Israel Festival press conference on hold due to coronavirus

In fact, it is not at all clear whether it will take place at some stage, or even if the festival will go ahead at its appointed slot of June 4-20.

By BARRY DAVIS
YEHUDA POLIKER and Gidi Gov are slated to open the Israel Festival. (photo credit: GAVRIEL BAHARILA)
YEHUDA POLIKER and Gidi Gov are slated to open the Israel Festival.
(photo credit: GAVRIEL BAHARILA)
The Israel Festival press conference is always a fun event in itself: You get a preview of all the goodies in store for the country’s biggest cultural, multidisciplinary arts happening of the year.
A couple of days ago, word came through that the press gathering, which was scheduled for March 24, was being postponed. In fact, it is not at all clear whether it will take place at some stage, or even if the festival will go ahead at its appointed slot of June 4-20.
Festival general director Eyal Sher adopted a philosophical stance towards the novel coronavirus period, but admitted that things, at best, are unclear right now – especially considering the latest directive banning gatherings of more than 100 people at a time.
Sher said it was full steam ahead, until recently. “We were going to have the press conference and start early tickets sales. That was for the opening event at Sultan’s Pool with Gidi Gov and Yehuda Poliker.”
The local lineup is one thing, but the imports pose even bigger problems. Some countries – such as Italy – are a complete no-no. And, of course, it is simply impractical for artists to arrive 15 days or so ahead of their show, spend 14 days in isolation and, with hopefully a clean bill of health, spring into action at the festival. That just simply isn’t on. “We have groups due to arrive from Italy, Spain and France. If the festival started today they would not, of course, be able to come here,” Sher continues.
There are more logistics involved, which are even more pressing in terms of the timetable. “We can wait a bit until we start selling tickets. The festival is, more or less, fully prepared – unfortunately that also refers to the budget. We are already committed to that. But the containers with the various sets from Europe, we have to make a decision on that by mid-April. It’s tragic and dramatic. We’ll just have to wait and see.”