Israel Festival event urges audiences to listen and speak up

‘Verse,’ a collaboration with the Aner Shapira Foundation, takes place at the Jerusalem Campus of the Arts, showcasing a variety of voices in society

The Israel Festival, currently in the midst of its month-long series of events, has moved its operations to the city’s downtown Jerusalem Campus of the Arts for Verse, a two-night collaboration between the festival and the Aner Shapira Foundation.

The first night of Verse of was held Tuesday and the second will take place on Wednesday from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Jerusalem Campus, home to the Sam Spiegel Film School, the School of Visual Theatre and the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio.

The event is meant to be an artistic and cultural call to action, with events and performances providing opportunities to listen and respond to different voices in society.

The Aner Shapira Foundation is named for a talented young Jerusalemite artist, composer and activist, who was killed during the October 7 Hamas attack, while heroically saving the lives of many others.

Shapira believed in the power of music and art to unite, empower and heal, and the foundation plans to use creativity as a tool to repair the world.

Both days of Verse include an event called Cafe Resistance — Initiative of Hope, held on the rooftop of the School of Visual Theatre, where social activists from a variety of organizations sit with visitors to discuss initiatives creating change.

Tuesday’s edition included the Participatory Circus at the School of Visual Arts, with eight short artistic presentations that engaged the audience and suggested different ways of seeing the world.

The first performance on Tuesday was by Haifa artist Nani Brook, who drew audience members into an Ethiopian coffee ceremony, telling her story as an Israeli with Ethiopian roots.

Verse also includes screenings of short films on both days at Sam Spiegel in the three screening halls.

On Wednesday, a Photo Slam will present the works of seven photographers who explore the tension between the personal and the political with a glimpse of what happens behind the camera lens.

Queendelight, a drag performance set in the year 2031, is a humorous political fantasy with four drag queens bringing their stories to the stage and seeking to understand the future.

Throughout Verse, visitors are welcomed at the campus entrance with a video installation by Alex Farfuri, featuring dozens of images of people in moments of celebration and routine, prayer and protest, pain and joy.

There are several exhibits set up at the Campus for Verse, including Drishat Shalom, in which designers, writers, and the public are invited to create their own series of postcards visualizing the hope for peace.

Verse’s main stage hosted Ninet Tayeb with Berry Sakharof on Tuesday night, and Orit Tashuma and Ehud Banai were set to perform on Wednesday night.

Finally, the city’s Jerusalem Story podcast is hosting a special edition at the next-door Beit Ha’Am auditorium on Wednesday evening, featuring the city’s most compelling storytellers.

It’s sold out, but maybe they’ll record it for a future podcast.

More information about Verse can be found at the Israel Festival website.