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Mindy Barsky brings wealth of experience to new role with Rainbow Stage
By MYRON LOVE Mindy Barsky – Rainbow Stage’s new Development Officer (as of April 4) – says that she is very excited to be a member of the team behind the non-profit organization that is Canada’s longest running outdoor summer theatre.
And, as it happens, the always popular theatre’s second production this year is “The Wizard of Oz” (scheduled to run from August 22 to September 4), Barsky’s favourite show.
(The opening musical this year is going to be “The Hockey Sweater” – June 30-July 17 – based on Roch Carrier’s short story about his boyhood experiences growing up in rural Quebec in the 1940s and one vignette in particular about what happens when he is forced to show up for one hockey practice wearing the jersey of hated Toronto Maple Leafs instead of the de rigueur Canadiens colours.)
As William Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”. During her career, the daughter of the late Percy and Shirley Barsky has played many a starring role, most built around the theme of working with historically marginalized communities and people facing barriers.
As was noted in a Rainbow Stage press release announcing her appointment, “Mindy is a dynamic development and fundraising professional in the non-profit sector. Her fund development expertise includes major and annual giving, donor cultivation and stewardship, grant writing, signature events, special projects, corporate and individual donations, government grants and planned giving campaigns. Over the past two decades Mindy has focused on improving the quality of life through special projects and raising funds for education and mental health programs.”
Mindy grew up in Garden City, attended Talmud Torah and Joseph Wolinsky Collegiate, The University of Winnipeg Collegiate and York University.
Her first role in life was in dance. She studied dance at York University and upon returning to her home town, taught dance at the University of Manitoba, Royal Dance Conservatory and Kid’s Etc.
“I was always interested in becoming involved in social causes,” she says.
Her first opportunity came in 1989 when she was hired as Director of Communications & Fundraising for Age and Opportunity Inc. “During my time there, we established Canada’s first elder abuse research centre,” she notes.
Other organizations that have benefitted over the years from her abilities have included: Food Matters Manitoba (where she was involved in fundraising and project development); The DASCH Foundation (Direct Action in Support of Community Homes), where she launched a successful Planned Giving Program, and created The DASCH Recognition Awards; and Villa Rosa – an organization that provides transitional housing, education, and supports for women from very complicated backgrounds in varying stages of pregnancy.
One of the highlights of her time as Director of Development at Villa Rosa was the creation of an outdoor teaching garden alongside knowledge keepers, with an emphasis on Indigenous culture. Mindy established the annual Villa Rosa Celebration of Motherhood Dinner, awarding scholarships to underrepresented women and opening doors to a post secondary education.
Barsky’s most recent posting was as the Fund Development Officer at The Link (formerly Macdonald Youth Services MYS where, alongside the Indigenous Initiatives Team, she helped to create and raise the capital for the Planting the Seeds of Reconciliation Project wherein Manitoba community members connect with their culture through intergenerational ceremonies and land-based education.
She also developed the concept and raised project funds for a bike sales and repair shop in a repurposed shipping container at MYS, providing youth with practical employment skills training.
At Rainbow Stage, Mindy Barsky will be working on securing grants, donations and sponsorships for the theatre, as well as developing outreach programs for underserved youth in the community, focusing on offering training and education in the performing arts.
Outside of work hours, Barsky devotes a lot of time to running – and cites one of her role models as her late Aunt Laila Silverberg, who began running in her late 50s and never stopped – racking up numerous records in her age group as the years went by. Barsky herself has been running for close to 40 years and has numerous marathons and half marathons on her resumé.
“I am passionate about what I do,” she says. “If I believe in an organization, I believe that I can help make a difference.”
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Talented Winnipeg composer Sara Kreindler teams up with her mother Reena Kreindler to create new satirical show to premiere here in May
By BERNIE BELLAN It’s been many years since I’ve heard from Sara Kreindler. Sara’s name first appeared in The Jewish Post & News in 2002 when a satirical musical titled “A Touch of Class” was reviewed by the late Arnold Ross. That particular production featured songs from popular Broadway shows that touched upon themes such as “greed, poverty, oppression, and social unrest.”
When she appeared in that show, Ross noted, Kreindler had just recently returned to Winnipeg from England, where she had obtained a doctorate in Social Psychology from Oxford University.
While at Oxford, Kreindler found time to compose a satirical musical titled “Charity,” which played to rave reviews there, and was performed five times.
Continuing in the theme of writing satirical musicals, Sara has now teamed up with her mother, Reena, to write a new musical titled “A Perfect Man,” which is set to run at the Gargoyle Theatre from May 6-17.
