Klezmer “without” ICE

We are excited to announce the upcoming 4th annual Klezmer on Ice festival on January 31st and February 1st in Minneapolis.

The name “Klezmer on Ice” is meant to playfully honor the unique, weird, and creative culture of the South Minneapolis community in which our festival is rooted, but it is not lost on us that the name of our festival may come off as tone-deaf given the recent murder of Renee Nicole Good z’’l and the ongoing abductions of our neighbors by ICE agents.

Coming from a Yiddish tradition that knows too well the history of pogroms, holocaust, and catastrophe, we are well aware that lawless police forces like ICE are antithetical to everything we stand for as Yiddishists. In the Yiddish language, Klezmer on Ice or "klezmer on eyz" translates directly to klezmer WITHOUT ice. In this spirit, we are making it clear that this is an anti-ICE event.

We invite you to join us in a joyful celebration that aims to strengthen the bonds of our Yiddish community, our Jewish community, and our many resilient artistic and cultural communities that make the southside what it is. We are looking forward to a weekend of workshops, talks, concerts and more in which we deepen our connections with one another – that is what keeps us safe.

Minneapolis on (without) ICE.