing together the most talented and innovative young Jews and giving them professional support and tools to help their projects succeed, we create a strong community of these young Jewish artists, which ultimately will serve to strengthen the Jewish future."

The Six Points Fellowship, a program of the Foundation for Jewish Culture, was created in 2006 in recognition that culture has become a powerful connector in the lives of young Jewish adults and is key to fostering a common language and bolstering identity. There is growing understanding in the Jewish community that artists play a pivotal role in forging these connections, and that their development and work with Jewish ideas should be supported.

Asylum is part of ROI Connection Points, a pilot project of ROI Community, created to expand the organization's reach and create greater opportunity for entrepreneurs to connect, learn about creative new ideas, deepen relationships and affect change.

ROI Community is a global community of Jewish innovators created by Lynn Schusterman. ROI connects dynamic, creative Jews and gives them the tools, support and space to turn their ideas into innovative work that will change the face of Jewish life. The gatherings, professional development and financial support that ROI Community offers its members empowers them as leaders, activists and change-agents in shaping the future of the Jewish world and beyond. ROI is a part of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Philanthropic Network, a global network of philanthropic initiatives focused on igniting the passion and unleashing the power in young people to create change for themselves, in the Jewish community and across the broader world. Further information about ROI Connection Points can be found on www.roicommunity.org/connection_points.