Friends of the Cracow Jewish Culture Festival Society, Inc. is an American, tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to supporting Jewish cultural events in Europe, including the premier annual Jewish Culture Festival in Cracow, Poland.

Every June since 1988, the historic Jewish quarter of Cracow, called Kazimierz, is filled once again with a crescendo of music, art, dance, lectures, exhibits, and more, all celebrating the nine-hundred-year history of Jews in Poland. Over the course of nine days, numerous Festival events take place in a variety of venues from morning to late into the night, showcasing both traditional and contemporary aspects of Jewish culture.

The Festival draws fans from Cracow and throughout Poland, Central and Western Europe, Israel, the United States, and elsewhere to enjoy, share, and participate in this unforgettable annual event. Some of the most renowned figures in Jewish music today perform at the Festival, including:

  • Michael Alpert
  • Chava Alberstein
  • Brave Old World
  • Cantor Yitzhak Meir Helfgot
  • Theodore Bikel
  • Cantor Alberto Mizrahi
  • The Klezmatics
  • Deborah Strauss and Jeff
  • David Krakauer
  • Warshauer Duo
  • Frank London
  • Anthony Coleman
  • Cantor Benzion Miller
  • Uri Caine
  • Andy Statman
  • Veretski Pass

Friends of the Jewish Culture Festival Society provides year-round support, financial assistance, and personal involvement to the Festival organization. It is especially important in these times to provide the people of Poland, Central Europe, Western Europe, and beyond with a connection to the roots of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe, and exposure to its continual evolution around the world.

Friends of the Jewish Culture Festival Society, Inc. has been recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax exempt charitable organization under Internal Revenue Code Section 501 (c) (3). Contributions made to the Friends of the Jewish Culture Festival Society, Inc. are deductible as charitable contributions.


Photo/design: Ryszard Horowitz
“The Klezmer music that has been made at the Festival over the years -- on stage, at dance workshops, and in the free Klezmer duo improvisations -- has grown and deepened, and there is a very powerful response to it. Where else in the world is there a contemporary audience in the thousands for Klezmer music, for ultimately Yiddish song?”

-- Michael Alpert, Ethnologist
Musician

Copyright 2018 Friends of Cracow Jewish Culture Festival, All Rights Reserved.