Karen Brunwasser
Karen Brunwasser is a Jerusalem-based civic activist, arts leader, and co-founder/chief strategy officer of Mekudeshet. She is among the leaders of FeelBeit, an Israeli-Palestinian arts center on the seam line between East and West Jerusalem, and lectures on Jerusalem, cultural innovation, arts, and activism.
Israeli-Palestinian Artists Keep a Shared Jerusalem Space Open Through War
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Feel Beit co-directors Riman Barakat and Karen Brunwasser present their Jerusalem cultural center as a test of Israeli-Palestinian partnership under war, not apart from it. They argue that the center has survived since October 7 because it does not ask artists or audiences to mute their identities or grief, but uses music, performance and conversation to keep a shared civic space open when politics and violence are pulling it apart.
Feel Beit Sustains Israeli-Palestinian Artistic Partnership Through Wartime Grief
At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Feel Beit co-directors Riman Barakat and Karen Brunwasser described how their Israeli-Palestinian cultural center in Jerusalem nearly fractured after October 7, then recommitted to partnership by making room for grief, anger and fear rather than trying to smooth them away. Their case was that art cannot resolve the political conflict, but can create a shared space where Israelis and Palestinians keep enough trust, beauty and human contact alive to mourn, disagree and work together.