About the project
The Jerusalem Foundation helped found the Jerusalem School of Photography in 1986 to offer a full-time, three-year program in traditional photography, in which students could study photography as a visual, communicative and expressive art. The school later added additional departments: a computer imaging and multimedia track that teaches the fundamentals of design and graphic arts, three-dimensional animation, website design and sound and digital video editing; a photojournalism track that brings together Jewish and Arab students to explore issues of identity, education and politics through photography and news media, and a music track. The school was then renamed the Musrara School of Photography, Digital Media & New Music (later simplified to the School of Photography & New Media). The school has grown into one of the most highly regarded and active art and photography schools in Israel, with approximately 200 students enrolled each year.The school also offers individual courses for amateur photography enthusiasts and innovative programs for children with special needs, senior citizens, and youth at risk. In all its programs, the school emphasizes photography within context, whether it is the Musrara neighborhood or the larger political context of Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Foundation helped the school purchase its building in 2006, and rededicated it as the Naggar School of Photography, Music & New Media. The school is one of several institutions the Foundation has supported to stimulate cultural life in the Musrara neighborhood.
