Emergency Campaign

We understand that the entire population of Israel is affected by the Hamas incursion and its deadly consequences, including every member of Bezalel Academy’s immediate 3500-member community of students, faculty, and staff. Currently Bezalel’s academic semester has been delayed and will commence on November 5th.

The emotional and economic toll on our community remains unknown in the face of this gruesome war. One member of the administrative staff’s daughter witnessed and survived the storming of a southern military base. Another faced the disappearance of her immediate family and their subsequent death. Many students and faculty from the South face similar circumstances or are amongst the 300,000 drafted to join the IDF.

Our community is channeling sorrow into action and creativity, and we are witnessing first-hand the nature of Israel’s creative flame, as represented by Bezalel Academy for almost 120 years. Civil society initiatives and volunteerism are coming to light from within the Academy, where our people are accessing reserves of hope to be productive and designing solutions for crises. Bezalel’s campus studios are activated by designers producing new items for the IDF, emergency studios are functioning in medical centers, and this is only the beginning.

The work being done at Bezalel right now is not decorative, but it is to design solutions for saving lives. Now is the time to show the Academy just how much we, as Bezalel UK along with our Bezalel Friends in the USA and beyond, believe in the role that culture, art, and design plays in democracy, diplomacy, progress, and survival.

The Emergency Support Fund to address the immediate needs of the Bezalel community and its artists and designers, and we hope you will consider donating funds to support these efforts. Your donations will be allocated as follows:

• Artist and designer-led emergency civil initiatives to support and nurture allyship and help in processing trauma;
• Living and tuition scholarships for students who face being without income for an indeterminable timeframe, or have been drafted and are losing other income revenues;
• Various types of aid for as many in-need individuals as possible, including mental and emotional support.

The funds we raise will be dispersed through Bezalel’s Management and Dean’s Office to the specific needs that are arising daily in Bezalel’s community. Funds raised will have a real effect, and donors will receive regular updates and direct reporting on their donation’s precise allocation and impact.

We will keep you posted on how the Artists and Designers of Israel are galvanizing during the ongoing crisis and we thank you for any support you can give at this time.

In the not-too-distant future, we know that Bezalel will strive once more to be an open community, where all segments of society will come together to make sense of their life experiences through artistic expression.

For More Information and How to make a Donation:
Tax deductible donations in the USA can be made to the Friends of Bezalel Inc., a 501c3 association:

1. Via debit or credit card
https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=rbKoL9
2. Via Bank Transfer:
The banking details of the American Friends of Bezalel, is as follows:
Account Name: Friends of Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Inc.
Account No.:  03-6766-2
Bank: Israel Discount Bank of NY
Bank Address: 511 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10017
ABA No.: 026009768

For more information:
Dana Gluck
Executive Director
Friends of Bezalel
email: dg@bezalelfriends.org
https://www.bezalelfriends.org/