In a recent article for Huffington Post , Barbara Ernst Prey, an artist and member of the National Council on the Arts, said this about the importance of support for art and artists: “What artists do is tell stories. They help us make sense of our world, and they broaden our experience and understanding. The arts enable us to imagine the unimaginable, and to connect us to the past, the present, and the future, sometimes simultaneously.”

This realization is not lost on the Jewish community. The Midwest Jewish Artists Lab addresses the need to broaden the impact of the arts in Jewish life, helping foster meaning, community, identity, and spirituality. Beginning this fall, a cohort of ten to twelve Chicago-area artists will have the opportunity to participate in this innovative four-year-old initiative, as the lab comes to Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership, generously supported by a grant from the Covenant Foundation.

For the participating artists, the project will provide a community of creativity, support, and enrichment. Monthly meetings – facilitated by Spertus Institute faculty and outside experts – will include opportunities for Jewish text study, discussions of topics and themes relating to Jewish art, and occasions for critical evaluation of participants’ work. Art and artifacts from Spertus Institute’s world-class collection will provide examples for discussion and inspiration. An exhibit of participants’ work will be mounted at Spertus Institute in late spring 2016.

Initially piloted at three locations, the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Milwaukee, the University of Wisconsin Hillel in Madison, and the Sabes Jewish Community Center in Minneapolis, Spertus Institute in Chicago is part of an expansion of the Midwest Jewish Artist Lab that will also include the Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City.

A central theme for 2016 will be selected by representatives of the five participating communities at a conference in Milwaukee in August 2015. Past themes have included Wandering , Light , Text/Context/Subtext , and Water .

Of the program, Spertus Curator of Collections Ilana Segal says, “Spertus Institute has a long and established tradition of supporting local Jewish artists. Past efforts have included juried competitions for contemporary Jewish ceremonial art, as well as solo and group exhibits of both emerging and established local artists. The Midwest Jewish Artists Lab represents an exciting development in this tradition, one we hope will help serve as the next step in our work to foster a flourishing community of Jewish artists in Chicago.”

Applications for the newest cohort of the Midwest Jewish Artists Lab are being accepted through Aug. 3 for Jewish artists in the Greater Chicago area. Artists may work in any medium.

To enter, artists must submit a personal statement and several samples of their work. If selected, artists will be expected to pay a $180 participation fee and attend monthly sessions, which will be held at Spertus Institute, October 2015 through June 2016. These sessions will be scheduled in consultation with participants.

Participating artists will create a work or series of works that reflect the theme selected for 2016, and then these works will be shown at Spertus Institute in the concluding exhibit. More information can be found at spertus.edu .