Culture cuts to be rescinded

An agreement has been reached to restore next year's budget for culture to NIS445m. and to rescind the projected NIS53m. cut.

By HELEN KAYE
An agreement has been reached among representatives from the Treasury, the Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Forum to restore next year's budget for culture to NIS 445 million and to rescind the projected NIS 53 million cut. "This is not a signed document," said Cultural Forum head Itamar Gurevitch, "but I want to believe that those concerned will honor the agreement." Gurevitch believes that last week's demonstration against the proposed cuts as well as the threatened boycott of the country's 60th anniversary celebrations helped influence the officials' decisions, but "the major factor is the Forum's determined resoluteness." The Cultural Forum represents all of Israel's cultural institutions, some 150 bodies from the performing arts to the museums, and it is the first time that all have banded together. Government secretary Oved Yehezkel telephoned to say that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was informed and approves of the agreement, Gurevitch said.