All TogetherAt Least for Now:

Many believe that Jerusalem is nothing more then what they hear in the news. We see car
bombs destroy cafes, busses exploding near schools and religious strife. But Jerusalem has
another side that combines different backgrounds, cultures and religions to make art.
The Jerusalem Season of Culture has directly engaged those living in the city where is it
viewed as a place of complexity and diversity, beauty and contention. However, the
multidisciplinary program is featuring close to 1,000 artistic events all around the city. Art
including visual arts, music, performance, new media, and food are shown across the city each
summer in museums, historic sites, contemporary galleries, performance spaces, private homes,
and marketplaces. This will be done by over 3,300 Israeli, 240 international artists, and more
then 300,000 viewers. The collaborative work is believed to promote openness and build
bridges in a society driven by conflictbetween Israelis and Palestinians, between secular and
ultraorthodox Jews. The program, with multiple cultural venues, has helped to stimulate
economy for all cultures.
The Israeli idealism was proved last summer, when a program at the Israel Museum,
called Contact Point, showed artists choreograph live interactions involving works depicting the
war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The executive director of the Season of
Culture, Naomi Bloch Fortis, said We had to decide what our role was at a moment of such
strong violence and racism. We could not continue as usual when nothing around us was as
usual. The organization canceled events during the 50 day war, but created new artistic
responses to the situation. After the 50-day war was over in late August 2014, and the 50th
anniversary, the delayed Contact Point continued with their work, with the modus operandi is
never to cancel, said James Snyder, director of the encyclopedic museum.

All TogetherAt Least for Now:

Jerusalem may always have the threat of danger in their city, They refuses to deny
showing the another side that groups different cultures and religions to produce beauty through
visual arts, music, performance, new media, and food.

All TogetherAt Least for Now:

Bibliography
Sheets, Hilarie M. "All Together-At Least for Now: Jerusalems Season of Culture."
ARTnews. Art News, Aug. 2015. Web. 25 May 2016.
<http://www.artnews.com/2015/08/11/all-together-at-least-for-now-jerusalemsseason-of-culture/>.