Charity founder resigns all UK arts positions over ‘alarming rise of antisemitism’

Candida Gertler, co-founder of the Outset Contemporary Art Fund, has resigned from the organisation’s board of trustees citing an “alarming rise of antisemitism” and “the tacit normalisation of hate” in the UK arts sector.

She has also resigned from all other voluntary positions at UK arts organisations.

Gertler announced her decision after Goldsmiths’ Centre for Contemporary Art said it was removing her and her husband’s names from one of its galleries and its donor board.

The move follows a campaign by activist group, Goldsmiths for Palestine, against Israel’s policies in Gaza.

The group occupied the gallery over the summer and accused the Gertlers of being “complicit in enabling genocide” in Gaza.

Last month, more than 1,100 artists and art workers signed an open letter calling on Tate to cut ties with Outset, and also the Zabludowicz Art Trust and Zabludowicz Art Projects, accusing its founders of being connected to Israel’s policies in Gaza. 

Signatories of the letter include the 2024 Turner Prize winner Jasleen Kaur, as well as past winners Helen Cammock, Lawrence Abu Hamdan and Charlotte Prodger. 

Gertler co-founded Outset in 2003. In June 2015 she was awarded an OBE “for services to Contemporary Visual Arts and Arts Philanthropy”.

She is married to billionaire German-British real estate developer Zak Gertler, who reportedly hosted Benjamin Netanyahu’s 70th birthday party in 2019 and donated to the Israeli prime minister’s political campaigns.

Gertler said in her resignation letter: “It is with profound reflection and a heavy heart that I announce my resignation from all voluntary positions within UK arts institutions.

“This decision comes not out of fear, weakness, or defeat, but as an act of principled protest against the alarming rise of antisemitism and the tacit normalization of hate within physical and online spaces meant to foster creativity and inclusion.”