Art – Civics Program (Social Change Through Art)

Creative programming at schools is valuable on its own merit, however at Hand in Hand, art is a language that is accessible to all.  Creating art allows students to express themselves deeply without the need for words, and in a form that all are equipped to comprehend.  Art programming is also a vital opportunity for students of different types of intelligence and skills to shine, in tandem with the Hand in Hand mission of inclusivity and honoring of differences.  While Hand in Hand schools focus on bilingualism in Hebrew and Arabic, art provides a third language for communication.

Art is taught at preschool, elementary and high school level. Last year, our students’ artwork appeared at exhibitions throughout the city. An exhibition of our grade 12 art class was displayed at the prestigious Islamic Museum for Art. In addition, our students’ photography projects were exhibited at public sites and squares around the city.

In 2018-19, the high school has launched a new 5 point bagrut course that is called ‘Art for Social Change’. The aim of the course is to take advantage of the social and political culture of art to learn about Israeli society, while at the same time giving students the ability to speak their voice through their artwork.The first phase of building this new course involved bringing together students, teachers and school staff with local artists and civics experts in order to explore what a civics-minded art program can look like. A consultation day was run during October 2018 that brought together dozens of stakeholders from the community and laid the foundation for the program to launch in the 2018-19 year. This year the first classes will participate in this program, which will include excursions, exhibitions, seminars and more.