Democracy Month for the Youth of the City
25 ₪
Organizers present the large-scale campaign "Chodesh HaDemokrati" (Month of Democracy) for Tel Aviv youth, aimed at civic engagement ahead of the Knesset elections. The culmination will be a one-day interactive festival called "Manifesto," featuring concerts, art installations, quizzes, and lectures where participants directly influence the event's script. The program also includes a series of free and paid workshops and debates taking place throughout July and August across the city.
Organizers present the large-scale campaign "Chodesh HaDemokrati" (Month of Democracy) for Tel Aviv youth, aimed at civic engagement ahead of the Knesset elections. The culmination will be a one-day interactive festival called "Manifesto," featuring concerts, art installations, quizzes, and lectures where participants directly influence the event's script. The program also includes a series of free and paid workshops and debates taking place throughout July and August across the city.
In July and August 2026, events are held throughout the city connecting democracy with life itself. Each event attempts to answer the question "What does it matter?" from a different perspective—music performances, workshops, games, and interactive content placing young people at the center.
The highlight of the initiative—"Manifesto"—is the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality’s "What Does It Matter?" festival, aimed at encouraging civic engagement among the city's youth. It will take place on Wednesday, August 19, at HaTadar (The Frequency) complex in Tel Aviv-Yafo.
The festival offers a shared, creative, and thought-provoking experience centered on questions of influence, choice, and a shared future. For one evening, the HaTadar complex transforms into an imaginary country where the audience is not just watching but participating. Participants move between performances, interactive art installations, workshops, and activities where they are invited to choose, influence, imagine, and actively participate in shaping the experience.
At the heart of the festival is the performance "The Manifesto of Life," where five creators present their personal vision for the country they would want to live in. Not a political platform, but a personal manifesto—funny, moving, accessible, or provocative. At the end of the evening, the audience selects the manifesto that resonated most, and symbolically elects a "leader" for the imagined country built during the festival.
Participants: Lea Lev, Ety Ben Simchon, Khader Abu Sayf, Gal Alkalai, and Lev Litman.
Key contents of the festival include:
• Performance by Teddy Negusse Assulin (Jay Lumuta).
• Performance by Costa Kaplan.
• Joint art exhibition led by the collective "Kakdilart."
• "Painting the Future"—an artist who will draw participants' visions in real-time.
• A political literacy quiz with Gil Raveh.
• A workshop on futuristic screen recordings with Moshon Zar Aviv.
• A conversation with Lobi 99—how decisions about our money are truly made?
• A lecture by Liron Amar on alternatives in musical creation.
Admission is free.
Festival "Manifesto," Wednesday, August 19. Doors open: 18:00. Beit Romano, 9 Yaffe Street, Tel Aviv-Yafo.
For more details on the highlight event, Manifesto, click here.
Alongside the highlight event, meetings, workshops, and conversations with media, content, and culture figures are held throughout the month at youth centers across the city, including:
• An ongoing workshop with Gil Kolag on sustainable consumption and the power of youth to influence the economy.
• A political literacy quiz with Gil Raveh.
• A course on critical media consumption and identifying fake news.
• "How to survive Friday dinner?"—on political conversations within families and among friends.
• A series of debates for new immigrants.
Admission cost for these events: 25 NIS, with a discount for Digital Pass holders.
For more information on Youth Unit events, click here.
Opening events attracted over 300 participants, with projected attendance for all events numbering in the thousands. Alongside the events, a dedicated card game was developed to encourage conversation about the society we live in and the society we wish to see. Through questions, tasks, and dilemmas, the game invites young people to hold open discussions on social and political issues, learn different perspectives, and imagine a possible future together. The game will be distributed during the initiative's events and at the "Manifesto" festival.
The "What Does It Matter?" initiative aims to strengthen the sense of relevance of elections for young people by connecting public discourse with issues occupying their daily lives: cost of living, culture, transportation, community, sense of security, and the shared future. Through meetings, workshops, and tools for participation in public discourse, the initiative seeks to transform elections from something sometimes perceived as distant and abstract into a conversation touching upon life itself.
The message of the initiative is clear—you do not need to be a politician, commentator, or activist to take part. It is enough to be involved in what is happening around you, ask questions, form opinions, and understand that you also have a place to influence. The path to influence is simple: from interest to understanding -> from understanding to position -> from position to participation and action.
The Youth Unit of the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality operates for the city's youth aged 18-35, promoting community development, resilience, personal growth, activism, and civic engagement. Central to its activity is a network of youth centers spread throughout the city, offering spaces for work, learning, creativity, and community entrepreneurship.
