“The public is thirsty for culture. We need this hour and a half of sanity. To disconnect for a moment from the outside world, from the news, from the terrible situation we are experiencing here,” the CEO of the FRIENDS network, Yossi Wolff, tells ‘Daver’. “You disconnect for a moment and something in your soul calms down.”
Wolf Hatsbani, 41 years old, lives in Rishon Lezion with his partner, founded the FRIENDS cultural halls network in the Histadrut in 2021 and heads the network, which currently has 16 halls across the country. “We are all still traumatized, I am also still deep in the situation.”
When the war broke out the entire activity went into standby mode. “We stopped all the activity that was planned. We quickly realized that it was going to be long, and that we had to recalculate the route.” On Wolf’s initiative and with the help of the Histadrut, the “Victory of the Spiritaku” studio was established in Rishon Lezion, which broadcast four shows a day for free on the Internet. “We called nationalists to come and perform with us. We felt that the public needed to rest for a moment from the incessant news broadcasts and get an hour of silence, of air. We established the studio long before the other bodies, before the Ministry of Culture woke up, and we were blessed with incredible cooperation.”
In the course of a month, 55 artists appeared in the studio, reaching 400,000 viewers. “It was also important for livelihood. It is true that the artists performed voluntarily, but their team received support from us, very modest, but important, and the musicians and sound people thanked us very much. It gave them air. Many times when the cameras turned off, we saw them cry, and I realized that they needed That. This is their vocation, to perform.”
At the end of November it was decided to return the shows in January. “I realized that we need to create stability and lead the world of culture to return to activity. We have the Histadrut’s back and we can do it. I saw many producers who didn’t know whether to open a show, whether tickets would sell, whether an audience would come – and I wanted to create stability.”
The return was slow. “With sensitivity, gently, we did not stage stand-up shows, we thought about it and were very surprised by the audience’s choice.” The audience bought tickets en masse. “It’s a number of tickets that we didn’t know at all. There was a tremendous thirst, and there is still a thirst. In January-February we sold 4 times more tickets than before the war. It’s hysterical.”
FRIENDS started in six halls across the country, and three years later grew to 16. “We know how to crack the audience’s taste. Each hall has its own program. We adapt the nature of the performances to the place, to the community, and maintain a high quality.”
But the advantage of the chain is the low price that Wolf manages to offer to the audience, a much lower price than other venues. “This is the most attractive price in Israel because we subsidize it. The economic situation is difficult. Many Israelis are in financial difficulty, and this is where the Histadrut puts its hand in its pocket. People realize that this thing of being a sucker is over. They do a market survey just before they buy a ticket, and those who are smart and enough A knowledgeable about these things will come to us.”
Since the beginning of the war, the FRIENDS halls have also been mobilized for the needs of reservists, soldiers and evacuees. “We opened our halls for the activity of the spaces in the Histadrut, and responded to the needs that arose from the field. But not only in the halls, we also brought artists to perform in the hotels of the evacuees in the Dead Sea or in Eilat, wherever they asked, wherever our help was needed.”
Wolf speaks from the heart. He is connected in his soul to art, music and social activities. He grew up and was educated in Holon, and in his youth was the chairman of the city’s youth council. In the army he served 14 years in the military police and earned degrees in criminology and organizational development consulting. He was released with the rank of major, and immediately began working as the chief of staff of Rishon Lezion Mayor Dov Tzur. When he finished at the municipality, he served as a senior advisor to the chairman of the Histadrut Arnon Bar-David.
“Every morning I say thank you to God that I got to work in a field that I love so much, and that I have the opportunity and the ability to do things that bring optimism and strength to people. Many people ask me if I came from the field of culture, and I admit that I didn’t, but today I know the field in depth. I learned, I see everything and know everything.”
The network has poured a lot of money into the industry since its inception, either in the renovation of the halls that were ‘white elephants’ in the cities, or in new original productions. “I call what we do here cultural Zionism. We operate in the social periphery of Israel. There is also a social periphery in Tel Aviv and Rishon Lezion. I try not to make any concessions to any population. We make every effort to listen to what we are told. Every comment is taken seriously by us Full. For example, if a person with a disability calls and I don’t currently have a ticket in the hall, I will turn the world upside down so that he has a neat place to sit. Accessibility is super important to me.”
After six months of war, there was a change in the artists, whom he meets every day. “I feel that they have fallen a little to the ground, and there is some kind of feeling that a little more modesty and gratitude is needed. In this aspect, we are now planning the Independence Day events, and I am also thinking about the upcoming Women’s Day, and it is important to me to also include veteran artists, who have done amazing things here and are an asset Iron sheep. They should be given a hug.”
#FRIENDS #network #cultural #shows #accessible #parts #country #attractive #prices #Zionist #culture
2024-04-04 20:37:23