Yiddish Theater Plans an Immigration Arts Summit

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The National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene, a downtown cultural mainstay for 100 years, has recently placed an emphasis on cross-cultural pollination: its annual KulturfestNYC festival started in 2015 and has brought together performers from Argentina to Russia to Japan. Now, the Folksbiene will host the Immigration Arts Summit on July 17-18, featuring a diverse array of cultural arts groups. The summit will feature panels, discussions and performances at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, and culminate in a free concert in Robert Wagner Park.

The event will start with a keynote speech by John Leguizamo, an actor whose latest one-man show, “Latin History for Morons,” ran at the Public Theater this year. Panels and workshops will bring together representatives from city arts groups including the Irish Repertory Theater, the Pan Asian Repertory Theater, El Museo del Barrio and the Tenement Museum.

“How can arts companies, representing different backgrounds and races and creeds, be more impactful than ever?” Christopher Massimine, the chief executive of Folksbiene, said in an interview. “Xenophobia is a dangerous byproduct of these times. We want to contradict and discredit it.”

Mr. Massimine said the arts groups would also hold a planning session on July 18 to discuss future collaborations.

Tickets will be $10 for each day, or $15 for both. The concert in Wagner Park, however, is free, and will feature individual and collaborative performances — including excerpts from Folksbiene’s production of the musical “Amerike — The Golden Land,” which opens July 4 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

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