Keshet Eilon’s general manager Gilad Sheba and vice president of operations Nitza Avidan are currently in New York, the world capital of culture. There they have been meeting up with members of the Keshet Eilon board of management and preparing for the annual Keshet Eilon benefit concert on May 13th, 2019 at New York’s Harmonie Club. This is a very hectic visit, but, despite her numerous preoccupations, Nitza Avidan found time between one meeting and the next to tell us something about the trip. “We landed in New York on a gray early morning in May,” she said. “We make this trip every year to raise money and meet with members of our Friends Association. We got to the hotel at 7 am, and by 11 am we were already in our first meeting. The timetable for the trip is tight and very dynamic: meetings are postponed and rearranged to suit the schedules of our friends. We display flexibility and are glad of every appointment that takes place. The feeling is that these are friends, most of whom have been accompanying Keshet Eilon for many years now.”
– You travel to the US every year. Why do you make this trip?
We go there to meet up personally with both new and long-established donors to Keshet Eilon, to hold the board of management meeting required by law for approval of the association’s bodies in the US, and to update the board members on what’s happening at Keshet Eilon. In addition, in May every year, we hold a gala concert organized mainly by the New York board members under the devoted and professional leadership of Raquel Ramati. The concert raises funds to finance the organization’s ongoing activities in accordance with our plan for the year. Keshet Eilon’s music director Itzhak Rashkovsky is, as always, responsible for the musical aspect of the event, and the final outcome is the result of brainstorming with general manager Gilad Sheba.
– How long does each of these trips last, and what precisely do they include?
We try to fit our activities here into a period of seven to ten days, as tasks await us at home and the burden grows greater with every day we are absent.
– Has your current visit been successful?
All our visits are successful. The board members in New York are always striving to promote Keshet Eilon activities, to bring its existence to the attention of many more people, and to help raise funds to further the organization’s vision and ensure it attains its goals.
At the end of the concert, the artists gathered together with Keshet Eilon management. From left to right in the top row: Coleman Itzkoff, Eesa Khoury, Asi Matathias, Ismael Guerrero Bombut, Dominic Cheli, Gilad Sheba, Alessio Bax, Rami Shalmor Second row from left to right: Shmuel Ashkenasi, Katharina Kang, Hina Khuong-Huu, Itzhak Rashkovsky, Fiona Khuong-Huu, Nitza Avidan