LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture

LABA: A Laboratory for Jewish Culture uses classic Jewish texts to inspire the creation of art, dialogue, and study.

Part of LABA is the House of Study, a NYC-based artist fellowship program in which a mix of culture-makers come together to study classic Jewish texts in a non-religious, open-minded setting.

The fellows use the study to inspire work, which is featured in our series of LABAlive events and performances. Every year, LABA focuses its study around a theme. Previous themes include PARADISE, EROS, BLUEPRINT, EAT, MOTHER, TIME, BEAUTY, OTHER, LIFE + DEATH, HUMOR, CHOSEN, BROKEN, TABOO, and NIGHT. This year’s theme is CHANGE.

LABA’s goal is to present Judaism’s rich literary and intellectual tradition in a free and creative setting, so that these stories and ideas spark new art. The creative output from our House of Study pushes the boundaries of what Jewish art can be and what Jewish texts can teach.

In 2014, LABA was named one of the most innovative Jewish organizations in North America by the Slingshot Guide and also received a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts.

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Current Theme

The LABA theme for 2025 is CHANGE.

Our relationship with change reaches in two oppositional directions – we fear change, loathe change, long to keep things as they are or reverse things to how they used to be, yearning to return to mythical homelands, to gardens, to our childhoods, to the people and communities and places we knew before change happened; and yet, what are our lives if not constant change, or the pursuit of constant change?

As culture-makers, we simultaneously pursue change of words, materials, musical notes, ideas, sensibilities, and warn others of easy, shallow change, knowing that real change is never so simple. In Jewish culture, we also toggle between a resistance to change and embrace of constant flux – laws, ideas, customs, feelings are simultaneously fixed, resistant to change, and open to change through careful deliberations as well as dreams and intuitions. This year at LABA, we will dive into the paradoxes of CHANGE in our collective souls and individual creative practices.