In every way I can think of, it was a beautiful way to celebrate our 25th anniversary. We’ve updated the YSW website with photo albums by the YSW photographer, Shendl Copitman; a short video of excerpts from the final celebration day on August 17th (also made by Shendl); and a summary of our final press release, including this year’s statistics and excerpts from the congratulations we received from several important guests who attended.

The final concert took place outdoors on a huge stage directly in front of Weimar’s City Hall, on the same Marktplatz where Hitler often greeted his followers 80+ years ago – a symbolic meaning that was lost on no one.

As the Founding Artistic Director of Yiddish Summer Weimar, I want to give my sincere thanks to all of my hard-working and cherished colleagues who planned and managed YSW25, as well as the artists, volunteers, partners, supporters, and audiences who create and sustain the YSW community!

If you were with us, take a stroll down memory lane on our website, and if you weren’t, have a look at what took place in a mere six weeks (!). We hope you can join us next year!

    Dr. Alan Bern

In the past three YSW seasons, I was right in the middle of it all – observing and documenting events, experiencing the concerts, and dancing hand in hand with many of you. I remember so many beloved faces, spontaneous three-story human pyramids, long nights at the OMA, handing out tissues to audience members, really great food, volunteer dance workouts, detailed awareness meetings, pure joy and shared pain, getting to know new friends and old traditions, the intense experience of 14 clarinets playing at the same time, singing nigunim together, pitching in (after stacking chairs comes…more stacking chairs), someone’s leg getting stuck in a tuba, conversations about musical details, a shared cigarette after the work was done, your help, puppetry and the goldene keyt on Erfurt’s streets, the lovely conversations we had … and hours-long jams under Weimar’s summer sky.

But after three years as social media manager of Yiddish Summer Weimar, it’s time for me to move on. Through my work with and alongside you, I got to know so many exciting and wonderful people, as well as your music and art. I got to learn so much, and my mental suitcase is full of deep experiences (and many project ideas).

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for the beautiful time!
I’m sure we’ll meet again.

Yours,
    Jonathan

P.S.: Let’s stay in touch! You can find me on Insta at
@pen_andpitch (projects, English) or
@jona_thanuki (feminism and colorful content, German).
Or take a look at my new website: www.jonathanmuermann.com

Dear Jona, we’re sorry to see you go and we’ll miss you, our social media ace and sticker virtuoso!
Thank you for all your support, and we wish you all the best for your next adventures!

And she shines – the old lady in her elegant attire with a fresh new frame. The flowerbeds aren’t planted yet –   that will happen in October – and you’re all warmly invited to join! 
www.openpavillon.eu

The elegant gray of the OMA façade is now complemented by a gentle red veil along the terrace and the staircase, refined with many small, colorful glittering stones. A bold experiment that at first raised some skepticism – and now demonstrates how the joy of experimenting, empathy for old stones, and the building’s history can create a very special aesthetic.

What’s next? Plumbers and electricians are busy in the attic, which is scheduled to be finished soon. At the same time, bathrooms are being built, floors are being laid, and walls are being painted. And now it’s your turn: if you don’t want to wait until everything is finished, just come by and see – or even lend a hand! There are countless painting jobs and plenty of brushes waiting to be used. Feel free to reach out anytime.

New Podcast by Eyal Davidovitch in our project „Generation J”!
I Think I Saw You is a new podcast dedicated to exploring our human disappearance.

In its inaugural season, creator and artist Eyal Davidovitch interviewed the participants and faculty members of our program “Generation J” about their reflections, thoughts, and experiences of “disappearance.”

We invite you to listen to the short episodes and dive into a variety of subtle perspectives. Find the links below!

From a collage of voices emerges a story about a temporary and unknown community. A glimpse into a hidden culture, and into its resilience, is revealed. It is a story about love and about our human fragility. A story about connection and belonging. But it’s also a story that highlights our unique differences—even through the different ways we grasp and shape a common metaphor.

