FOODISH BY ANU is recruiting 20 content creators for a fully funded accelerator that pairs food, culture and eight days in Israel, and it is not alone. Reichman University certified 35 graduates from its own creator program in July 2026. Brands and universities are now building structured pipelines instead of buying one-off sponsored posts.
What is FOODISH BY ANU asking creators to do?
FOODISH BY ANU, the culinary department of Tel Aviv's ANU Museum of the Jewish People, is recruiting 20 creators between the ages of 20 and 35 for a fully funded program built around food, culture and personal storytelling, according to the program's own recruitment site. Applications close September 20, 2026.
The structure runs in three phases. Six online masterclasses run from October 20 through December 1, 2026, covering content strategy and personal branding. Then eight days in Israel from December 8 to 15, 2026 put creators in front of chefs, artists, entrepreneurs and families across Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and southern communities. A standing creator network is the stated goal after the trip ends.
The named mentors on the program page include chef and author Ben Siman-Tov, content creator and author Aija Mayrock, challah artist Idan Chabasov, brand builder Eitan Chitayat, former TikTok Israel creator-partnerships lead Ya'ara Ohayon, and Regev Gur, founder of the brand consultancy Narrative Group. Merav Oren, founder of Foodish, has described the wider effort as using food to tell the story of the Jewish people, not just to promote a museum.
How does Reichman University's Brandon Korff program formalize the same model?
Reichman University certified its first graduating class of 35 students from the Brandon Korff Influencers Program in July 2026, a credit-bearing course the university and Israel Hayom describe as the first university-level influencer program of its kind anywhere. The program is funded by American-Jewish philanthropist Brandon Korff, whose family controlled Paramount for decades.
The cohort was not exclusively Jewish. Students came from the US, Brazil, South Africa, France, the UK, Germany and Australia through the university's International School, and training covered storytelling, video production, algorithms and audience development, including direct engagement with working influencers such as Nas Daily. A capstone video competition on public diplomacy paid out NIS 15,000, NIS 10,000 and NIS 7,500 to the top three finishers.
Isaac Daboush, the foundation's director and head of the program, put the thesis directly: "the most powerful tool is the smartphone in your pocket." Professor Moran Yarchi, who heads the university's Public Diplomacy Program, frames the effort as direct competition over how Israel's image circulates online, treating the fight for legitimacy as an active front rather than a communications afterthought.
What does the Storytellers Program add to the pattern?
Birthright Israel Onward's Storytellers Program, founded by former Silicon Valley employee Jacqueline Korren, ran its first cohort of 43 participants from eight countries in summer 2025, ages 18 to 35, with half never having done Birthright before. The program recruits working creators who happen to be Jewish rather than pre-existing Israel advocates.
Food creators occupy a specific role inside that cohort. Chef Vlad Briantsev, one of three food-focused Storytellers graduates profiled by JNS, put the appeal of the format in plain terms: "Food is the most effective way to cross boundaries and barriers and touch people." The other two, Matt Cowan and Jana Magen, run food content and culinary tours respectively, and neither presents as a spokesperson for Israel.
Birthright Israel CEO Gidi Mark has described the goal as building a lasting community of creators, not a single campaign cycle. That framing matches what FOODISH BY ANU and Reichman are both building: a pipeline that keeps producing content after the funded program ends.
How do the three programs compare?
Program
Host / Funder
Cohort Size
Format
FOODISH BY ANU
ANU Museum of the Jewish People
20 creators, ages 20-35
6 online sessions + 8 days in Israel
Brandon Korff Influencers Program
Reichman University, funded by Brandon Korff
35 graduates, first cohort
Full academic year, credit-bearing
Storytellers Program
Birthright Israel Onward
43 participants, first cohort
Fellowship, ages 18-35
Why are brands and nonprofits choosing accelerators over paid campaigns?
All three programs fund training and a trip rather than paying a fixed fee per post, which is a creator-economy structure, not a standard influencer marketing buy. Everything-PR has previously drawn that same line: a brand-centric campaign pays for reach on a fixed timeline, while a creator-economy investment builds a pipeline of people and skills that keeps producing content long after the program ends.
The pattern also has a domestic parallel. Everything-PR has tracked U.S. universities building creator-economy academic programs, from Syracuse's Creator Economy minor to the ECU-MrBeast credential. FOODISH BY ANU and the Brandon Korff program run the same operations-layer logic outside the U.S., training the people who will keep making content rather than renting a single creator's audience for one campaign.
For brands that want the campaign model instead of the accelerator model, that option still exists: the 2026 Influencer Marketing Operators Directory lists the agencies and platforms built for exactly that transaction.
CONCLUSION
Three separate Jewish organizations landed on the same structure in 2026: fund the creator's training and travel, not the individual post. 5W runs AI Search (GEO) programs for brands across consumer, B2B, financial services, healthcare, and technology — building the machine-readable footprint that gets brands cited, not just ranked. Learn more at 5wpr.com/practice/geo-optimization.
FOODISH BY ANU is a global creator accelerator run by the culinary department of Tel Aviv's ANU Museum of the Jewish People. It recruits 20 content creators aged 20 to 35 for a fully funded program combining six online masterclasses with eight days in Israel, with applications closing September 20, 2026.
What is the Brandon Korff Influencers Program?
The Brandon Korff Influencers Program is a credit-bearing course at Reichman University, funded by philanthropist Brandon Korff, that Israel Hayom describes as the first university-level influencer program of its kind. Its first cohort of 35 students, drawn from eight countries and not all Jewish, graduated in July 2026.
Why are Jewish organizations funding creator accelerators instead of buying influencer campaigns?
FOODISH BY ANU, Reichman University and Birthright Israel Onward's Storytellers Program all fund training and travel rather than paying a fee per sponsored post. That structure builds a recurring pipeline of creators and skills, which is the creator-economy model, rather than a single paid-placement campaign that ends when the contract does.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
