Architecture by the People, for the People

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Crossposted from Haaretz
The city of Holon invested $17 million of its own funds in the Design Museum. But for the Jesse Cohen project — a biennial program of community-based art and architecture in its most run-down neighborhood — it budgeted only NIS 800,000. That covers only half the cost of the project, which the city itself initiated.
So, the rest of the funds will have to be raised by its partner, the Israeli Center for Digital Art, which effectively runs the project.
The continuation of this project is not guaranteed, and two years is too short an amount of time to change a situation created over 60 troubled years. But it provides a good case study of municipal priorities and social justice, especially given the huge efforts and energies Holon has invested in making itself a brand name.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
