[HANASHIR:6701] Jewish Entertainment Resources

[Judy Ginsburgh <jerd...>]

We had a wonderful performer's roundtable discussion at the recent CAJE 
Conference and I wanted to share with all of you some of what we discussed.  

We spent some time discussing the future direction of Jewish Entertainment 
Resources and how our new Directory should be offered to the public.  Jewish 
Entertainment Resources began in 1994 with a 100+ page directory which featured 
Jewish performers and their products.  The Directory has grown each year and 
has existed in book form for 3 editions.  The book is getting expensive to 
produce and we want to be more visible as well.

The consensus of the group was to create a more visible and more informative 
presence on line at our web site.   Anyone would be able to access information 
on all of us for FREE.  We would set things up so that a visitor has to "sign 
in" in order to visit the site.  There would be no charge for this, but it 
would enable us to have an instant mailing list of all who visit and this could 
be shared with all artists included in the Directory.  The web site would be 
expanded to include a page for each participating artist with a picture and a 
link directly to their own web page.  Down the road, we will add sound clips.  
In addition, we will produce a professional brochure which will feature each 
artist and encourage people to visit the expanded and informative web site.    
These brochures will be sent to thousands of Jewish organizations and 
programmers.

All of this means much more visibility to you -- the artist and it gives you a 
direct link to your site and a mailing list of visitors.  The deadline to be 
included is September 1.  If you would like more information, please e-mail me 
with your snail mail and I will send it out to you.
If any of you have skills in web design and would like to help get this site up 
and running, I would welcome your help.

We also discussed and signed a petition to encourage a Jewish Grammy category.  
We asked for participants to share information on support services (graphic 
designers, mastering labs, CD duplicators, photographers, web designers, sound 
engineers, etc) so that we can compile a Directory of performance support 
services to be shared.  If you have companies or people you would recommend in 
any of these support areas, please share these with Jewish Entertainment 
Resources.  When we have enough resources, we will share them so we can all 
have access to quality help.

Another area of discussion was how we can all help one another.  We need to be 
willing to host house concerts for fellow artists who travel through our 
hometowns and make recommendations to one another about venue possibilities.  
We need to begin to collaborate more often and be supportive of one another.  
The more we work together and share, the more of a unified front we present to 
the world.  Remember, we are all working toward the same goals -- educating, 
preserving, uplifting, connecting through our art.  

Thanks to all who attended and participated in the roundtable.  We are moving 
forward!  Your suggestions are very much appreciated.

Judy :)

Judy Caplan Ginsburgh, award winning singer/music specialist  (jerd (at) 
centurytel(dot)net)
http://www.jewishentertainment.net/judy
Director:  Jewish Entertainment Resources -- we help you find Jewish talent!
http://www.jewishentertainment.net
Louisiana Professional Artist of the Year!
Past Conference Chair:  23rd Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education 
(CAJE)
http://www.caje.org
Member: Children's Music Web --  http://www.childrensmusic.org