Artists protest after culture minister cancels dozens of awards including cash prizes |
More than two dozen organizations representing artists, dancers, musicians, writers, and other creatives have signed a letter protesting Culture Minister Miki Zohar’s sweeping cancellations of a series of 2026 arts awards.
“Awards do not benefit only the creators themselves — they strengthen the whole cultural ecosystem,” stated the letter published Sunday, which asked Zohar to reconsider his decision, arguing that awards play a role as an engine for local culture, benefiting the creators and advancing Israeli culture internationally.
Zohar did not publicly announce the cuts, and several organizations suddenly discovered that they had not been allocated funds.
The organizers behind the Dvora Omer Prize, named after the children’s book author offering a NIS 100,000 ($31,500) award for children’s and young adult literature, were the first organization to realize what was happening, without being notified by the ministry, said Iris Ronli Riklis, CEO of the Forum of Cultural Institutions, an umbrella group representing some 150 arts and culture organizations and a signatory on the letter
“They figured out that theirs was canceled and that was the trigger,” said Ronli Riklis. “We asked what was happening, as the [Culture and Sport] Ministry adviser hadn’t discussed it at all with us.”
By last week it became clear that the awards, which included cash grants totaling about NIS 5 million ($1.6 million), had been canceled across the........