Daniel Shek, Israel’s consul general for the Pacific Northwest, paid tribute to Israeli artists, dancers, performers and teachers during a commemoration May 14, the day on the secular calendar that Israel’s Declaration of Independence was signed 50 years ago.
“We are witnessing a true surge in creativity and [national] pride,” Shek told several hundred people who attended the “Israel at 50” educational symposium in San Francisco.
“[The artists] are seeking their identities. For 50 years they have created…They are the spirit of our nation and they fill me with pride,” Shek said just before Israeli writer Amos Oz was to speak.
The consul general praised the teachers and artists, including Oz and the Batsheva dance company, for daring to challenge Israelis with provocative messages.
Such artists include the controversial sculptor-painter Yigal Tumarkin, contemporary musicians who blend influences of the East and West, comedians and the theater group Cameri, which provoked public debate with a unique take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the production “Murder.”
During an interview, Shek said there’s no point in wondering what role the arts may take in the next 50 years; the profound influence of Israeli artists already is upon the Jewish state.
“We are very high up in the per capita of people who attend theater and read books. People talk a lot in living room discussions and among friends about the latest book by Oz or the latest play by Joshua Sobol.”
Ironically, most artists and writers don’t like the role of serving as a model or a national conscience, Shek noted, “but it does have an influence.”