Second annual professional communications seminar

With its second professional communications seminar finished, Shavei Rachel continues to make a name for itself as a serious arts and communications high school for religious young women, under the auspices of Ohr Torah Stone's Ann Belsky Moranis School for the Arts.

"Entertainment, art and the media play a vital role in our society, but the standards one encounters in any of those careers today often contrast sharply with Torah values," says Shavei Rachel principal Rabbi Danny Epstein. "Instead of running away from that confrontation, we are training young people whose very spirituality can be harnessed to make an impact on the direction, nature and content of 'showbiz', the arts and the media."

For the second year in a row, the school held a seminar for 11th and 12th graders majoring in art, film and drama. The two-day, multi-track program, which focused on film, theater and visual arts, included workshops with top professionals in script writing, photography, lighting for theater and film, stage design, "recycled" art, makeup, soundtracks, masks, color, sculpting and filming techniques. In addition to the workshops there were seminars, screenings of controversial films and panel discussions by faculty and contemporary professionals.

The two-day seminar was based in Kibbutz Ramat Rahel's Resort and Convention Center in Jerualem, but students were also treated to a tour of the Israel Museum, a visit with students at the Emunah College for the Arts, and a performance of "Waiting for Godot" at the Jerusalem Theater.

Students agreed that it was important and inspirational to have "real" professionals facilitating the workshops; people working in the field right now were able to give them a good picture of what's happening today in the creative and performing arts.