LETTER FROM SHARON KARMAZIN, AIDA BOARD MEMBER

 

Since 2003, AIDA has built bridges between the United States and Israel, engaging artists, arts educators, collectors, curators, critics, writers, and gallerists in a meaningful, ongoing cultural exchange. With a small budget, AIDA has employed strategies that have produced big results.

 

By funding and facilitating their attendance at esteemed American institutions like Pilchuck, Penland, Haystack, Watershed and Corning, AIDA helps Israeli artists develop their ideas and skills, as they learn from teachers and peers. By sending internationally renowned artists from the US to Israel to conduct workshops and classes, AIDA gives those artists the opportunity to get to know the real Israel, to meet the people and experience that extraordinary country, while they share their knowledge and techniques with students at schools like Bezalel, Shenkar and Tel Hai. Through our efforts, Israeli artists are expanding their world view and enhancing their ability to market what they create to new audiences.

 

In addition to artist development, AIDA continues to bring a range of interested participants into its ever-growing cultural mix. I am so excited that we make it possible for American curators to visit Israel and experience its dynamic contemporary art scene; we facilitate meetings among arts educators of both countries; and we connect collectors visiting Israel to artists, museums and galleries through our contacts in the country, our website and online art guide. Through its many programs, AIDA is changing how Israel’s decorative artists see the world and how the art world sees Israel. I am proud to be a supporter of AIDA.

 

Sharon Karmazin

Board Member