Rome’s newly established “Italy-Israel Foundation for Culture and the Arts” falls fully within the scope of the foreign ministry Strategy for Growth strongly championed by Minister Terzi, which places culture in the forefront among the tools for the promotion and enhancement of Italian excellence abroad, particularly with regard to a country with which Italy maintains very close ties, not least between the two communities.
The Foundation’s launch coincides with the third Italo-Israeli intergovernmental summit to be held tomorrow in Jerusalem, and will make possible the realisation of a series of selected cultural and the arts projects that fulfil the criteria of excellence, innovation and enduring impact, resulting in unmistakable benefits for the cultural patrimony of both nations.
The Foundation will offer a new and flexible means for uniting active public and private forces in an effort to consolidate existing synergies and create new ones. Its goals include the encouragement both in Italy and abroad of contributions, donations and sponsorships for events, the selection of the most deserving cultural and arts projects, and image promotion initiatives aimed at the broad-based dissemination and enhancement of its activities and of both national productive systems.
The ceremony for the establishment of the Foundation was held in the presence of the MFA’s Director General for Country Promotion Ambassador Maurizio Melani, Israeli Ambassador Naor Gilon, the Foundation’s President Professor Piergaetano Marchetti, President of the Association of Cultural Friendship between Italy and Israel Mrs. Anita Friedman, Cultural Advisor to the Embassy of Italy in Tel Aviv Simonetta Della Seta and Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Israel in Rome Ofra Farhi.