Photo by Mariah Miranda Photography
educator. facilitator. archivist. artist. doula.
Welcome! I’m glad you’re here. My name is Yael Horowitz (she/they), Yael means mountain goat. I am currently a PhD student in Theatre and Performance Studies at CUNY studying queer Yiddish theatre. I have a Master’s in Museum Studies.
In addition to my work as a scholar-practitioner, I offer familial legacy services - oral history, family archive creation, death planning - as a way to connect to the stories that shape who we are. Everyone is a part of history, I would be honored to help you collect a piece of yours.
Some more things we can work on together: Reach out to talk collaboration for research and writing projects about queer Yiddish performance and history. Hire me for facilitation opportunities surrounding grief, community building, and institutional critiques. Let me support you or a loved one in navigating loss. Book the Shmutzik Shmates to perform at your next event.
See some examples of this kind of work below and contact me here. Let’s create something nourishing together!
What I Do
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Griefspace
A space created and facilitated by Rachel Godfrey and I to hold some of the immense grief of 2020 and beyond. Facilitated over zoom. Please reach out about griefspace and possible collaborations/offerings.
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A Labor of Love, but Labor Nonetheless
Essay published in The Museum Scholar: Theory and Practice about labor conditions in museums and the radical imaginative potential of unionization.
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Love in the Time of Corona Zine
Curated zine of submissions from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Carceral Museum Zine
Zine about the connections between prisons and museums. Includes questions that inspire a vision of a more liberated museum. Zine was created in conjunction with a workshop and training program for museum workers. Reach out if you would like to bring this conversation to your institution.
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Material Culture Essay
Published in the Coalition of Master’s Scholars on Material Culture journal. The essay interprets objects in the context of the Octagon historic house and the story they tell about enslavement and power.
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Essay on the Queer Yiddish Anti-fascist Aesthetic
Published in the Activist History Review, co-authored with Dr. Julia Havard. Examines the work of queer Yiddish burlesque in world-building processes.
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Lifting the Veil: Virtual Burlesque Show
The Shmutzik Shmates spooky show about hauntings, dybbuks, and survival.
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The Shmutzik Shmates
DC’s only queer Yiddish Burlesque troupe. Devising performances from ancestral and archival places.
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As If We Were There
Virtual Passover burlesque show from April 2020. Presents themes of tradition, time travel, and resilience.