Connecting communities through arts & culture from Israel
Our Mission
BAMAH harnesses arts & culture from Israel to inspire and connect people of all backgrounds and identities.
Through transformative, arts-driven experiences, we strive to facilitate honest conversations and authentic relationships that strengthen shared society in and between people from the US and Israel.
Our Programs
BAMAH's programs leverage the arts to explore creativity, connection, and community.
Signature Programs
BAMAH's signature programs create deep, meaningful relationships that transcend borders.
Special Programs
BAMAH's special programs offer one-off engagements that create lifelong memories.
Bespoke Programming
Design bespoke experiences or programs that invoke the arts to transcend borders, carefully designed for your campus or community.
BAMAH enables communities to use the arts, guided by Israel's leading artists and creative minds, to facilitate discovery and dialogue while strengthening ties with the arts, Israel, and one another other.
Not Letting It In
Not Letting It In by Jason Danino Holt offers the gift of connection and catharsis by cultivating space for radical honesty, authenticity, and vulnerability.
Not Letting It In is an improvised, participatory theatrical event created by Jason Danino Holt and first presented in the U.S. by BAMAH in Fall 2023, exploring the art and power of confession. Not Letting It in can be adapted for different communities, spaces, and themes.
FoodScape
Foodscape blends the culinary and performance arts to foster cross-cultural understanding through the medium of Gazoz (Israeli soda).
FoodScape, created by Carmel Bar and Michal Evyatar (Studio Mela) and co-commissioned by BAMAH and JArts, is a mobile culinary and performance art installation that toured the Northeast in Summer 2023, inviting communities and summer camps to taste the diverse flavors of Israel.
Why Art?
Evidence shows art provides space to support diverse viewpoints that question hate speakers' generalizations, and tools to counter ignorance, misunderstandings, and false beliefs. Engagement in the arts supports healing and positive connections, active and engaged citizenship, and drives a more cohesive and socially prosperous society.
BAMAH leverages art and artists as the antidote to hate. We enhance social cohesion by empowering society’s most creative voices to generate empathy, connection, and understanding for both public audiences, and the students they teach.
Conveners
Creating the reason and invitation to unite; assisting individuals in identifying like-minded peers and preparing for shared efforts.
Connectors
Bringing together individuals and concepts; offering a space for bridging gaps and fostering connections over common ground.
Catalysts
Stimulating recognition and action on divisive or controversial issues; inspiring innovative approaches to move forward.
I often tell our students faculty are training them to be an "artist-scholar" focused on the narratives and
performances of the global majority.
BAMAH's Artist-in-Residence program has helped amplify our pedagogical learning goals and outcomes.
Chairperson, Theatre & Communication Studies, CAU
We experienced first-hand the creative energy and cultural significance of Israel as a leading force in the global contemporary dance scene [and] a prime example of the value and benefits of artistic exchange.
Chair of the Department of Dance, KSU
Our students and community benefited in countless ways from [the artist's] generous engagement, and we all continue to be inspired and artistically challenged by her. If the goal ... is to create bridges, I would like to affirm your success in this instance
Faculty, Department of Theatre, UCF
[Bamah] demonstrated great sensitivity and acuity. This artist, possessed with impeccable integrity and a distinct vision for the theatre, brought tremendous value to our academy in precisely the right manner, integrating respect for our own values with her own unique artistic imperatives.
Dean, School of Dramatic Arts, USC
Bamah is doing innovative, important work that is path-breaking in its introduction of Israeli artists to American audiences. Its work deserves to be supported and strengthened.
Professor and Director, Israel Studies, UMD
About BAMAH
BAMAH is an independent non-profit arts platform providing opportunities for artists from Israel to develop and teach their work; promote creative innovation, mutual respect, and understanding; and inspire a more inclusive, respectful, and tolerant society. We work with artists from Israel of all disciplines and of all religions, ethnicities, races, gender identities and expressions, physical and mental abilities, political persuasions, and national identities. We raise our annual budget from private individuals and foundations without government support.
Flo Low
she/her
Founding Executive Director
Melissa Young
she/her
Treasurer of the Board
Shai Korman
he/him
President of the Board
Taylor Barfield
he/him
Secretary of the Board
Whitney Weathers
she/her