According to a press release we received, “A Perfect Man” is “a satirical musical, set on a fictional analogue of ‘The Bachelor’.
“The story follows an anthropologist who arrives to research TV’s hottest reality-dating show — only to discover she’s been made a contestant, and the bachelor is her high school crush. Past and present collide against an exuberant pastiche score that uses vintage musical styles to highlight modern absurdities.”
“Praised as ‘a musician [who] can make biofuels funny’ (CBC), Sara is known for whip-smart satire on a panoply of topics. Her digital musical, ‘Larry Saves the Canadian Healthcare System, created during her former life as an academic, has garnered over 84,000 YouTube views. Naturally, she had a field day with the subject of reality dating.
“The topic just begs for campy zaniness, which I think we all need in these times — but also for a more cerebral critique of what these shows say about the culture that spawned them,” says Kreindler. And thanks to the romance context, the satire is woven into a deeper, more personal story. “It’s satire with a heart.”
Here is some more information about Sara Kreindler, taken from a 2009 article I wrote about her:
“Born in Israel, Sara’s precocious talent was nurtured by her mother, Reena, whose own particular talent is literary, not musical. According to Reena, however, Sara was singing from the time she was a baby, and she began to study piano at the age of four.
“As a young girl, Sara began writing her own songs and poems, along with the “occasional musical”, notes Reena. Yet, Sara’s rare talent put her at odds with the typical interests of other children her own age, on top of which she attended a school to which she was exposed to a fair degree of antisemtism.
“As a result, Sara says, being bullied was a common aspect of her childhood. On one occasion, when she was nine, she notes, Sara fought back against one particular bully by reciting the following little ditty:
“I write so many epigrams to you that all the people laugh.
I’m tired of writing epigrams.
I want to write your epitaph!”
“Sara went on to compose a musical titled ‘Flutesong’ while she was a student at Vincent Massey Collegiate, she says. After doing her undergraduate work at the University of Manitoba, majoring in Psychology, Sara won a Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University.
“Sara eventually earned a doctorate in Social Psychology and returned to Winnipeg, where she began teaching at the University of Manitoba, but she said she didn’t enjoy the “mass production” style of teaching upwards of 300 students at a time, so she switched careers and began doing health research for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.”
All the while Sara has been continuing to compose and perform her own songs, often teaming up with her mother, as she has for “A Perfect Man.”
Showtimes and ticket information for The Perfect Man are available at:
http://www.thegargoyletheatre.com/upcoming-events/the-perfect-man
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Rabbi Kliel Rose to leave Congregation Etz Chayim for new post in Ottawa
The following email from Congregation Etz Chayim Executive Director Morissa Granove was sent to members of the congregation on Friday, April 10:
“Dear Members and Friends,
“As we know, Rabbi Kliel recently spent a weekend with Kehilllat Beth Israel where he has since been offered a position. After much thought and consideration, he has made the decision to sign a contract in Ottawa. He will continue to lead our congregation through Yom Kippur.
“This news marks a significant ending for our Etz Chayim community, and at the same time with change comes opportunity. Congregation Etz Chayim will soon embark on our own Rabbinical search with excitement as we look for our perfect candidates and explore the new possibilities that will help us to continue to shape a strong future for our synagogue and members.”
Kliel Rose took up the position of rabbi at Etz Chayim in August, 2018.
In an article announcing his appointment to the position in the June 6, 2018 issue of The Jewish Post & News, Myron Love wrote:
The congregation has been without a permanent rabbi since last summer when Rabbi Larry Lander chose to retire – after ten years here – and relocate to Toronto.
Kliel Rose is already a well-seasoned rabbi. He was ordained in 2004 by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.
He previously served as spiritual leader at the West End Synagogue in Nashville and Temple Enamu-El in Miami Beach. His current posting is Beth Shalom Synagogue in Edmonton.
Following the example of his parents, Kliel Rose has been active in interfaith dialogue and human rights work for which he was honoured in 2014 with the Human Rights Hero Award by Truah: The Rabbibic Call for Human Rights.
He has also participated in the Kellogg Management Education for Jewish Leaders program at Northwestern University and was most recently chosen to be among 20 rabbis from different denominations chosen to train in the Clergy leadership Incubator – a two-year program, under the leadership of Ranni Sidney Schwarz, intended to educate younger rabbis in innovative thinking, change management and institutional transformation.
In Edmonton, Rose also served as Jewish chaplain at the University of Alberta and took the lead on a program called “Faith and Inclusion”, whose mandate was to support individuals with cognitive and physical learning challenges to feel more welcome within various faith communities.