After the fanfare

Israel Festival-Jerusalem director leaves after 22 years.

By PEGGY CIDOR
Yossi Tal-Gan (photo credit: DOR NEVO)
Yossi Tal-Gan
(photo credit: DOR NEVO)
Yossi Tal-Gan, former head of the Culture Department at the Jerusalem Municipality and later general manager under mayor Teddy Kollek, was a candidate for mayor in the 2003 elections, while he was already director of the Israel Festival. Realizing that he was not suited to politics, Tal-Gan quit that arena and remained where he felt more at home – in the artistic life of the city, serving as director of the Israel Festival and, for several years, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
The 53rd annual Israel Festival began yesterday. The festival, which continues for three weeks, includes theater, music and dance. However, it will be the last Israel Festival under Tal-Gan’s direction before a new director takes over.
Tal-Gan says he is very active in encouraging the festival board to seek a new director. Last week, he had a candid conversation with In Jerusalem.
At a recent press conference presenting the highlights of the Israel Festival program, you announced your retirement as festival director. Why are you leaving?
I think that 22 years is enough. I will soon be 69 years old, and there are a few things I’ve always wanted to do but never had the time for, such as studying and spending more time with my family.
I am not going to do any business; I am going to do things I love.
What do you want to study?
I want to study philosophy, history. These are fields that have always interested me, but I never had the time. Now the time has come.
Some of the members of the board of the festival were there even before you. Would you suggest some invigoration by having new members and a new president?
To answer that question, we first have to understand how the board came into being. The ‘founders’ of the festival were – and still are – emissaries of several ministries (Culture and Sports, Tourism, Foreign Affairs, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Jewish Agency), a representative of the Israeli Association of Producers and two observers who are traditionally people connected with the arts in their professional life. The representatives of the ministries change following elections, anyway. So perhaps it seems like they are here forever, but there have been changes, except for the president of the board.
How much do the board members influence the choices for the festival’s program?
They participate in the process of choosing up to a certain level. For example, they cannot travel abroad in my place to see a play or any production.
But I don’t decide alone, either. I have advisers who are professionals in their field – theater, music, dance and so on. But if one of the board members has heard about a particularly interesting production somewhere or saw it and recommends it, that is taken into account. But in fact, anyone who has a good idea can share it with us, and we’ll look into it.
What is the ratio between local and international productions?
It varies from year to year. Sometimes we start to work on a local production but the performance will take place one or even two years later, so things can be flexible. I will not surprise anyone by saying that the financial aspects play a large part. We are often confronted with the desire to promote a wonderful idea but are slowed down or stopped due to lack of finances. But we have always been very attentive to local – I mean Jerusalem – creativity and give it a place.
What is the audience for the festival?
Is it different from other types of events? Once again, I will not surprise anyone. We are facing a demographic issue here. If the same festival were held in Tel Aviv, it would not only draw twice the number of attendees, but the tickets would be much more expensive. When I was director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra until a few years ago, we had the same problem – fewer people with lower income gives us the results we have to deal with. That is also why we need a lot of financial support, by the municipality and the government, but also by foreign countries. Thanks to the latter, I have often been able to provide international artists.
How did you do that?
This year, for example, we have a wonderful, highly acclaimed theater company from Georgia. That is thanks to the very positive personal relationship the festival has established with representatives of some countries. They want to perform in Israel and, above all, in Jerusalem. It is important enough for them, so they are willing to help financially. Otherwise, we couldn’t afford to bring in such a group. Today, there are 17 countries that are willing to pay for their own artists to perform in the Israel Festival.
Local official support is not enough, then?
Absolutely not. But there is something else that makes things even more difficult. Most of the “establishment” bodies will spend large amounts of money on mass outdoor events whose artistic level is questionable, but they will fight with us about how much money we need to bring in the best productions.
It drives me crazy to see that. So much money wasted on productions that nobody will remember a day later but attract thousands of people and contribute nothing to the culture of this extraordinary city!
How do you explain that?
That is the dark side of dealing with the arts.
You always have to compete with low-rate, mass, extravaganza kind of so-called ‘artistic’ events for which nobody hesitates to give plenty of money, while to present really high-level artistic performances, we have to gather money from here and there, quarrel, beg, and sometimes even discover that promised sums were cut off after the performances took place.
That is another aspect of my job, and I really dislike it, as you can imagine. It poisoned our work. But I refuse to fawn or to surrender. Such a case happened at last year’s festival, and I decided to take one of the ministries to court after they canceled an allowance.
People tell me to drop it, that I’m leaving anyway – but I will pursue it. In a way, that will be my legacy.