The Movement that will promote Community Initiatives in the City

Cooperation between the Visual Communications department, Be'er Sheva Campus, and the Montreal Federation, recently led to a meeting between students of the department and community initiators in the old city and Neighborhood Gimmel.

The meetings were part of the “Introduction to Graphic Design in Movement” course, held during the second year of studies. During the meetings the students have their first encounter with the ability to express their creations in movement using short video and animated clips. In addition, the students are given the opportunity to hear about a variety of community ventures present in the urban expanses of the city, from social workers and community activists that accompany these initiatives, thanks to the Federation.

The students met with these initiators through the Be'er Sheva Municipality Community Work Department, which connected all the factors involved. The ventures the students were introduced to included: the struggle by residents of Neighborhood C to preserve the veteran Orot Cinema located at the heart of the neighborhood, and turn it into a center for community activities; activities in the Maapilim Park of Neighborhood C, which holds a bicycle repair workshop that is visited by residents of the neighborhood and its surroundings, and through which a community bond is formed between different people around a common subject. In the old city the students met with members of the Land Oath and Beeri Farm Association, where meetings are formed between people through working the land, growing vegetables, plants and connecting to nature. Finally, the students met with the business community of the old city, which constitutes an organization of businesses active during the evening and night hours – pubs, galleries and restaurants – in an attempt to form a series of bonds that will strengthen the city’s recreational area and make is a safer and more inviting place for the general public.

The students used their photographed and recorded impressions of the fascinating tour to create visual message in movement, with the intent of awakening awareness to these community enterprises, and to encourage similar initiatives in the urban expanse. At the end of the year the students’ works will form a unique and extraordinary exhibition that will be open to the general public.

The Montreal Federation has been active in the city for over two decades in order to promote and develop the Negev. Its activities have led to the creation of educational and social incentives in the district, which form personal and close ties between the various and different community members in the area.