OFF funding initiatives
Since the 1970s the Ostrovsky Family Fund has been involved in supporting different cultural projects mainly focusing on the production, display, programming, preservation, archiving and educational distribution of the experimental moving image. Such underwritings include:
Major operational and capital support
The Jerusalem Film Center (since 1974) – for further information see the OFF book
Film Forum New York (since the 1980s) – acquisition of offices, ongoing operational support and the Documentary Fund. Vivian Ostrovsky is a board member.
Electronic Arts Intermix New York, (since 2019)
Support for long-term digital preservation and storage system for media archive to insure the accessibility of collections in perpetuity and a board member.
Operational and program support
The Chantal Akerman Experimental Documentary Prize at Jerusalem Film Festival.
Established to encourage the pioneering spirit of Chantal Akerman this prize (2019) involves an international competition to recognize films that evoke the spirit of her filmography. A singular media artist judge will determine the winning film from the eligible titles.
Sam Spiegel Film & Television School (1993-2018) – funding for student grants, experimental film workshops, Master classes, book publications and the construction of two auditoriums.
Mamuta Art and Media Center Jerusalem (since 2008) – support for equipment, artist grants, experimental film programs and workshops.
Artis (2009-2018) – annual contribution and specific program support such as Trembling Time: Recent Video from Israel, Tate Modern, London (2010) and Public Movement’s research and performance, New Museum Triennial, New York (2012).
Member of the Centre Pompidou Foundation (since 2011).
Exhibition production and experimental film / video art programming grants
The Center for Contemporary Art (CCA), Tel Aviv – VideoZone Festival (2006, 2008, 2010); retrospectives of Paul Sharits (2007) and Hollis Frampton (2008); OFF Series – monthly screenings for experimental cinema (since 2009); exhibition and lectures by Marina Abramovic (2009); exhibition production: Sharon Lockhart | Noa Eshkol (2011) and the production of Lockhart’s video Four Exercises in Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation System; Gary Hill (2012), Alona Rodeh: Above and Beyond (2013), Michal Helfman: Change, Nira Pereg: All of This Can Be Reconstructed Elsewhere (2013), Christian Jankowski: Heavy Weight History (2014), Tamar Harpaz: Kitchen Sink Drama (2014); Ohad Meromi: Resort (2015); Cao Fei: Haze and Fog (2016); Ragnar Kjartansson: Architecture and Morality (2016); Lives Between – group exhibition (2017); Laurent Montaron, Replica (2018); Stumbling Through the Uncanny Valley: Sculpture and Self in the Age of Computer Generated Imagery (2019); Rona Yefman solo show (2020).
Tel Aviv Museum of Art – Absalon (2013); Guest/Host (2013); Showtime (2013); Alina Szapocznikow: Body Traces (2014); Anri Sala: No Names, No Title (2014); Public Movement: National Collection (2015); Roee Rosen: A Group Exhibition (2016); Elmgreen & Dragset: Powerless Structures (2016); Fiona Tan: Geography of Time (2017); Hollywood and Other Myths – group exhibition (2018); Keren Russo: Myths for the Near Future (2019); John Gerrard: Western Flag (Spindletop, Texas) (2020).
Israel Museum, Jerusalem – Valie Export: Jerusalem Premiere (2009); Yehudit Sasportas: Seven Winters (2013).
In 2015, celebrated moving image artist, Julian Rosefeldt, created an opus, Manifesto, as both an episodic feature film and also a 13-channel video installation, starring Cate Blanchett. OFF supported the Israeli debut of both, respectively at the Jerusalem Film Center (2016) and Israel Museum (2019).
Exterritory Project – initial support for the launch of the flotilla art event (2010).
East End Seaport Museum – restoration of Anita Thacher’s installation Illuminated Station (2011).
Bass Museum of Art, Miami – support for the production of the exhibition Unnatural (2012).
Museum of Art, Ein Harod – David Perlov: Drawings, Photographs, Films (2014).
