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Guest Column

Editorial

Making The Case For The Arts
As A Jewish Communal Priority

T

he announcement that the UJA-
ning schemes are central both as attractions
Federation in New York will not be
that spur other commercial activities such as
renewing the innovative Six Points
dining and shopping, but also as builders of
Fellowship Program is part of a trend that
community that provide a common cultural
reveals that funding for the arts is falling even
gathering space.
further down on our list of Jewish communal
At a time when municipalities, governments
priorities.
and secular foundations are investing more in
More discouraging evidence of this can be
ensuring a thriving creative community, the
seen in the recent Next Gen Donor report
Jewish community would be wise to make simi-
issued by 21/64 and the Johnson
lar investments to ensure a strong
Center for Philanthropy, which
and knowledgeable Jewish voice.
relates that the next generation of
The golden ages of Jewish life
philanthropists is even less likely to
have always revolved around cities
support the arts than their parents
— Jerusalem and Cordoba, Krakow
and grandparents.
and Warsaw, Berlin and Prague,
The evolving nature of Jewish
New York and Tel Aviv. One of the
philanthropy presents additional
key factors in those golden ages
challenges to the arts where the new
were (depending on the era) strong
emphasis is on basic needs, mea-
creative voices in poetry, theater,
surable impacts, "hands-on" donor
music, film, literature, dance and
Joshua Ford
involvement and a distrust of tradi-
visual arts. We need to recognize
tional institutions. These are unique
this is something our people need
cultural problems for arts institutions and art-
for a healthy communal eco-system particu-
ists to respond to.
larly as it regards the crucial tasks of identity
The closure of the Six Points Fellowship in
formation, education and critical examination
N.Y. (the Los Angeles branch continues for
of our society — all roles the arts are particu-
now), JDub Record's shutdown in 2011 and
larly well-suited to.
the attrition of Jewish art producers like the
If, as is reported in the 21/64 report, civil
Traveling Jewish Theater in San Francisco and
rights, the environment and advocacy are
cutting-edge art venues like 92Y Tribeca has
emergent priorities for Next Gen Donors, then
yet to provoke a thoughtful conversation about we have to make the case that those issues
and advocacy for the importance of Jewish
have long been incubated and found their
arts in the thriving Jewish communities we are most articulate expression through the arts.
seeking to create.
It is not enough anymore for art to speak
It is vital for arts institutions in the Jewish
for itself, just as it is not enough for Jewish
community, Jewish artists and the current
education to be an end in itself, but to strongly
generation of philanthropists that support the
make the case that both these priorities pro-
arts to begin articulating the argument that
vide a way for us to be in the world, as a ves-
the support of the arts is not a distraction
sel for our values and a framework for our
from the values the next generation of philan-
actions.
thropy seeks to support, but central to them.
Similarly, it is incumbent on Jewish art-
Further, Jewish art-makers and art presenters
ists and institutions to recognize the blurring
need to examine their practices and adapt to
line between art creators and art consumers.
new ways of presenting their art that allows
Engaging audiences can no longer just mean
for more interactive, dynamic and engaging
panel discussions following a performance, but
relationships with their audiences and donors.
actual engagement in the creation of art itself.
This is all achievable, but it will require arts
The online world has broadened access to the
administrators and artists to step outside of
world of art-making, and we need to find a
their traditional comfort zones.
way to harness that energy into effective and
First, the argument needs to be made that
compelling projects of real artistic merit.
art deserves an important place in Jewish
One intriguing model is Joseph Gordon-
community priorities. Rather than relying
Levitt's HitRecord initiative, which involves
on traditional and sentimental appeals to the
massive collaborations across various media
transformative power of art (true though it is), and is currently ramping up its own television
we might be better served to point to the revo-
show.
This is the challenge for the next generation
lution in urban planning that has accompa-
nied the revival of America's great cities over
of artists, philanthropists and institutions.
the past 20 years. During that time, the cre-
While it is certain that artists will continue to
ation of "mixed use zones" to provide a combi- create art — true artists have no other choice
nation of living, shopping and entertainment
— whether we will harness those individual
opportunities in urban communities has been
and collective energies into an asset for the
a central practice that has enjoyed tremendous Jewish community remains to be seen.
success and has become the national model in
Joshua Ford is associate executive director at the
cities from Washington, D.C., to Seattle.
Washington, D.C., Jewish Community Center.
Dedicated arts spaces in these new plan-

❑

New Iranian President
Offers Slightest Hope

W

hat's most important to understand about the new
Iranian president, upbeat as his election may have
been given the choices handpicked by the regime, is
that he's a longtime associate of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah
Ali Khameini, who has shown only disdain for Israel and the West.
Hassan Rouhani, a well-educated, multilin-
gual, calculating cleric, played to his moder-
ate and reformer image following the June 14
election, prompting the thought that he might
actually be the right guy to ease the friction
between Tehran and Washington. The Islamic
Republic's former national security adviser
and chief nuclear negotiator seemed to want
reconciliation with the U.S. and seemed to be
Hassan
willing to make Iran's nuclear program, which
Rouhani
he claims is peaceful, more transparent. But
he isn't willing to reduce uranium enrichment,
a key to developing a bomb.
In a country where citizens hunger for a better day, Rouhani
grabbed more than 50 percent of the vote amid a field of six
candidates, including some very shady characters. He has
big shoes to fill, for all the wrong reasons. His predecessor,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was anti-West and anti-Israel – and
stunningly, denied the Holocaust.
Will Rouhani, who wasn't above describing Israel as "the
great Zionist Satan," really embrace the relative moderation
he's now espousing, namely, rebuilding freedoms in a human
rights-starved land? He could prove a significant bridge-builder.
Or he could be cloaked in smoke and mirrors.
Rouhani, 64, a transplanted Scot, is chameleon-like.
Importantly, he displays a knack for engaging the West while
boasting an "in" with Ayatollah Khameini, a friendship honed
since a 1967 train ride. His years advising on national secu-
rity and negotiating on nuclear development should give him
invaluable insight into and appreciation for what's in Iran's best
interests economically and politically. He doesn't appear fool-
ish enough to believe the regime should pursue nuclear arms
at any cost. In his campaign, he touted the belief that "resis-
tance," a popular Islamist refrain, amounted to self-punishment
against mounting international sanctions.
Still, the Israel Project biography of Rouhani relates how he
rose through the Iranian government through ties with Ali Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, president during much of the 1990s, a peri-
od when Iran stepped up international terror as well as uranium
enrichment. Leaving him forever tarnished, Rouhani also was
part of the Iranian government unit that plotted the 1994 AMIA
Jewish Community Center bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
which killed 85 people and injured more than 250 others.
Alireza Nader, an Iran policy analyst at Rand Corp., a U.S.
think tank, told JTA, a Jewish wire service, that Rouhani is
"acceptable to both sides, to Khameini and the conservatives
and to the reformists.
"This is an opportunity for Khameini to make concessions to
change and to save face," Nader said.
Indeed – or Rouhani might just be a more palatable front man
for the regime than the flamboyant Ahmadinejad.
It's hard to believe Rouhani will have the panache to bridge
the chasm within Iranian leadership and ultimately help the
Iranian people. That's a tall order given that Iran is the No.1
state sponsor of terror.
Remember: Hezbollah, Hamas and Syria's Basher Assad are
all in cahoots with Iran's ruling mullahs, who already have at
their behest the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose
range of influence marks every sector of Iranian life.

❑

July 18 • 2013

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