Jerusalem Foundation to invest in haredi women, Arabs, LGBTQ youth in 2023

The Jerusalem Foundation Inc. (JFI) announced on Monday that its 2023 Innovation Fund raised over $2.5 million in funds to be distributed to 65 grant recipients contributing to Jerusalem's cultural ethos. 

JFI's Innovation Fund was created in 2020 in an effort to combat the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Per JFI, "the Innovation Fund seeks to ensure Jerusalem's present and future vitality by supporting initiatives by cultural and community-based organizations across the city with an emphasis on promoting multilateral collaboration and enhancing the rich tapestry of communities that defines Jerusalem's unique signature."

Grant recipients include several organizations which promote creative and artistic growth among haredi women, including:

• Playwriting Residency for Haredi Women - a joint initiative by the Eshkolot Community Center and the Nekuda Tova Theater
• Colors of Poetry - a poetry festival by and for haredi women put on by the Toar organization and the Psifas Theater
• JeruSLAM - a slam poetry program for ultra-Orthodox women in Jerusalem, by the Haredi Association for Culture and the Arts; Bucharim and Bayit v’Gan Community Centers; Haredi Author’s Home and Beit Yaakov Ma’alot Seminar

“This year’s applicants displayed an unprecedented level of creativity and vision, tackling wide-ranging challenges that include broadening cultural access, fostering education, and promoting leadership,” said Ruth Diskin, Director of Programming for the Jerusalem Foundation.

East Jerusalem and Arabic-speaking programs

There are also several initiatives specifically aiming to enrich the Arabic-speaking community, including: 

• A Hebrew language and film production course to prepare Arabic-speaking students in east Jerusalem to attend film school (jointly spearheaded by the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School and the Goldie Paley Center for the Arts)
• Expanding an existing program by the Sinsila Center and Lada'at, which delivers health, wellness and reproductive information and care to Palestinian women in east Jerusalem.
• Steps +, a gap year program for Arab young adults focusing on technology and entrepreneurship, created by the Bakchila organization, Jerusalem Venture Partners and ELEVATE.

Other notable initiatives receiving funding from the Innovation Fund include "Embroidery among Cultures: An Ethiopian, Palestinian and Moroccan Collaboration," whose goal is to archive the legacy of Middle Eastern and African embroidery as well as to further economic empowerment and cross-cultural engagement for women.

Additionally, the "Day of Choice," which, with Out for Change, Judah's Yard and the Jerusalem Theatre will create a multidisciplinary art series by and for LGBTQ+ young adults who have left their ultra-Orthodox homes and communities.   

"Through the Innovation Fund, the Jerusalem Foundation is proud to support initiatives that can serve the present and also become models for future development and success, not only in Jerusalem but also across Israel and elsewhere in the world,” said James Snyder, JFI Executive Chairman. “This year’s grantees demonstrate both the growing success of the Innovation Fund and the impact of partnership and collaboration in encouraging grantees to work together to embrace a shared vision for a vibrant future for Jerusalem.”

Founded by former Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek in 1966, the Jerusalem Foundation raises and distributes funds to groups promising to enhance the city's status as a global destination for the arts, culture, science, technology and industry as well as the lives of its residents.