The America-Israel Cultural Foundation (AICF) is a non-profit American foundation that supports cultural projects in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

History

The America-Israel Cultural Foundation was established in 1939 to support the growth and development of a Jewish national home. It was originally known as the American Fund for Palestinian Institutions. After the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the name was changed to the American Fund for Israeli Institutions, and subsequently re-incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit foundation in the US as its current name, the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. After initial years of funding the development of Israeli life through capital projects involving agriculture, archeology, culture, law, and numerous other categories, the organization shifted its focus entirely to culture and by 1954 was entirely focused on cultural support. As an early provider of

seed money Seed money, also known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term ''seed'' suggest ...

for nearly all of the notable cultural institutions in Israel, including the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Museum, the Batsheva Dance Company and over 600 other institutions, AICF helped establish and maintain the long-standing excellence of Israeli culture throughout the world. In 1961, it gave entertainer

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success as a violinist on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

an award for his support. The organization was once housed in the William H. Moore House ''Note:'' This includes from 1966 until the late 1970s. In 1977, the AICF created a chapter in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Early recipients included

Daniel Barenboim Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman (; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist. He has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a state dinner for Elizabeth II at the White House in 2007, and at the First ina ...

Daniel Libeskind Daniel Libeskind (born May 12, 1946) is a Polish–American architect, artist, professor and set designer. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect. He is known for the design a ...

(for accordion),

Pinchas Zukerman Pinchas Zukerman (; born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor. Life and career Zukerman was born in Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zukerman. He began his musica ...

Miriam Fried Miriam Fried (; born 9 September 1946) is a Romanian-born Israeli classical violinist and pedagogue. Biography Miriam Fried was born in Satu Mare, Romania but moved with her family to Israel when she was aged 2. Her family settled in Herzliya. ...

Rami Bar-Niv Rami Bar-Niv (; born December 1, 1945) is an Israeli pianist, composer and author. Life and career Bar-Niv is a graduate of the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv, where he studied piano with Karol Klein and composition with Paul Ben-Haim, Al ...

Yefim Bronfman Yefim Naumovich Bronfman (; born April 10, 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli-American pianist. Biography Bronfman was born in Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, and immigrated to Israel at the age of 15. He was born into a musical Jewish family. His father Naum ...

, and by 2015, over 17,000 young artists had been supported. The foundation was in danger of closing in the wake of losses caused by the

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

run by

Bernard Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time ...

. Since 2008 AICF has rebuilt, increasing its investments to $2.7 million. They have granted more than 2500 new scholarships and supported more than $8 million in direct support to Israeli culture. They promote Israeli culture internationally featuring Israel's cultural partnerships with more than 100 countries around the world, and are gaining support from a new generation of supporters who believe culture is the key to promoting understanding. In 2019, in celebration of its 80th anniversary, AICF launched the ICA Awards (Israeli Culture & Arts Awards), to recognize "the most impactful Israeli artists... for their contributions to the global cultural landscape". The inaugural recipients of the award, announced on October 28, 2019, are

Hanna Azoulay Hasfari Hanna Azoulay-Hasfari (; born June 29, 1960) is an State of Israel, Israeli Actor, actress, screenwriter, playwright, film director and a two-time winner of the Ophir Award. She is a women's rights Activism, activist, and has dedicated her career ...

(theater),

Ohad Naharin Ohad Naharin (; born 1952) is an Israeli choreographer, contemporary dancer, and creator and teacher of a unique system/language/pedagogy of dance called Gaga. He served as artistic director of Batsheva Dance Company from 1990; he stepped down i ...

(dance),

Ron Leshem Ron Leshem () is an Israeli screenwriter, producer, and author. He is an executive producer of ''Euphoria'', which was based on the Israeli television series he co-created and co-wrote in 2012. His first film as a screenwriter, '' Beaufort,'' ...

(literature),

Idan Raichel Idan Raichel (, ; b. 12 September 1977) is an Israeli singer-songwriter and musician known for his "Idan Raichel Project" (Hebrew: ), distinctive for its fusion of electronics, traditional Hebrew texts, and diverse musical influences. Prior ...

(music), and

Vania Heymann Vania Heymann (; born March 27, 1986) is an Israeli artist and film director. His work includes music videos for artists such as Coldplay, Dua Lipa, DJ Snake, Selena Gomez, and Bob Dylan. His music videos were nominated for three Grammys in the ...

(film).

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Israel–United States relations Arts organizations based in New York City Organizations established in 1939

History

See also

References

External links