A) General Questions

1. What is Omanoot?
2. Who is Omanoot's target audience?
3. How does Omanoot sustain itself?
4. Where does my money go when I purchase art on Omanoot's website or when I donate?
5. How can I help or get involved?

B) Art Related Questions

1. What kind of art can I find on this site?
2. How can I find out more about artists promoted on this site?
3. How are the artists selected? How involved are they with Omanoot?
4. Can I book an artist for an event in Israel or abroad?
5. How can I find out more information about arts events taking place in Israel? Worldwide?

C) Education Questions

1. What is an Omanoot lesson plan?
2. How can I access Omanoot lesson plans?
3. Are these lesson plans stand-alone units or part of a larger curriculum? How much knowledge of Israel and Israeli culture does an educator need to use them?
4. Where are Omanoot's educational materials currently being used?
5. How does Omanoot select the art used in lesson plans?
6. Can I plan my own art education trip to Israel through Omanoot?

A) General Questions

1. What is Omanoot? (top)
Omanoot, which means 'art' in Hebrew, is a web-based non-profit organization formed to promote and teach about Israeli culture through classic and contemporary Israeli art, in order to strengthen connections to Israel as well as Jewish Identity.

Omanoot will offer access to Israeli art (film, music and visual art) online and the ability to download media at an affordable price.

Omanoot creates comprehensive educational materials based on Israeli art and makes them available for download online.

Omanoot designs and coordinates educational arts and culture programming for organized groups coming to Israel.

2. Who is Omanoot's target audience? (top)
Israeli art, music and cinema is difficult to obtain from abroad. Omanoot is utilizing modern technology to make Israeli arts accessible around the world. Omanoot's website will enable anyone with internet access to experience and explore Israeli art. We aim to attract people from various backgrounds and geographical locations.

Educators often have difficulty finding stimulating ways to teach their students about Israel. Our educational materials are currently targeted toward Jewish Day Schools in North America, grades 5th-12th. However, our curricula is adaptable to other age groups and demographics.

3. How does Omanoot sustain itself? (top)
Omanoot has been created and developed by the generous contributions of numerous private donors and a few foundational grants (view our list of supporters).

Beyond donations, Omanoot will sustain itself by selling advertising space on our website and through the download and purchase of Israeli arts - a large percentage of each sale goes to the owner of the artwork, while we take a small percentage to sustain our work.

Advertising space is sold to select companies that can either buy space or become a corporate sponsor.

4. Where does my money go when I purchase art on Omanoot's website or when I donate? (top)
The majority of the proceeds from purchasing a piece of art goes directly to the artist and owners of the artwork. A smaller percentage is allocated to Omanoot in order to help sustain our activities.

All donations go to Omanoot and helps the organization develop its website and ensure the relevancy and accuracy of its content.

5. How can I help or get involved? (top)
There are many ways individuals can contribute to the growth of Omanoot.

Donate!
Financial contributions are always welcome. We have some ambitious goals and visions - your support is what makes this possible!

Volunteer!
Your time, input and feedback is important to our organization. If you have any ideas, suggestions or thoughts for Omanoot please contact us.

Stay in Touch!
By signing up with Omanoot's E-Newsletter you will receive monthly updates and reports on what is going on with different artists and the organization.

B) Art Related Questions

1. What kind of art can I find on this site? (top)
Omanoot will showcase film, music and visual art (photography and painting) and possibly other art forms in the future.

Users will be able to download and stream feature films, short films, documentaries and animation clips through our site.

A wide mix of pop, rock, classic rock, world music and much more, will also be available for streaming and download.

2. How can I find out more about artists promoted on this site? (top)
Omanoot will contain comprehensive artist and product pages that provide users with background information about musicians, directors, actors, painters and photographers whose work will be available on our site. Have a look at the musician pages we've uploaded so far.

3. How are artists selected? How involved are they with Omanoot? (top)

Omanoot is unique in the amount and range of artists promoted through our site; presenting both mainstream and alternative artwork developed by artists with differing religious backgrounds, political affiliations and ethnicities.

Some artists are contacted by the Omanoot staff while others approach us.

Omanoot does not work closely with every artist presented on the website. However, there are a significant number of artists who have played a substantial role in the development of Omanoot and who have greatly contributed to the information provided on our site and in the creation of our curricula.

4. Can I book an artist for an event in Israel or abroad? (top)
Omanoot can help you book any artist promoted on this site for international performances. For requests please contact us at info@omanoot.com

We are also planning a large scale Israeli arts and culture fair, OmanootFest, that will travel to a number of college campuses in North America in the Spring of 2010. For more information or if you would like to participate in this festival be sure to contact us.

5. How can I find out more information about arts events taking place in Israel? Worldwide? (top)
The current Omanoot news page offers updated information about Israeli art events taking place in Israel and in the world.

The Omanoot site will also have an international Israeli arts calendar offering users updated information about Israeli art events taking place in Israel and in a number of cities across the globe.

To receive regularly updated information please sign up for our mailing list.

C) Education Questions

Art is a universal language that transcends cultural, political and religious boundaries. We invite you to sample one of our lessons to see what a powerful educational tool Israeli art can be.

2. How can I access Omanoot lesson plans? (top)
A few sample sesson plans are available for download by visiting our education section.

Omanoot also sends out monthly emails, some of which contain educational materials. To receive these emails please sign up for our mailing list.

For information about custom ordered curricula and lesson plans to come please contact us at info@omanoot.com.

3. Are these lesson plans stand-alone units or part of a larger curriculum? How much knowledge of Israel and Israeli culture does an educator need to use them? (top)
Each lesson plan can be used as a stand-alone unit (1 to 3 hour lessons each that can be broken into 45 minute segments).

We also integrate the individual lesson plans into larger curricula based on selected themes (lifecycles and holidays, multiculturalism, Tel Aviv 100, and more).

Our comprehensive lesson plans focus on one piece of art, and include background information, questions and activities and all necessary supplementary materials.

4. Where are Omanoot's educational materials currently being used? (top)
Omanoot's current focus is to outreach to Jewish Day Schools and after school programs in North America grades 5th through 12th.

Omanoot's materials have been used and piloted in a number of schools including; the Hannah Senesh school in New York, The Charles E. Smith Day School in Rockville Maryland, the Akiva Community Day School in Nashville Tennesee and in the Hillel School of Tampa Florida. Interested in what people are saying about our curriculum?

5. How does Omanoot select the art used in lesson plans? (top)
Omanoot's educational team uses different forms of art media, which speak about and deal with a variety of topics.

Art pieces are chosen based on relevancy to a selected number of themes, which are educationally relevant according to our target audience.

Because Omanoot believes in the importance of collaboration with artists in creating educational materials, the availability of artists and their willingness to help is also a large factor in selecting which works will be used for lesson plans.

6. Can I plan my own art education trip to Israel through Omanoot? (top)
Yes. Omanoot already planned five days of educational programming for a group run by the Australian Union of Jewish Students who visited Israel in January 2009.

Omanoot would be happy to customize an exciting itinerary for your group. We can help plan anywhere from two hours worth of programming to two weeks.