On Aug. 28th, 2014, Fowler's Director, Lia Post, and four of our resident artists were excited to receive a group of artists and arts professionals from Israel. The visit was organized by the U.S. Department of State as a part of their International Visitor Leadership Program entitled Community Arts in America.
The five participants from Israel were in the U.S. to investigate how art has served as a bridge between people of diverse backgrounds and to examine how visual and performance arts in U.S. cities have stimulated community development. We spoke about the practicalities of managing a collective in NYC, the role of collectives in the greater community, ways of engaging with diverse populations of both artists and audiences, and how working within a collective can benefit and/or affect one's art practice.
After we chatted in Fowler and visited the artist studios, we toured 67 West and found a great light set-up being installed for a film shoot later in the day. So we, of course, had to make use of the light and take a group portrait (one: straight-forward, the other: a bit silly!).
It was a pleasure to hear about the arts in Israel and made us all want to arrange a visit there! The visitors were: Alon Alsheich (filmmaker), Yael Hamo Amit (Ashdod Art Museum), Oded Bajayo (youtube.com/user/tvtelaviv), Galia Kedar (wadiara.org.il), and Ruba Salameh (artist). The Dept. of State interpreter was Photographer Ashi Fachler (flickr.com/ashi). The Fowler artists who were present for the visit were Elana Adler, Stephanie Beck, Chris Cole, and Valentina Scambia.