Dear Friends,
As you can see from the enclosed photos and video, the work on the CITYarts Peace Wall in Jaffa, Israel is in full steam.
In addition to the 24 Jewish and Arab schools and groups who worked with us, we invited Mifalot, of Hapoel Tel Aviv, to participate. They are youth who are educated by staff of the soccer champions of Tel Aviv, to reach to the top of their ability and assume leadership in their activities. It was a day full of creativity and enthusiasm of the Jewish and Arab kids who were happy to work together on the Peace Wall.
They were joined by the neighborhood kids and a group of students from the Sapir College in Sderot. In fact, I was invited by the Arts department of the College to give a lecture about CITYarts's Public Art and working with the community. The students were so enthusiastic about the creative process that I invited them to come experience it hands-on at the Mosaic Peace Wall. Together with our artists, Yoav and Salma, they helped the younger kids put piece by piece on the wall. There wasn't a question in my mind that both sides gained a lot from the process. Yet I was delightfully surprised when some kids, who had left on the bus to go home an hour before, came back to the wall escorted by their parents and proudly posed for cameras in front of the wall they had just put a mark on.
Salma and Yoav will continue to engage new schools and groups like the Tabeetha and Amanuyot Schools in Tel Aviv.
It was also a special pleasure for me to take CITYarts' 2010 honoree, Badr Jafar, for a tour of the Peace Wall and all of Jaffa. Joining us also was Banot Lemaane Ha Shalom, a group of wonderful lady friends who have been supporting the Peace Wall initiative right from the start, together with the artist resident of Jaffa, Ilana Gur, who will hopefully help the Sderot group create other walls in the community.
My thanks to our photographers Ira, Meytal and Ina from Sderot, and of course our collaborators and sponsors who, without them, we could not make it happen.
In the next few months, we hope to complete the creative process on the wall and celebrate in April, just before Passover and Easter, the Ribbon Cutting ceremony. We hope you will come and join us to enjoy a Mosaic Peace Wall that will stay there as a constant reminder for joining hands and minds for peace.
Thank you all for your help.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Tsipi Ben-Haim
Executive & Artistic Director, CITYarts, Inc.
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Board of Directors
Carrie H. Cohen,
Chairperson
Jean Kim, Secretary
Bernadette Longford,
Treasurer
Helene Saren
Lawrence
Amnon Bar-Tur
Vera Sung
Irene Minkoff
Kate Gehring
Tsipi Ben-Haim,
Executive & Artistic
Director
Board of Advisors
Sam August
Anna Carbonell
Deborah Dugan
Robert Fisher
Alex Gorlin
Katie Hollander
Stephanie Holmquist
Gisela Keller
Charlotta Kotik
Nina & Daniel
Libeskind
Miranda McClintic
Laura Miller
Dr. Lewis Peach
Jeanne Greenberg
Rohatyn
Lois Vaisman
Irwin Shlachter
Gustavo Stecher
Staff
Tsipi Ben-Haim,
Executive and Artistic Director
Elizabeth Spier,
Assistant to the Director
Jordan Taler,
Creative Coordinator
Interns
Marie Medevielle
Grace Abe
Chloe Locarro
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PEACE WALL
Artists
Salma Shehade
Yoav Weiss
Sponsors
Allianz
Anonymous Individual
Contributors
ARTA
Shell Lina Art
Together Publicity
Schools/ Participating Groups
Helicon - Society for the Advancement of Poetry in Israel
Jewish Youth in the Center of Leadership in The Heart of Yafo
The Youth Group of Shem Hagdolim neighborhood in collaboration with the Peres Center for Peace
The Democratic School under the leadership of Mary Copti
Hachashmonaim School - Jewish-Arab School
Orthodox Club Tsofim - Arab Christians
Terrasanta Middle/High School
Orthodox Club Tsofim - Christian Arabs
Weitsman Arab and Jewish School
The Terrasanta Elementary School
Educational Youth Leadership Project
Jewish Tsofim in Yafo
Youth Club for Advancement in Jaffa
The Farir School
Public School Lev Middle/High School
Muslim Tsofim
Partners
Peres Center for Peace
Arab-Hebrew Theatre of Jaffa
The Council for a Beautiful Israel
Hamishlama Leyafo
Banot Lemaane Ha Shalom -
Vaad Mitham shem Hagdolim
Kedem
Board
Banot Lemaane Ha Shalom
Shoshi Almagor
Bela Almog
Ronit Amit
Dana Arazi-Margalit
Colette Avital
Aya Azrielant
Gali Cohen
Sima Ella
Ronit Federman
Ruth Federman
Tzameret Fuerst
Karen Gillerman-Harel
Nadia Hilo
Nadine Hollander
Nira Itzhaki
Sara Kremer
Liora Morgenstern
Nava Mussaffi
Dalyah Neeman
Tsipi Ronnen-Dovrat
Chana Rothschild
Ruthi Sella
Hava Topor
Miri Zichroni
Photographers
Rotem Rachel Chen
Tamy Dahan
Ira Shraberman
Avishai Gilad
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Students from Sderot and Mifalot, Hapoel, Tel Aviv
Kormovsky Family
Artist Salma Shehade instructing new participants
Artists Yoav Weiss and Salma Shehade
Banot Lemaane Ha Shalom
Badar Jafar, Executive Director of the Cresent Petroleum Group
Badar Jafar, Tsipi Ben-Haim, Executive and Artistic Director CITYarts
Tsipi and Nadio Hilo
Student Participant from Sderot
Amnon from the Peres Center for Peace and Banot Lemaane Ha Shalom
Tsipi with artist Elana Gore, Gali Cohen, and Architect Zelilah Harizman
Banot Lemaane Ha Shalom
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"Thinking globally - acting locally, CITYarts projects build bridges of cultural
understanding and give youth the opportunity to take an active role in shaping
their future".
-- Tsipi
Ben-Haim, CITYarts Executive & Artistic Director
MISSION
CITYarts empowers children and youth by bringing them together with
professional artists to create public art that addresses civic and social
issues, impacts their lives, and transforms their communities.
PROGRAMS
We give our children and youth the opportunity to get actively involved
in their communities, do something to make their world a better place, and
assume responsibility through the creation of murals and mosaics led by
professional artists.
PROJECTS
CITYarts public art projects give youth a stage to ask, "What does peace look
like to me?", "What can I do to reduce the speed of global warming?",
and other urgent and relevant questions, and to address them artistically
through cooperation and creation.
RESULTS
Since 1968, CITYarts has created over 280
projects, transformed over 200 communities,
impacted over 100,000 kids in New York and over 5,000 kids internationally,
collaborated with 500 artists, and
partnered with 300,000 volunteersin
the process, with the consistent sponsorship of corporations, foundations, and
individuals.
Thank you in advance for your generous support. Please donate now!
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