Jezreel Valley Multicultural Center for the Arts

Today I made my way to Mizra where I visited the the Jezreel Valley Multicultural Center for the Arts. This is located at a meeting point between Jewish, Arab, and mixed communities, just 20 minutes east of Tivon, and an equally short distance from Nazareth, home to a mostly Christian-Arab population. The music dept. of this arts center is a conservatory for young musicians studying classical, jazz, modern, and even middle eastern music. The student body is about 70% Jewish and 30% Arab, the latter split halfway between Christians and Muslims.

My invitation to visit came from Uri Ben-David, the Director of Music Projects. He was extremely enthusiastic about my project and made sure to introduce me to everyone who could be of some help or a possible interview. He kindly made time to give me a full interview himself. He has been involved in bringing together Arabs and Jews in a musical setting for 10 years now. After we discussed his own philosophy on the peace process and the role of music and other cultural enrichment programs as methods of bringing together the two different peoples, he introduced me to the Shani Choir.

Shani is an all-female choir of 24 Jews and Arabs, aged 12 to 18. They all take voice lessons at the center and perform together around Israel and internationally. Their concerts have taken them to America, Denmark, and even the Vatican where they performed for Pope Benedict XVI. These remarkable young women transcend the cultural barrier so easily and gracefully, it's really inspiring.

After filming the choir for a bit, I visited a few other classes, all instrumental, with the same sort of comfortable atmosphere where the background of the students isn't thought about, only their musicianship. I then interviewed the conductor of the Shani Choir, Pnina Inbar, on her way out after their rehearsal ended.

The Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra has now become involved in the multicultural arts center, funding joint projects and even looking at musicians from the school as potential future members of the orchestra. Maestro Zubin Mehta, the principal conductor of the IPO, is similarly interested in Arabs and Jews playing music side-by-side.

At the end of the day I had the pleasure of watching a recital of some of the students who were, to say the least, absolutely amazing. I will definitely be back at this location soon (I was invited to come to a concert tomorrow and film and interview more people).