State Sen. Michael Gianaris announced Tuesday that more than $649,000 in state funding will be distributed among multiple organizations in western Queens for arts programs. The funding, which comes via the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), is being awarded to 22 organizations.
Siblings Yoni and Sivan Battat discuss how collaborating on the former's music album became a means of reconnecting with their Iraqi family and heritage, and of disentangling Mizrahiness from Israeliness.
Sivan Battat is a theatre director, organizer, and story-teller, and the Associate Artistic Director of Noor Theatre in New York. She is also a community organizer with the Mizrahi and Sephardi Caucus of JFREJ (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice). Their recent directing credits include full productions at Studio Theatre in Washington, DC and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and readings at Roundabout Theater Company, Playwrights Horizons, and Long Wharf Theatre.