Stadt_Land_Schloss went on a village tour!
Our cooperation project with the Friedenstein Foundation Gotha reached a fantastic climax!

Who carved the beams in Friedenstein Castle? What does Catterfeld have to do with Kasperle puppets? And what do folks in Korea know about Wangenheim?
From August 25 to September 6, 2025, our OMA culture trailer toured through the villages of Georgenthal, Altenbergen-Catterfeld, Brüheim, and Wangenheim in the Gotha region. With audio plays, pop-up exhibitions, workshops, concerts, and hikes, we brought museum culture to life in cooperation with Friedenstein Castle.

Along the way, we told legendary stories from past and present, and with local associations, artists, musicians, naturalists, and many other participants, we created a colorful summer program. People were invited to explore the connections between the Friedenstein collections and regional traditions – and, above all, to make living and contemporary engagement with cultural heritage in Thuringia visible!

A heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who was part of it – to the associations and communities for their support, to all the visitors who helped us bring the region’s cultural heritage to life, and especially to all the interview partners who shared their stories with us and made the audio plays possible!
It was wonderful, and for now, we can say: we’ll be back! :)

If you’d like to listen to the entertaining and engaging audio plays, you can do so at stadtlandschloss.podigee.io.

Wir am Wasser – the river stories from near and far continue!
Updates from the Engagiertes Land network in Aken on the Elbe (Saxony-Anhalt)

This is the OMA’s fifth year being active as a network partner with the partner associations Werftvolle Zukunft and Wir mit Dir e.V. in Aken near Dessau.

Here, everything revolves around life on and by the water – including our culture boat Mary Jane and lively social culture in rural areas!

In 2025, we carried out and planned a wide variety of workshops, and in October, our annual project week with the city’s after-school center will take place once again – this time with living paintings, “tableaux vivants”, inspired by diverse aesthetic cultures and places around the world.

The growing pressure from the far right, the presence of right-wing youth outreach in the region, and the shift in discourse – in which what was once considered consensus is now already labeled as “left extremist” – are strongly felt in our joint work with many local partners. Despite that – and precisely because of it – we continue to organize platforms for coming together that clearly stand for openness to the world, for diversity, and against right-wing violence, most recently at the Intercultural Summer Festival and the 10-year anniversary of Wir mit Dir (Sept 12–13).

From Sept 19–21, we’re organizing a micro-conference at the Werft and the VorOrt Haus in Dessau on ethical questions and the do’s and don’ts of artistic work in rural areas, all under the motto “Art for Connecting.” This is the annual meeting of the working group “Nachhaltige Entwicklung in ländlichen Räumen” (Sustainable Development in Rural Areas) of the Bosch Alumni Network, of which OMA is a member! Partners include the Federal Network for Civic Engagement (BBE, Bundesnetzwerk Bürgerschafltiches Engagement) and several exciting guests!

Ahoy, and see you soon by the river!
    Wir am Wasser and the cultural boat Mary Jane

Our jazz project Come Closer, now in its fifth year, continues through fall and into winter.

Come Closer was founded in 2021 by Jordan White and Peter Ehwald to strengthen and connect the Thuringian jazz scene. Since then, dozens of fantastic concerts have taken place, and several jazz musicians from Weimar and Thuringia have found their way into the larger German jazz scene.

Due to a decrease in the available funding, there won’t be any more double concerts for now. Instead, we’ll host concerts with a single band, as well as the trademark format “JamPLUS,” in which top-level artists perform together with students from the University of Music Weimar. The Come Closer festival will also take place again this year, with concerts at the OMA on December 5 and 7 as well as two concerts at St. Michaelis Church in Kranichfeld.

On October 12, saxophonist and composer Silke Eberhard will perform with her trio at the OMA. She’s been shaping the Berlin jazz scene for many years.

"Eberhard leads a superb trio. In this stellar configuration, she presents her own compositions: flexible and engaging works that are rooted in hard-swinging post-bop, but nevertheless leave her great freedom."
    Downbeat Magazine, Peter Margasak