The SFP is always looking to broaden its ability to promote peace and find innovative ways to disseminate the message of equality and social justice. Art is an effective platform in addressing issues outside of the consensus and pushed out of the public discourse; many artists are deeply concerned and committed to social issues and seeking to bringing about change. This program has been developed for artists who are interested in creating social and political works in theater, film and photography. Through art it is possible to broaden the scope of public discussion and expose the public to different aspects and issues that need to be addressed.

This initiative grew out of a meeting between the political artist Einat Weizmann, organizational consultant Shahira Shalabi and Dr Nava Sonnenschein. Weizmann is an actress, director, playwright and political activist whose plays, performances and events use documentary theater as an investigative tool to hone in on hidden places of the Israeli reality.

In the meeting the idea came up of initiating a program to help performing artists translate their societal concerns into their professional and artistic work. Recruiting artists, especially during the Coronavirus pandemic was not easy; however, on Friday, October 23 2020, the new program began with 18 participants, including 12 Jews and 6 Arabs; 11 women and 7, all students of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.  Due to the ongoing health crisis, the meeting took place via Zoom.

The practical component of the program will involve participants in developing a project which they will present at different stages, to the group. This new direction for the SFP represents an exciting development which will open new creative avenues to reach out to the public.

The October meeting was in the format of a short 3-hour online workshop in which each of the participants presented herself/ himself personally and artistically. It was a time to get acquainted, talk about motivations for participating in the course and discussing the language medium for the course.

On November 26-28.20, the the second meeting took place, in the framework of a long weekend workshop. Due to health considerations, we held the dialogue outside under cover, using outdoor heaters. We spoke about the conflict, about art and the conflict.

On December 11th 2020 we conducted the third meeting in which Einat Weizmann presented her political artistic work. This was followed by discussion. After lunch, one of the participants presented his work.  The discussion dealt the issue of memorials in Israel and anti-militarism.

At the beginning of January 2021, when the Israeli Government ordered a third lockdown, we decided not to give up but to move back to the online format.  As such, on January 8th 2021 we held a 3 hours meeting by Zoom. Attendance was high. The group listened to the lecture of Dr Adel Manaa on the 1948 war and the Nakba. We conducted a highly charged discussion on the processes of denial of this issue in Israeli society.

Another Zoom meeting was scheduled for late January with Umar al-Ghubari of the Zochrot organization, to present a virtual journey to a destroyed village.