The annual gala fundraiser for the Toronto Arts Foundation on 20 November became a theatre for protest against its ties to the Azrieli Foundation, the charitable wing of Israel’s largest real estate company with holdings in the occupied West Bank.
In yet another instance of the war in Gaza affecting Canadian cultural institutions, Artists Against Artwashing (AAAW) disrupted the celebrations billed as the “Mayor’s Evening for the Arts” at the historic Art Moderne building The Carlu three times. AAAW, self-described as a “coalition of Toronto artists dedicated to divesting arts organisations from war profiteering in the industry”, used the event to launch a national campaign to protest Azrieli Foundation funding of cultural organisations.
When the Toronto Arts Foundation’s director Kelly Langard and the chair of its board Sarah Diamond took to the stage for opening remarks, they were blocked by protesters holding a banner saying “Genocide and Land Theft Generously Supported by Azrieli Foundation” and featuring images of an angry-looking bulldozer and bombed cityscape. The protesters held the banner for several minutes before being ushered out by security.
Five minutes later, when Toronto mayor Olivia Chow came on stage to speak, a protester jumped on the stage with a banner that read: “Cut ties with Azrieli Foundation.” The protester was removed by security as was a third one who jumped on stage with a similar banner when Canadian hip-hop legend Kardinal Offishall was performing. A protest took place simultaneously outside The Carlu.
The campaign against organisations receiving funding from the Azrieli Foundation is tied to a broader “No Arms in the Arts” initiative across the Canadian culture sector. Organisations involved in the campaign include AAAW, Writers Against the War on Gaza, Labour in the Arts and Theatre Artists for Palestinian Voices. Writers in Canada have also been boycotting the Giller Prize literary award—which receives support from the Azrieli Foundation—in part to draw attention to the foundation’s links to illegal settlement infrastructure in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem and alleged violations of international law.
The Azrieli Foundation, which AAAW alleges is complicit in “human rights violations, land theft and genocide”, also provides funding for the Canadian Opera Company, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Luminato Festival, among other arts organisations.
According to AAAW, the Azrieli Foundations in Canada and Israel have “significant shares” in the Azrieli Group real estate company and profit from its operations. Its assets, says AAAW, include “illegal settlement infrastructure in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and shares in Bank Leumi (they own just over 4%), which several European pension funds have recently divested from, citing its violations of international law in financing settlements, extracting natural resources and building infrastructure in occupied territory”.
“We are artists and cultural workers who value the work of the Toronto Arts Foundation,” says Mitra Fakhrashrafi, a Toronto-based curator and AAAW spokesperson. She adds, however, that “we are deeply concerned by the fact that one of Toronto Arts Foundation’s top donors, the Azrieli Foundation, is the charitable counterpart of the Azrieli Group, aka ‘Israel’s largest real estate company’. The Azrieli Foundation is resourced by the gains from ongoing colonisation, occupation and displacement in Palestine. As the Israeli onslaught on Gaza continues, we are seeing in real time the impacts of Zionism in Toronto arts organisations. This includes the censorship of our work and the killing of our kin in Gaza, as well as across Palestine and now in Lebanon.”
In an open letter to the Toronto Arts Foundation urging its leaders to cut ties with the Azrieli Foundation, AAAW’s members wrote: “Past and present Board members of the Azrieli network also represent ties to illegal weaponry research (via Weizmann Institute), Israeli military intelligence and efforts to ‘rebrand’ the image of Israel, donating C$25,000 annually to HonestReporting Canada”, an Israeli advocacy group that routinely harasses journalists who publish articles critical of Israeli policy.
Representatives for the Azrieli Foundation did not respond to The Art Newspaper request for comment, but a spokesperson for the Toronto Arts Foundation says that, contrary to statements by AAAW, the Azrieli Foundation is not one of its “top supporters”. The Toronto Arts Foundation spokesperson says the Azrieli Foundation has been a supporter in the past, including as the sponsor of the foundation’s Breakthrough Artist Award in April, which carries a C$10,000 ($7,130) prize, but the Azrieli Foundation did not support the Mayor’s Evening for the Arts this year.
“Toronto Arts Foundation upholds the right of artists to speak freely about their beliefs. Artists have always been at the forefront of critical conversations in our society, and we value this important role,” the foundation’s spokesperson adds. “Toronto Arts Foundation has a gift acceptance policy that governs all its relationships with donors and that is aligned with the organisation’s equity values. We carefully and regularly review gifts we receive in line with this policy. We take the concerns of our community seriously and are committed to transparency and accountability as we move forward.”
Fakhrashrafi says she “hopes for a dialogue with the Toronto Arts Foundation” once the AAAW’s open letter calling on arts organisations to cut ties with the Azrieli Foundation is released.
Around 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s terror attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, and around 250 people were taken hostage (around 100 hostages are still being held). More than 43,000 people have been killed in the Israeli military’s ongoing aerial and ground campaign in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there. According to an analysis by the United Nations’ Human Rights Office, around 70% of the conflict’s victims are women and children.