American Conference of Cantors Educational Endowment Fully Funded by Suburban Chicago’s Footlik Family Foundation

Schaumburg, IL:  The American Conference of Cantors (ACC) is pleased to announce that with an additional donation from the Irving M. & Sylvia Footlik Foundation, the Conference has reached the fundraising threshold to fully utilize the Footlik Sustaining Education and Professional Development Fund originally established in 2009 by the late Sylvia Footlik. The fund was dedicated in memory of her late husband, Irving, to support ongoing professional development programming for members of the ACC.

The ACC, through its support for and cultivation of excellence among cantors, strengthens Reform Jewish life in North America. ACC cantors are equipped to be attentive to the joys and challenges that members within a congregation face over the course of their lives, using both their unique calling to music and prayer and their shared responsibilities for offering spiritual leadership to congregations. ACC members also can help lead their congregations and by extension, the Reform Jewish movement in North America, to a bright future.

Cantor Gail Hirschenfang, chair of the ACC endowment committee said, “The endowment committee is deeply grateful to Robert Footlik, chair of the Irving M. & Sylvia Footlik Foundation and the Board of Directors of the Foundation for their generous gift and ongoing support. This fund will be used to promote the creation and enhancement of Jewish music through the Reform Jewish cantorial tradition. It will enable the ACC to sponsor cantorial professional development and deeper communal enrichment for our member cantors through virtual and in person conferences.”

The American Conference of Cantors, the largest organization for ordained and certified cantors, is a partner organization to the Union for Reform Judaism. With over 550 members, the ACC cultivates excellence among cantors and strengthens Reform Jewish life in North America. For more information, visit our website at www.accantors.org.

Photo: Members of the ACC learn music together at 2019 conference in Atlanta, GA. Photographer: Ellis Vener