At the end of July, the graduates of Cohort 1 of the Mandel Program for Cultural Leadership in the Negev, which aims to develop cultural and artistic leaders from the Negev, gathered for an event that marked the successful conclusion of their pilot program. The 14 graduates, who come from all across the Negev, are active in a range of fields, including: arts, film, television, theater, design, radio, cultural entrepreneurship, management of cultural institutions, and production of cultural events.
The event was attended by Moshe Vigdor, director general of the Mandel Foundation–Israel; Ruvik Danilovich, mayor of Beer Sheva; Eran Doron, head of the Ramat Negev Regional Council; artists, academics, communal leaders, and cultural figures from the Negev; and graduates of other Mandel programs.
Ruvik Danilovich, mayor of Beer Sheva, congratulated the new graduates, and spoke about his worldview. His vision for the Negev in areas of life including culture, reflects the vision for the State of Israel as a whole; thus, investing in improving the Negev can be seen as a national investment. Mayor Danilovich gave thanks for the deep partnership that has developed over the years between Beer Sheva and the Mandel Foundation. He thanked the Foundation’s chairman, Mr. Morton Mandel; its president, Professor Jehuda Reinharz; the director general of the Mandel Foundation–Israel, Mr. Moshe Vigdor; and the director of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev, Dr. Adi Nir-Sagi. Mayor Danilovich said that the Foundation’s activities have helped Beer Sheva become a high-quality city with a brave and innovative leadership.
Moshe Vigdor, director general of the Mandel Foundation–Israel, emphasized the importance of having a program for cultural leaders that can provide training in values-based and meaning-based leadership that can achieve deep and substantial change. Dr. Adi Nir-Sagi, director of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev, spoke of culture as “water in the desert.” A program for cultural leadership, she explained, introduces innovation into the development of a regional culture based on the uniqueness of the Negev and its various human and spatial resources — a culture that reflects the identity of the Negev, that is rooted in the past and the present, and that aims toward a better shared future.
The event showcased projects that the graduates developed during the course of the program, which the graduates hope to advance in their respective professional settings. There was also music from Joya, a local band.
The evening continued with a panel discussion on issues related to promoting culture in the Negev. Led by program graduates, the panel featured prominent Negev figures, including Tal Elal, deputy mayor of Beer Sheva; architect Omri Oz, who plans public spaces in the city; social activist Michal Romi, CEO of McCann Valley in Mitzpe Ramon; and Kaid Abu Latif, a graduate of Cohort 1 of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in Rahat, who founded the Almahabash Theater, the first Bedouin theater. The panel members presented diverse views, but all agreed on the importance of strengthening local culture, bringing it center stage, and providing a platform for the unique voice of Negev artists, both for communities in the Negev and for Israel as a whole.
The event was also attended by the new fellows accepted into Cohort 2 of the program, which will open in October 2019. It offered an opportunity for the new fellows to be introduced to the Mandel community, the program graduates, and the Center’s faculty, and to gain inspiration from the products of the program they will soon be commencing.
