A major relaunch of its activities, and increased visibility of its institutional role. Those were the challenges faced by the Fondazione Beni Culturali Ebraici in Italia Onlus (Foundation for Jewish Cultural Heritage in Italy) last year, and renewed for the coming year during its Board meeting, held on Wednesday and Thursday in Venice. The meeting’s agenda included the approval of the draft budget for 2015 . For the first time, the Foundation’s Board meeting was attended by Luca Zevi, councillor of the Unione delle Comunità Ebraiche Italiane (Union of Italian Jewish Communities – UCEI), who was designated as the delegate of the president Renzo Gattegna. “The decision to carry out the meetings in different cities, and not always in Rome as usual, was made by the current Board, and is aimed at involving the Communities and getting to know their heritage from up close, and establishing a closer partnership between cultural institutions and the Foundation for projects, whether underway now or in the future”, remarked the President Dario Disegni as he opened proceedings. He went on to say that the Foundation sets out to be a promoter of synergies between museums, archives, libraries and other cultural institutions in Italian Judaism which so far lacked cooperation networks at national level, so as to build upon and amplify their work. A positive response came forth from the President of the Jewish Community of Venice Paolo Gnignati in his address at a dinner with the members of the Board of the Foundation: “A partnership with the Foundation will be significant for the Jewish Museum of Venice which, with its synagogues and its collection, represents a major resource and an emblematic beacon for the continuity of the Community”. The Foundation’s board members had the chance to visit the Museum and witness its value at first hand, along with the problems that need tackling. They were given a guided tour by Michela Zanon, who is responsible for managing services for the public, the curator Marcella Ansaldi, and Gaia Ravà, the contact person on the Community’s board. Of particular interest was the presentation of the renovation project of the Museum and synagogues, for which the Venetian Heritage Council is currently fundraising. The organization, based in New York and Venice and part of the UNESCO-Private Committees Programme for the Safeguarding of Venice, was set up this year to raise the funds necessary. The work should be completed by the end of 2016, to coincide with the celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the Venetian Ghetto. On this matter, on Thursday the Board met with Shaul Bassi, a member of the Promotion Committee for the celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Ghetto. “The various events planned include the ambitious renovation of the Museum and the synagogues, and a major exhibition at the Palazzo Ducale, in partnership with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia”, said Bassi. “Our mission”, he continued, “is to promote and coordinate all the initiatives to achieve an organic, coherent programme of events”. The Foundation for Jewish Cultural Heritage in Italy has therefore laid the foundations for a partnership with the Committee in order to carry out these initiatives. The same spirit marked the meeting with Riccardo Calimani, President of the Museo Nazionale dell’Ebraismo Italiano e della Shoah (National Museum of Italian Judaism and of the Shoah – MEIS), which is currently being built. “The MEIS is intended to be not just a mere container for exhibitions, but a guiding light for Jewish cultural institutions, and a workshop for ideas, in which all of the various elements of Italian Judaism must take part”, Calimani stated. With this in mind, the Foundation has suggested choosing the MEIS as the location for the Centre for the catalogue of Italian Jewish Heritage, currently in the planning stages; Calimani has welcomed this suggestion. Among the Foundation’s other plans is the exhibition Judaica Pedemontana, to open in Turin on February 12th. It will display, for the first time, the extraordinary collection of Hebrew books from the Turin National University Library (Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria), and whilst running it will also host an international symposium of directors of major European public libraries which hold antique Hebrew collections. There is also the project to restore the Hebrew books damaged in the 1966 Florence flood, which will be displayed in an exhibition to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the tragic natural disaster; the launch of its website, which will act as a portal to Jewish cultural heritage in Italy; and various funding schemes for studies, research, publications and restoration. The draft budget for 2015 was approved unanimously, as was the choice of Naples as the location of the Board’s next meeting.
Francesca Matalon
(in the photo, from left, Roberto Steinhaus, Chairman of the Board of Auditors, Board Member Alberto Boralevi, Andreina Draghi, Board Member, Roberto Cerniani, Board Member, Annie Sacerdoti, Vice President, Dario Disegni, President, Board Member Andrea Morpurgo and Board Members Luca Zevi, Gadi Luzzatto Voghera, Micaela Procaccia).
Francesca Matalon (28 November 2014)
