Young Artists & Art
New Spirit has identified the great potential contribution of young Jerusalem Artists to the city's image and its liveliness.
Today, one of Jerusalem's major problems is the city's image. Jerusalem is perceived by many, Jerusalemites as well as Israelis not living in the city, as a city in decline as a result of a prolonged state of Stagnation. It is sometimes looked at as a "doomed" city, only a distant reminder of its glorious past.
In many cases, the problems in the city's image are very much inflated compared to the city's "real", objective problems, when examined carefully. Work, therefore, has to be done on two levels – firstly, creating an image which more truthfully reflects the city and what it has to offer, and secondly, creating a solid infrastructure, which will serve as a basis for Jerusalem's future diversification and growth.
We at New Spirit believe that the young artist population of the city can and should serve as a key factor in building this infrastructure. Investing in this population, preventing its negative migration from the city to other parts of the country, giving it artistic breathing space and enlarging its involvement and visibility in the city can, utilizing a relatively small budget, create real change, taking place on both levels mentioned earlier.
Our vision is of a concentration of nine art schools, currently dispersed throughout the city, in the center of Jerusalem, creating a bustling, creative, dynamic and magical atmosphere in the beating heart of the city, which has for centuries served as inspiration for artists and continues to do so today. In our vision, the relocation of the schools to the heart of the city is a symbolic act, reflecting a much broader change in the involvement, visibility and centrality these schools and their student population should have.
We stress that this vision, although far from being fully realized, is certainly not a "castles in the air" type agenda. First of all, Jerusalem has, as mentioned earlier, served as an inspiration for artists for centuries, and it certainly has everything a city needs to serve as such – unique landscapes, atmosphere, diversity, and a certain spirituality which no one can deny.
Jerusalem already houses 9 higher education schools, where 3000 art students are enrolled. This is the largest concentration of institutions of this type in Israel. One of these schools is Bezalel, Israel's first (founded in 1906) and most outstanding art school, which educates in many different fields, from film and animation to industrial design. Plans for its relocation to the city center are already being promoted – this vision is not New Spirit's alone. A world-leading animation center is being built in Jerusalem these days, and great efforts and funds are invested in making Jerusalem a world leader in this field. The city is home to major festivals, such as the world renowned Jerusalem Film Festival and the Israel Festival, a national celebration of culture. All of these are major hallmarks of Jerusalem's cultural infrastructure and plans for its future.
Our vision includes ambitious goals for Jerusalem. Needless to say, that achieving these goals begins in small steps. Our program consists of several elements that capitalize on what New Spirit does best – connecting young populations to the city, empowering them and giving them a more suitable and distinct spot in the large collage which Jerusalem is comprised of. Elements of the program include:
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Facilitation of employment for the young artists\art student population, through New Spirit's Internship project, and through the creation of an "Artist Index", which will serve as a "matchmaking" resource between consumers of art services and the local artist community. We will strive to generate a norm in the city in which in case artistic services are needed, whether they are in the fields of Industrial design, dance, music, theater, graphics, or any other needs, only local artists will be employed in meeting them.
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Raising Public Awareness to the current state of things regarding art and culture in Jerusalem in general and young art in particular. The city's cultural scene, although dynamic and unique, is severely under-budgeted by the municipality and relies heavily on external support. Young art, in this regard, is no exception. New Spirit has been working to remedy this situation through raising public awareness – we are holding a series of protesting events called "Vacuum", in which the Jerusalem public has a chance to learn about the situation and show its support for a change in municipal priorities. New Sprit, of course, does not only protest – for the past three years, we have been producing "Cocktail Art Parties" and the "Beaujolais" Art Festival, which are forums for showcasing young Jerusalem artists (and in addition, are also lots of fun, and have attracted thousands of visitors this year).
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Advertising and Marketing of a selected events held in the city's art schools, which are another opportunity to expose young artists. These events have already become traditions, yet some are unjustly not well known, and with proper marketing, can become attractions within their own right. These events include, for example, Bezalel's year end exhibition, The School of Visual Theater's Finale and spring events, concerts and recitals at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and many others. Our aim is to market these events in a bi-monthly manner, via a designated booklet and supporting advertising.
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Holding a unified "open house" day for the city's art schools, which gives potential students the opportunity to see and feel Jerusalem's diverse offerings in this field in the most complete manner. This year's open house day attracted 1000 attendees, and New Spirit has offered these visitors a taste of Jerusalem through various performances held during the day. In producing this event, we believe we are helping to keep the city's art schools attractive and visible, thereby securing the continued growth of the artist population in Jerusalem for years to come.
Jerusalem has the largest concentration of higher education art schools