The family of the late creator turned to crowdfunding to fund the opening of a center in his memory in Pardes Hanna, which will also include an archive of his works, his manuscripts, videos and more. • Meir Ariel's daughter, Shiraz:
More than 200 uncomplicated texts.
Ariel
Photography:
Coco
Last July marked the 21st anniversary of the death of Meir Ariel, one of the greatest artists in Israeli culture.
His family is currently working on a project to commemorate him: the establishment of the "Meir Ariel Center" in Pardes Hanna, where his manuscripts will be displayed, a video archive will be set up with excerpts from filmed performances and interviews with him and more.
The center will also feature works inspired by Meir Ariel and his songs.
For the purpose of establishing the center, the family is launching a mass funding campaign.
The head of the project is the daughter of Meir Ariel, Shiraz (52), an educator who in recent years has been involved in preserving her father's works.
"All of Dad's archive of materials is stored with me and my mother in boxes," says Shiraz.
"When we are asked to get his texts, and it happens quite a bit, we have a hard time finding anything because there is no neat archive. There are a lot of his photos un Sorted."
Why now a center in his memory?
"We went through five shaky years. Financially my mother declared bankruptcy, and all our activities stopped. It was very difficult but thank God, we went through it safely. Then about two years ago my mother was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent a series of treatments. In such a situation we could not really act. To preserve my father's legacy, I recently came up with the idea of opening a place where there will be an orderly archive, where you can also do this week's Torah portion from Meir Ariel's teachings, writing workshops, lectures. It is clear to us that it will be in Pardes Hanna. The place in the short period in which he managed to live in it.
"We call on all lovers of Meir Ariel and lovers of culture to help us recruit masses on the 'Israel Donates' website.
We need a sum of NIS 300,000 so that we can set up the place.
We have already found a promising destination, with an amazing front yard for performances. "
Did you apply to the Pardes Hanna Council?
To the Ministry of Culture?
"I have a good relationship with the Pardes Hanna council. They can not give me a place but can help with the property tax and the signage, which is also a considerable amount of money. I did not contact the Ministry of Culture, the situation in the country is currently too shocking and unstable. That the Minister of Culture can approve such sums of money. "
Do you get a lot of requests from artists to get Dad's texts?
"Two years ago we went out calling for composers who wanted to compose his unpublished lyrics. We were approached by both familiar and creative people in the beginning. All sorts of things came out of it, and it slowly comes out. When Dad's archive is restored, artists can come and look for songs easily. "There are more than 200 of his texts that have not yet been composed, along with scribbles and half-songs. Visiting the site and browsing the archive will be free of charge."
Can you imagine what your father would have said about this period, when culture was almost dead?
"I believe that if he had been with us here today, he would have used social media, although he would probably have disliked them. He would probably have produced witty posts. Even then he was anxious about what was happening to the culture, so most likely today he was in deep shock. We have "A passage he wrote about freedom of expression, between the laws of nature, the laws of man, the laws of the family. He asked what freedom of expression can exist when there are so many frameworks that provide conditions. And that is what is happening now."