AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF POLISH AFFAIRS
cordially invites you to a meeting with
JANUSZ MAKUCH
DIRECTOR
Kraków Jewish Festival of Culture
Date: Saturday, 11 November 2017
Time: 5pm
Venue: Armagh, 226 Kooyong Rd. Toorak
Entry: $15
Janusz Makuch is the director and co-founder of the Jewish Festival of Culture in Cracow, one of the biggest events of this kind in the world. The Festival was first organised in 1988 and has so far had 27 editions.
In 2017, the Festival hosted over 200 events, including musical performances, workshops, lectures, guided tours and attracted some 30,000 visitors. The Festival gathers around 200 artists and workshop leaders from all over the globe. The New York Times has described it as “the Jewish Woodstock”, while The Guardian has characterised it as “the most prominent symbol of Jewish renaissance”.
Janusz Makuch in common with all other festival organisers, is not Jewish.
In 2008, he became the first recipient of the prestigious Irena Sendler prize awarded by the Taube Foundation for preserving and revitalising Jewish heritage in Poland. For his work in this area, he was also awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta by the President of Poland.
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR OF ONE OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST JEWISH FESTIVALS TO VISIT AUSTRALIA
Mr Janusz MAKUCH, the founder and the director of the Cracow Festival of Jewish Culture, will visit Australia in early November 2017. This annual event is one of the foremost celebrations of Jewish culture in the world today, both as regards to extent and success.
The Festival was founded in 1988 in Cracow, Poland, which had been a major flourishing centre of Jewish culture before the Second World War. Now, within the span of two decades, the Festival has become one of the most significant events of its kind in the world.
In 2017, the Festival hosted over 200 events, including musical performances, workshops, lectures, guided tours, and attracted some 30,000 visitors. The Festivals gathers around 200 artists and workshop leaders from all over the globe. The New York Times has described it as “the Jewish Woodstock,” whilst The Guardian has characterised it as “the most prominent symbol of Jewish renaissance.”
Janusz Makuch, in common with all other festival organisers, is not Jewish. In 2008, he became the first recipient of the prestigious Irena Sendler prize awarded by the Taube Foundation for preserving and revitalising Jewish heritage in Poland.
“It’s a way to pay homage to the people who lived here,” says Janusz Makuch when asked about the original purpose of organising the festival. “We never have been and never will be a klezmer festival! We are a festival of diverse worlds: the worlds of Ashkenazy, Sephardic, Oriental, and finally of Israeli culture.”
Mr Makuch is visiting Australia upon invitation of the Australian Institute of Polish Affairs.
Media Contact: Adam Warzel, mob. 0466 245 862; email: mwarzel@bigpond.net.au