Videobrasil – video award grant (initiated in 2017).
The Platform for Alternative Documentation – first edition (2020).
Preservation and digitization of archives
Noa Eshkol Foundation, Holon – support for the digitizing, re-cataloguing, preservation and restoration of the Noa Eshkol archive.
BFVPP – The Brazilian Film and Video Preservation Project – is an initiative which aims at the preservation of moving image works produced between 1960 and 1984, allowing historians and contemporary art students to establish new contact with the beginning of video art and art films.
CCA Tel Aviv – support for the expansion of the Center’s digital archive.
The Israeli Center for Digital Art, Holon – restructuring of the Center’s digital archive.
Museum of Art, Ein Harod in collaboration with the David Perlov family – support for digitizing and cataloguing David Perlov’s work.
Centre Audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir – preservation of films.
Grants for Israeli artists for new works
Among the recipients: Einat Amir, Ron Amir, Ariela Azoulay, Yair Barak, Yael Bartana, Hilla Ben Ari, Orit Ben Shitrit, Eitan Buganim, Ofri Cnaani, Deville Cohen, Scandar Copti, Maya Dunietz, Ira Edouardovna, Effi & Amir, Yael Efrati, Nir Evron, Exterritory Project, Dani Gal, Noa Giniger, Guy Goldstein, Assaf Gruber, Noa Gur, Tzion Abraham Hazan, Tamar Harpaz, Michal Helfman, Tamar Hirschfeld, Thalia Hoffman, Oree Holban, Gaston Zvi Ickowicz, Adam Kaplan and Gilad Baram, Tali Keren, Dana Levy, Michael Liani, Rotem Linial, Itay Marom, Karam Natour, Ann Oren, Ruth Patir, Nira Pereg, Avner Pinchover, Gilad Ratman, Elham Rokni, Karen Russo, Ruti Sela, Nurit Sharett, Keren Shavit, Lior Shvil, Efrat Shvily, Naama Tsabar, Yonatan Vinitsky, Hinda Weiss, Amir Yatziv, Gil Yefman, Nevet Yitzhak, Maya Zack, Tamir Zadok, Dor Zlekha Levy and others.
Artist books
Nira Pereg: Kept Alive (2010)
Extremum – Reflections on the Works of Yasmeen Godder (2014)
Nevet Yitzhak: Video Work (2017)
Educational programs
City College of New York, Film department – Ostrovsky Family Fund Award in honor of Chantal Akerman (2019).
An award in support of thesis film projects for second-year MFA students. This encourages students to study Chantal Akerman’s work. This initiative is underwritten for three years, renewable.
2023 winners : Murat Vargelci – Nyeem Greenwood – Artima Sakulkoo
2022 winners : Zahraa Shams – Ayuha Chhetri Sanjel – Bridget McGuigan
HEB2 – an audio-visual research and training project in the city of Hebron (2010).
Reels on Wheels – a mobile cinema project for film and video cine-clubs and workshops in peripheral communities in Israel (2010-2012).
The Law in these Parts (documentary, Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Israel, 2011) – initial educational distribution support.
The Carioca Fund (Brazil Foundation) – support for a program providing access to education for under-privileged children in Brazil (since 2011).
The Foundation Center, New York – a donation for an inclusive source for information on philanthropy worldwide (2011).
Acquisitions support
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York – acquisition and donation of Anteroom, 1982, the slide and sound work by New York artist, Anita Thacher.
Israel Museum, Jerusalem – acquisition of The Clock, a 24-hour video by Christian Marclay (2010), in conjunction with Tate Modern, London and Centre Pompidou, Paris; acquisition of On Foreign Made Soles, a multi-channel video installation by Ira Eduardovna (2016).
Additional programming support
Israel Festival – Sonia Wieder-Atherton: Odyssey (2016); Laurie Anderson: Language of the Future (2018); Marcelo Evelin: Suddenly Everywhere is Black with People (2019).