Plans for 'Hope Springs Eternal: The Holocaust Project' move forward

Dave Sutor, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·2 min read

Oct. 20—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — "Hope Springs Eternal: The Holocaust Project," an educational and artistic collaborative effort that is still in its early developmental stage, has already taken on an increased significance due to the Israel — Hamas war that started two weeks ago.

Groups including Vision Together 2025, the Community Foundation for the Alleghenies, Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance and Arts Coalition of the Alleghenies, plan to support numerous endeavors in 2024 and possibly beyond that spotlight Jewish culture and history.

Participants gathered for a meeting on Thursday, while in the Middle East the war continued to rage.

"Obviously, we could have never foreseen the circumstances that are going on in the world today," Vision Together 2025 Executive Director Robert Forcey said. "To me, this next year is going to be real important for this. Hopefully we're not still dealing with what's going on in Israel next year, and it will be peaceful and over with."

The project, which is funded through the Blanche Beerman Holocaust Museum Fund, already includes scheduled performances of "Fiddler on the Roof" in November 2024 at the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center and a concert in which the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra will play music written in concentration camps.

Other events are still to be determined with grant money available to organizations that would like to put on educational activities.

Rebecca Catelinet, executive director of the Pennsylvania Rural Arts Alliance, is encouraging groups to "do something of their own, on their own to focus on some aspect of Holocaust education in an arts and creative way or in any way" in order to create the "beautiful, wonderful project that we want it to be."

Organizers would also like the project to help unify the local arts community and provide a foundation for more work in the future.

"I think the reason we chose the title for 'Hope Springs Eternal' is because we are hoping that this not only, at this point, brings attention to the Jewish community and the Holocaust, which is the focus of this project, we also want to keep this going," said Bottle Works Creative Director Matt Lamb, a leader of Vision's arts and culture priority goal capture team.

"We want all these arts organizations to continue to collaborate," he said, "and we thought 'Hope Springs Eternal' is something that we can, for maybe years to come, latch onto."