Published: 24 December 2021
Last updated: 4 March 2024
Prominent comedian and artist join boycott protesting the embassy’s funding of a dance work by an Israeli choreographer; NSW shadow arts minster Walt Secord condemns the boycott
High-profile figures join Sydney Festival boycott over Israeli funding (SMH)
The number of artists and ensembles boycotting the 2022 Sydney Festival over the festival’s decision to take $20,000 in funding from the Israeli embassy has now blown out to eight and includes high-profile artist Khaled Sabsabi and comedian and TV personality Nazeem Hussein.
Up-and-coming Indigenous rapper Barkaa and dance ensemble Bindi Bosses are also boycotting the event, joining Arab Theatre Studio, Bankstown Poetry Slam and journalist Amy McQuire, who announced earlier that they were quitting.
Call for Sydney Festival boycott over Israeli funding (SMH)
A coalition representing Sydney’s Arab community and others are calling on patrons and performers to boycott next January’s Sydney Festival in response to the festival’s $20,000 partnership with the Israeli Embassy in Canberra.
The money will be used to stage a performance at the Sydney Opera House of work by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin.
In addition, novelist and community organiser Michael Mohammed Ahmad, who had been due to join the festival board, has now refused to take up the position in protest.
Ahmad was among a group of prominent writers and artists who met with festival director Olivia Ansell, board chair David Kirk and chief executive Chris Tooher last week to demand the festival cut ties with the Israeli embassy.
In a letter to the board, the coalition said the partnership with Israel made the festival “unsafe” for people of Arab background.
“Sydney Festival’s partnership with the Embassy of Israel and the use of the Israeli Government Ministry of Foreign Affairs logo in festival promotional material creates a culturally unsafe environment for artists and festival attendees of Arab background, particularly those who are Palestinian,” it read.
On Monday the board issued a written response to the coalition, which includes the Arab Australian Federation, Greens for Palestine and Jews Against the Occupation Sydney.
“Sydney Festival is not in a position to end this partnership for 2022. On a political level, Sydney Festival – being a non-political non-profit organisation – cannot join the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, as per your request,” it said.
An Israeli Embassy spokesperson said culture should be “left out of the political arena”.
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