ArtPort Tel Aviv
ARTPORT TELAVIV is the new art arena of The Center for Young Art, a nonprofit organization founded by Mr. Jason Arison, Chairman of The Ted Arison Family Foundation. The Arison family has been a major supporter of the arts for many years, both in Israel and in the United States. Jason initiated and founded The Center for Young Art out of his passion for the arts and his wish to support emerging artists. The Center for Young Art and ARTPORT TEALVIV is one of 5 vision ventures of The Ted Arison Family Foundation. To read more about the Ted Arison Family Foundation, visit us at www.arison.co.il.
Jason Arison wishes ARTPORT TELAVIV to be a home for emerging artists, a place that will be reflected upon as the turning point in the lives of talented artists, and to serve as a platform for an alternative artistic dialogue, between the local contemporary art scene, international organizations and independent artists worldwide. As such, ARTPORT TELAVIV will also benefit the general public, spreading artistic awareness and knowledge locally and internationally, experiencing trends and insights from the contemporary art world.
Edna Fast
Founder at Lunart Fund
Edna Fast was born in Tel Aviv and moved with her family to New York in 1984. During her 34 years in NYC, Edna founded and managed EZ Fast Realty, Inc. – a company providing consulting, management and brokerage services for foreign real estate investors. In addition to her successful business venture Edna taught Israeli Law at Cardozo Law School and took an active role in the Inter Agency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues, an umbrella organization dedicated to educating the Jewish communities in the US about the problems of the Arab Israeli minorities in Israel. Edna returned to Tel Aviv with her husband in 2011. She currently runs her non-profit venture, established in 2008 – the Luna Art Fund (“LunArt”) for the promotion of Art and Advancement of Art Education in the Israeli Arab Sector. In addition to initiating and supporting free pre-college prep courses in art to Arab-Israeli high school graduates aspiring for a career in the visual arts, the program also provides study scholarships to some of its graduates.
Elie Wurtman
Co-Founder at PICO Jerusalem
Elie Wurtman is co-founder and general partner at PICO Partners. He brings 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, investor and executive. He has a hands-on approach to building companies, preferring to work closely with founders and focus on execution from day one. Elie has been founding, building, and managing technology companies since the heady days of AltaVista. He started his first company straight out of college, took three companies public during his twenties, and the thrill and hustle of entrepreneurship has never faded (even after he lived through the agony of the 2000 tech crash). Most recently, he joined Vroom as Executive Chairman, the biggest online car store in the world, which he helped to grow into a billion-dollar Company in the first year of operation. Before that, he served as Executive Chairman at NJoy, a pioneer in tobacco-free cigarettes and an early investor and mentor to the team at ironSource. Elie was a general partner at Benchmark Capital Israel, and prior to that served as CEO at JVP Studios in Jerusalem.
Elie sits on the board of several companies and non-profit organizations, including Siftech ( Jerusalem’s first startup accelerator); Regavim (a high school education project that integrates agricultural work with academic studies); New Spirit (and NGO that harnesses young creative forces to build a thriving creative economy); Machshava Tova (an NPO providing technological access and training to underserved populations in Israel); the Batsheva Dance Company; and the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens.
In parallel to his work at the PICO Partners, Elie invests time and passion into PICO Kids, a breakthrough initiative he launched three years ago to enrich and strengthen STEEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Math) in his hometown of Jerusalem. You can also find him pottering about his Bat Shlomo Vineyard, in the north of Israel. In addition to producing fine wines, Bat Shlomo runs an enrichment program for high schoolers which has resulted in a marked improvement in grades, motivation and self-esteem.
Elie received his bachelor’s degrees from Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. He’s married with three children and resides in Jerusalem and Caesarea.
Gabby Czertok
CEO at The Bridge by Coca Cola
Entrepreneur in Art, Business and Social activities. Founder of several non-profits and CEO of a Clean Technology company (we make electricity from the flow of water inside pipes). Constantly seeking to innovate and co-operate, interact, learn and feel. Photography art and exhibition – “Things I see on the street” – “Over the past years, I’ve witnessed special moments and seen unique things in Tel-Aviv and around the world. Moments when no one is looking but something just happens, or unique points of views to things that are usually seen as ordinary. These are “Things I see on the street.” I’ve decided to return these moments I have taken from the street back to the street in the form of postcards that will be hung on boulevards of Tel-Aviv. 5000 postcards hung on the trees in the boulevard, inviting visitors to the exhibition to take home the postcards of moments and images I’ve captured in my cellular camera. When the last postcard will be taken home, the exhibition has ended. Text message poetry – “70 characters” Text messages take such a big part of our life and in this event I’ve invited a few artists to create poetry that will use the text message format and limitations as part of a festive evening. During the evening, in addition to many activities that take place only in the participants phones, Daniel Salomon, one of Israel’s most prominent artists, received text messages from the audience, composed them and sung them online and turned this evening into the world’s first concert where the audience creates the texts to be sung online through text messages as part of innovative interactive concept.” Gabby co-founded and is now the General Manager of The Bridge in Israel. Coca-Cola’s first commercialization program in the world, joined by Turner Broadcasting to bring innovative technology into our corporations, building a bridge between tech startups and Coca-Cola // Turner.
Jerusalem Culture Unlimited
Jerusalem Culture Unlimited (JCU), seeks to strengthen new, emerging, and mid-size arts organizations in Jerusalem through professional development and organizational management training, education, and other resources.
Ruth Cummings
Founder at Jerusalem Culture Unlimited
Ruth Cummings has lived in Jerusalem since 1994 and has professional and lay leader experience as an independent consultant for creative community building and resource and program development for the Israel Festival, Jerusalem; the Jerusalem Cinematheque; the Lab and Bakehila. Ruth has served on numerous boards, including Vertigo Dance Company, The Jerusalem Circus Association (chair 2005-10), the Pardes Institute (chair of Israeli board 2000-03), the Garrison Institute, the Trisha Brown Dance Company and the Nathan Cummings Foundation among others. Ruth founded Jerusalem Culture Unlimited as a transformational capacity-building process to raise Jerusalem’s emerging and small to mid-size arts and culture organizations to their next level. The goal is to create innovations and infrastructure, ensuring operational stability, program quality and vitality of the organizations for the benefit of the city.
Yvel Design Studio
YVEL (pronounced E-vel) is a privately held luxury jewelry company in Jerusalem. Founded and owned by Orna and Isaac Levy, the company is best known for its pearl jewelry. More than 90% of their employees are Jewish immigrants. The Megemeria School of Jewelry and Art, established by the Levys in 2010, employs Ethiopian Jews, gives them a stipend and trains them in jewelry design and goldsmithing, but also in Hebrew and everyday-life skills to help them integrate into the Israeli society. Yvel collections are sold across five continents in more than 650 retail stores. Their designs have been worn by celebrities such as Scarlett Johansson, Katy Perry, Selena Gomez, Barbara Walters, Maria Sharapova, Bette Midler, Isla Fisher, and Rihanna.