Israeli schools gain autonomy over what theater shows pupils see

Supporters of these panels say the change will find schools being swayed by commercial considerations. But school principals, writers and directors of children’s theaters welcome the change. In ministry discussions there is talk of “deep and essential change” that could signal the end of the way cultural activities are chosen for the school system, which results in the so-called culture basket.

This basket, established in 1987, is determined by the Education Ministry, municipalities and the umbrella organization of community centers. Its purpose is to expose students to different types of art – theater, film, music, literature, visual arts and dance – by subsidizing them.

Only middle-class 
kids participate

However, according to a report by the Knesset research center, only 34 percent of students took part in these activities during the previous school year. The municipalities decide whether its schools will take part, and the data shows that the basket of activities is most popular among middle-class communities, while poorer communities do not take part in the program and the wealthier communities get along without it. The budget for the program is about 45 million shekels (approximately $12,893,980) a year, which all officials involved in the program say is ridiculously low.

A central component of the culture basket are the “repertoire committees,” which recommend performances in their field of expertise. A thumbs-up for a show has clear economic ramifications, so recommendations are fought for aggressively. Committee members say the criteria, such as artistic quality, are clear enough, but theater directors and writers consider them murky.

Over the years, the Education Ministry has protected the committees from outside influences, but this began to change during the tenure of the previous minister, Gideon Sa’ar, and the shift is continuing. The attitude now is that the schools themselves know better than anyone else what they need.

On September 29, municipal coordinators of the culture basket received a letter from the program’s administrator for the past three years, Esti Di-Nur, announcing the change. Some schools had already been deciding independently which performances their students should see, but their number was very small.

“I read the announcement regretfully, because the culture basket was the first filter, and an excellent one,” a municipal coordinator wrote his colleagues. “From my point of view, anything that has not gone through the committee is not up for discussion, and that is the message I conveyed to the schools. Now, with the new policy, I’ll have to deal with the desires of teachers and principals who think they’ve seen something good and/or were persuaded by a producer who has an ‘amazing’ and really cheap program, to bring low-quality productions into the school.”

A couple of weeks after receiving the letter, employees of the culture basket program met with Di-Nur and Haim Halperin, who is in charge of the program in the Education Ministry. In the meeting, whose minutes Haaretz has obtained, many of the workers warned against the change in policy and told Halperin they felt they no longer had the ministry’s backing.

Another coordinator said most principals have no special training in the arts, and without it performances will be chosen “based on how glittery the scenery is or the low price the producer offers.”

Another subject that came up is the closing of the publishing arm of the culture basket program, which put out booklets and books on the various arts that would be sent to participating schools. The outlay for these publications was only a few tens of thousands of shekels a year. Its only employee was the editor, Dori Manor, who has been discharged.

Halperin dismissed the opposition to the publication department’s closure. “It talked mainly about itself. How many students read these booklets?” he said. A culture coordinator in central Israel said she used the publications extensively to decide which performances to take the students to.

In contrast, Rivka Nussen, CEO of an association of children’s theaters and performing arts, said the changes were welcome, noting that 40 percent of what theaters offer do not pass muster with the repertoire committees, and that the reasons were unclear. “Our demand is also being made by other performing arts associations. Everybody wants to bring down the level? That’s not a serious claim,” she said.

An official in the culture basket program said economic pressure was growing. “I am afraid it will be impossible to continue protecting the culture basket. There have always been pressures but over the past year or two, we are not getting backing any more. “

‘Ratings, indoctrination’

The former head of the culture basket administration, Bruria Becker, left her position three years ago. “From the beginning, the basket worked against two elements: populism and ratings, and against indoctrination, which grew stronger under Gideon Saar,” she said. Becker said the fight against populism brought them into conflict with commercial interests, while the forces of indoctrination “didn’t like the attempt to make contemporary art accessible, which deals with the complications of life here. For now, the battle seems to be over,” she said.

The Education Ministry responded only that “the process was under examination, which began a year ago and has not ended. The ministry will report when decisions are made in this matter.”