Lea Porat-Gur (1922-1980)
Journalist, consul for cultural affairs, and chair of the National Council for Culture and Art (NCCA) in the Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture. Born in Chernivtsi, Romania (today in the Ukraine), she immigrated to Palestine in 1935. She studied in Jerusalem for two years at Lemel Elementary School, in Gymnasia Rehavia, and then at the Hebrew University, where she studied history, languages and French culture.
In the mid-1940s she began to work as a broadcaster in the British radio station Voice of Jerusalem and as the editor of youth enrichment programs called Listen and Learn. In 1948, she also worked as a broadcaster in the Haganah’s underground radio station in Jerusalem. Since 1963, she worked in the Israel Broadcasting Authority as broadcaster and host, and later as program manager. In 1968-70 she was Israel’s Consul for Cultural Affairs in Boston. Upon her return to Israel, Minister of Education Yigal Allon appointed her as Chair of his ministry’s NCCA, a position she held until 1980. In this capacity, Port-Gur determined the principles of state support for culture and art institutes and creative artists, and promoted the entire cultural and artistic activity in Israel, including cultural activities in community centers.
On November 11, 1974, Batsheva de Rothschild made public her decision to unify the Batsheva and Bat-Dor companies. On November 22, Porat-Gur appointed a public committee to assess the feasibility of this move. The committee’s members were Ralph Goldman (chair), herself, Gideon Paz, Gideon Paz, Dani Karavan, Tzvi Avni, Eric Smith, Yitzhak Artzi, Batsheva de Rothschild, Yitzhak Zussman, and Barry Swirsky. Following the committee’s recommendation to dissolve the joint association, Batsheva began operating as an independent company supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Porat-Gur was nominated Chair of Batsheva’s first public council.
Lea Porat-Gur passed away in 1980. The Israel Association of Community Centers, the Ministry of Culture and Sports’ Culture Administration and Department of Culture and Art in the Community, and the Porat-Gur family hold the annual Lea Porat-Gur Memorial Performance Arts Competition.