The “Policy or Culture” Online Conference—which was held between September 15-16, 2020—was a collaborative effort between the Israel Democracy Institute and the Department for Cultural Studies—Creativity and Production at Sapir Academic College. Its objectives were to create a space for academic and professional discussion combining local and international knowledge and experience, and to position cultural policy at the heart of the Israeli academic and professional discourse as an urgent and important topic motivated by the desire to impact the way in which professionals in the culture sector and the Israeli public at large perceive cultural policy. Conference participants included leading experts, researchers, and professionals representing a wide range of views on the field of cultural policy. The program included plenary sessions alongside workshops offering experiences in the practical application of theories discussed in the sessions, and in rendering new knowledge and working models accessible to professionals in the culture sector.

In Israel, the relationship between the state and the domain of culture and the arts has been badly shaken in recent years: the validity of the fundamental axioms and principles that shaped this relationship for decades has been called into question, while alternative approaches and principles are advanced in their stead. The public discussion of the topic raises various issues associated with Israeli governments' cultural policy. Its focus, however, is on state funding as a key element of the authorities’ involvement in the cultural domain, exemplified chiefly in the relationship between the state, as the financial prop of cultural institutions and artistic activity, and freedom of expression in culture and the arts, and the tension between the two. Mamlakhtiyut is often understood to refer to the view that the actions of state institutions and agencies and implementation and fulfillment of their obligations to the public should be in accordance with the fundamental principles of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state and not be conducted on the basis of partisan interests or ideology. How that should be understood with regard to culture policy is a central concern of the present study.These and other questions are discussed at length in the study of state policy in cultural policy by Adv. Edna Harel Fischer, a research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute. The study seeks to lay the groundwork for a public debate in Israel on the subject and to address the shortcomings that exist in the field. The importance of the study becomes even more important after recently elected officials and opinion leaders questioned key assumptions that in recent decades have served as basic conventions in relations between the state and the cultural sphere and which have laid the foundation for the design of the institutions operating in it. Based on the principles of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, and on the basis of justifications for the importance of the field of culture and artistic freedom of expression, the study seeks to offer an outline of guiding principles for state involvement in culture, including cultural funding. In its summary, recommendations are made to policy makers and public bodies operating in the field in favor of establishing a cultural policy and updating it from time to time with the participation of the public.