Global industry professionals spurn major Israeli music showcase amid cultural boycott

The 17th Israel Music Showcase Festival, set for November 17-22 in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, expects about 30 foreign industry guests, half of last year's 60, which organizers call a sign of a growing cultural boycott. Artistic director Hadas Vanunu and Yellow Submarine founder Atcha Bar also cite a Foreign Ministry funding cut and say invitations are shifting toward Asia and North America.

The Israel Music Showcase Festival, an annual event in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv that introduces Israeli artists to international music executives, producers and festival directors, will host fewer foreign guests than ever this year, which organizers describe as a sign of a growing cultural boycott. The 17th edition is set to run from November 17-22 and will feature Mark Eliyahu, Yael Deckelbaum, Haze'evot, Maya Belsitzman and Matan Ephrat, the Kadosh Brothers, Daniel Zamir and Zohar Fresco, Shalosh and others. Last year 60 guests came from abroad; this year only half that number will attend, said Hadas Vanunu, the event's artistic director. "It's getting worse," said Atcha Bar, founder and CEO of Jerusalem's Yellow Submarine music center and a director of the showcase. "If last year there was some understanding of our situation, now it's all over. We have no more credit." Vanunu said invited professionals now decline even to discuss attending: "It's a trend that's become a norm." Budget constraints compounded the problem after the Foreign Ministry cut funding for much of its cultural programming. Guests once paid their own flights, but rising airfare led organizers to help defray the cost. The showcase has shifted its invitations from Europe toward Asia and North America. Gadi Stern, of the instrumental piano trio Shalosh, said the band still performs abroad about 30 times a year, roughly half its earlier rate, and has met the most antipathy in Scandinavia, Spain and England, except in London. Vanunu said US Jewish music industry contacts tell her the outcome of Israel's election, which Stern plans to fly back for on October 27, will affect their willingness to work with Israeli artists.