What We Do

The Artsbridge Approach

In order to make a lasting impact on its participants, Artsbridge uses a holistic approach unique among Israeli-Palestinian educational programs.  Artsbridge integrates expressive arts therapy, dialogue and art making.  The therapeutic component enables participants to articulate and process their own trauma.  Through a reflective dialogue model they learn to hear, understand and honor the experiences of those who live on the other side of the conflict.  Through art making they find common ground, work cooperatively and create something new and positive together.

Our 3-week Leadership Development Program will be held at Boston College this summer. Artsbridge is bringing 15 Israelis and 15 Palestinians together to learn to understand the suffering that is being experienced on both sides of the conflict.   While students do not always agree about the “facts” of the past or the exact solution for the future, they do come to respect each other’s experiences and empathize with each other.  One Israeli participant said that when he was having a hard time with the dialogue, the first person to comfort him was a Palestinian, which was something he said he never expected to happen.  Other participants told us that however difficult the dialogue was, they were still able to come together to work on their art projects—sometimes in silence, sometimes continuing the conversation as they worked.  Their shared vision of something new always enabled them to come back together.

The students will then return to their home regions serving as mentors to a new group of students.  This mentorship program offers the students the necessary support structure to continue their learning process while they remain surrounded by the very conflict and criticism they are working to overcome.  Artsbridge partners with strong established community organizations who serve as host sites, provides training and supervision for their staff, and in doing so is able to create more sustainable change.

Activities

Inter-Cultural Leadership Development Program: During the summer, 30 high school students—half Israeli and half Palestinian—spend three weeks together at Endicott College, in Beverly, MA. During morning sessions, students receive arts instruction in either visual art or film.  All art projects are collaborative, with Israeli and Palestinian participants working together in pairs. In the afternoon and evenings, trained facilitators lead discussions on the morning’s work using a process that creates constructive dialogue.  Participants learn to speak in a way that others can hear them, ask questions out of curiosity rather than judgment, listen with respect, and honor each other’s experiences. Time is also dedicated each day to recreational activities.  During the year the artwork becomes a traveling art exhibit and is shown at conferences, Universities and various venues around the US, and eventually worldwide, connecting thousands of people to the Artsbridge experience.

Partnership Programs in Israel & the Palestinian Territories: When they return home, students continue their Artsbridge experiences in five satellite programs at established community organizations, where they serve as mentors to a new group of students.  There are three Israeli organizations; Neve Shalom-Wahat al Salam, Beit Hagefen in Haifa, and the International YMCA in Jerusalem.  There are two Palestinian organizations; The Palestinian Peace Coalition in Ramallah, and the Hope Flowers School in Bethlehem.

These satellite programs run for the duration of the school year.  In these programs, youth create artwork that expresses their fears, hopes, ideas and everyday experiences.  Three times a year this art is exchanged between Israeli and Palestinian programs to create a dialog using a strictly visual language. This year, over 140 youth are participating in the yearlong programs.

Each year, another group of 30 students will be selected from the satellite programs to travel to Endicott College to participate in the summer development program.   Each school year, these students will return to the Host Sites as mentors.