Regional Gatherings
Let My People Sing! is thrilled to expand access to our programs by piloting day long regional gatherings, to continue fostering the magic of Jewish communal singing. This Spring we’re headed to the Midwest and the South, and hope to add additional regional gatherings in other regions across the country in the fall and winter.
Minneapolis Sings!
Sunday, May 19, 2024 | 1:00 - 6:00pm
Location: Spring Lake Park Reserve (rain location Shir Tikvah)
Featured Teachers: Dodie Whitaker & Sarina Partridge
Workshop Co-facilitator: Lila Sarene
Featured workshops:
Singing our Grief, with Sarina & Lila
Join us in creating a space to hold our personal and collective grief, our fresh and ancient grief, our disconnection and loss of our bodies’ holy pathways to grief, and our practices of remembering through breath, through truth telling and through song. Lila Sarene will guide us through a practice of embodied storytelling and Songleader Sarina Partridge will share original songs to support us in tending and holding grief, and offer reflections around using song as a healing modality for individual and collective grief work.
Dodie’s workshop info coming soon
Dodie Whitaker, a dynamic vocal artist from Viroqua, Wisconsin, blends a diverse musical background with infectious enthusiasm and passion for singing into her extensive body of work. A racial justice facilitator with Holistic Resistance since 2021, Dodie has created her latest initiative, Voices Rising Song Circles, to connect and empower communities through collaborative singing, cooperative principles and creative expression. She spent many years as an Artist-in-Residence in the Chicago Public Schools, has held teaching positions at Youth Initiative High School and Western Technical College, and currently serves as an assistant conductor with the RidgeTones community choir. Dodie’s original compositions are heavily influenced by her lived experiences as a biracial Jew of color, while traversing the realms of classical and operatic music, African American spirituals, theater and International folk music to create a truly unique singing experience. Co-author of "Who is Community Singing For?" Dodie has showcased her music at venues and events like Village Fire, House of Blues Chicago and Girls Rock Camp Madison. You can connect with Dodie and learn more about her work at www.voices-rising.com.
Sarina Partridge is a musician, song-leader, educator and activist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She feels most alive when learning, creating and sharing songs -- especially songs that grow out of time spent in wild places. Sarina sings with a wide variety of music projects: community song-leading; harmony-rich original music with folk trio Heartwood; and performing and teaching of Eastern European and Yiddish song - her own musical lineage. Sarina has a passion for connecting people with their own creativity and with community, and uses harmony singing as a modality to help folks develop a sense of wonder and belonging in this wild world around us.
Lila Sarene is a queer Jew, disabled mystic, poet, ritualist, facilitator, bodyworker, organizer and spiritual leader living (mostly) in Minneapolis.
North Carolina Sings!
Sunday, June 2, 2024 | 1:00 - 6:00 pm
Location: TBD (Durham area)
Featured Teachers: Anthony Russell & Eliana Light
Registration & more info coming soon…
Anthony Russell - For the past ten years Anthony Russell has been a vocalist, composer and arranger specializing in music in the Yiddish language. Anthony's work with klezmer trio Veretski Pass resulted in Convergence, an exploration of a century of African American and Ashkenazi Jewish music. His recent release on the Borscht Beat label with accordionist and keyboardist Dmitri Gaskin, Kosmopolitn, features their original settings of Yiddish modernist poetry for voice and string ensemble. Anthony has also been a culture essayist in a number of publications, including The Forward, Tablet Magazine, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, PROTOCOLS, Full Stop Magazine, Ayin Press and Jewish Currents.
Eliana Light envisions a joyful, vibrant, heart-centered Judaism that speaks to the soul and moves the spirit, reminding us that we all are One. She holds prayer space, leads song, trains educators, and consults with communities to bring this vision to life. She is the founder and head T’fillahsopher at the Light Lab, whose mission is to make Jewish liturgy and prayer practice accessible and meaningful to all seekers, and the co-host of the Light Lab podcast. She is also a sought-after songwriter and performer of catchy, content-rich, community-connective tunes for all ages, and has put out four albums of original Jewish music. Eliana received her Master’s in Jewish Education from the Davidson school at JTS in 2016, and is based in Durham, North Carolina.
12:30 - 1:00 | Arrival & Settling In
1:00 - 2:30 | Opening Sing & Welcome
3:00 - 4:00 | Sessions with Featured Teachers
4:30 - 6:00 | Community Sing & Closing
Exact schedule may be subject to change, this is an overall idea of the flow.
Schedule
FAQ
How does registration work?
We will send registration out to some regional networks a few days before reg opens. Registration will be first come first serve after that.
Cost: $36-$360 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds. Kids 12 and under free.
We will hold a limited number of spots for BIJOCSM, trans women, trans femmes, and disabled folks
Is this a child friendly program?
The programming is geared towards adults, however children are welcome to attend with their parents.
Will there be food?
There will be light snacks, but please bring your own food if you will need significant nourishment during that time. Make sure to bring water! (For Minneapolis, just make sure to bring a water bottle, as there is a water source on site)
What are your COVID protocols?
Check out our COVID protocols for day long gatherings document for more information.
What are the accessibility details for these gatherings?
The Twin Cities gathering will be held at a free-to-enter public park with wheelchair accessible parking and bathrooms, as well as paved mostly flat pathways. One potential workshop space includes a low incline pathway, which we will determine use of based on the access needs of participants. We will gather under the West Picnic Shelter. Speakers will have amplification. This is a scent-reduced space. The location is unfortunately not accessible by public transportation, but we’ll provide a way for participants to coordinate carpools. Drinking fountain and jug filler available, as well as charcoal grills (if you want to arrive early or stay late and grill out!). Limited seating (picnic tables + a few stand alone chairs) available. The park’s bathrooms are gendered, and we will provide an all gender porta potty next to the public bathrooms. Electrical outlets available. While the picnic shelter is a private rental, other people - hikers, families walking by, dogs, etc., may be present near where we are gathering, and we will have volunteers to help hold a container for our gathering and interface with any curious park goers. Rain location (Shir Tikvah) access info coming soon. If you have any access needs that have not been addressed, please email info@letmypeoplesing.org and we will do our best to accommodate them.
North Carolina gathering location TBD, but we are looking at a few outdoor options. Additional accessibility information coming soon, and in the meantime feel free to email info@letmypeoplesing.org with questions.
What if I need a ride?
We’ll set up a carpool page to help folks coordinate rides.
What should I bring?
Our outdoor venues will likely have a limited amount of seating available, and ask that you help out by bringing your own chair and a chair(s) to share if you are able. Additional what to brings coming soon!
How will we approach gathering in a time of heightened polarization in the Jewish community?
We’ve created Community Guidelines for this summer’s gathering. We’ll ask you to read over this document before registering for this retreat.