Culture and Experience Projects
Culture and Experience is a growing segment of JCI's portfolio of projects. This category includes physical locations, such as an art and gallery space in Jerusalem, a Jewish cultural center in Ljubljana, Slovenia and the construction of a new mikveh in Los Angeles. Also highly represented are activism efforts to combat antisemitism and antizionism, through diverse media such as books, podcasts, speaking engagements, and street art. Other projects are bringing Jews together in community through Israeli-flavored parties in Boston and encouraging aliyah to Israel. Together, JCI projects celebrate the diverse ways Jewish heritage is lived and felt today. Discover, below, the shared stories, values, and experiences that shape our collective journey.
Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary
Virtual reality experience that brings Anne Frank's story to life through historically researched recreations of the people, places, and events that shaped her world. Invites audiences to engage with Anne's life and the broader history of the Holocaust, while preserving Anne Frank's legacy and inspiring reflection on the enduring consequences of antisemitism, intolerance, and dehumanization.
Bridgewell Arts
Supports, educates and connects Jewish and non-Jewish allies in the creative industry. Celebrates Jewish and Israeli artistic excellence, provides educational resources for the art world, and aims to build bridges with Jewish nonprofits as well as the arts & culture community at large.
Bring on the Jews
After 2000 years of yearning to return to The Land, many Jews who are now thinking of עֲלִיָּה wonder how they can earn a living here. Shlomo Gewirtz trains new עוֹלִים to stop hiding behind their screens, interview top managers face to face, sell themselves like pros and get paid what they’re worth. It’s all about telling the right story. No עולה is turned away for lack of funds.
Davar
Davar is a national educational initiative bringing serious, accessible programming on Zionism and Israeli history to communities across the United States. Founded by Jared Stone, author of A Brief History of Israel and the Jewish People (endorsed by Rabbi David Wolpe, Dara Horn, Gil Troy, and Yossi Klein Halevi), Davar delivers programs to congregations, day schools, and community institutions nationwide.
Eighteen Foundation
Founded in 2024 by Noa Tishby, Eighteen fights antisemitism, defends Israel, and inspires Jewish pride by empowering Jews and allies to be proud advocates of Israel, the Jewish community, and western values. Tishby authored "Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth," translated into multiple languages.
Hatikvah Collective
A global network of artists creating and distributing open-source, easily reproducible Jewish street art. By transforming public spaces with DIY art in the wake of October 7th, the collective actively counters antisemitic erasure and fosters a participatory generation of Jewish and Zionist public citizens.
Imun Coaching Network
Professional coaches dedicated to elevating the quality of coaching in the Jewish sector, increasing accessibility to coaching as a reliable and effective catalyst for professional growth, and expanding coaching cultures within the sector to support communal goals. Experienced in coaching when Jewish identity and continuity shape how leaders show up, struggle, and grow.
Jewish Artists Initiative of Southern California
JAI aims to support Jewish artists and arts professionals while fostering Jewish culture through exhibitions and programs that encourage diverse dialogue about Jewish identity and experience. JAI welcomes visual artists in any medium with an exhibition history, as well as arts professionals (curators, critics, historians, and arts administrators).
Jewish Centre Ljubljana
The Jewish Centre Ljubljana serves the local and visiting Jewish community by promoting Jewish culture, education, and social life through performances, lectures, festivals, and events. It is home to Slovenia’s last synagogue, in one of the world's smallest remaining Jewish communities, and houses a museum, library, and Festival House of Tolerance and Theatre.
Jonah Platt Advocacy
Being Jewish with Jonah Platt offers inclusive, insightful conversations with remarkable guests—an inspiring antidote to today’s polarized discourse. Through powerful personal stories and extraordinary conversations, each episode celebrates Jewish life and invites us to engage with it more deeply—sparking connection to ourselves, one another, and the values we all share.
Kol Haot
Founded by artist David Moss, Kol HaOt ignites meaningful Jewish learning and living through the creative arts in its gallery-workshop-studio space in the Hutzot HaYotzer Artists’ Colony in Jerusalem, steps away from Jerusalem’s Old City across from Jaffa Gate. Providing unique opportunities for those seeking new and relevant pathways into meaningful and deepened Judaism, Kol HaOt imparts Jewish values, texts and history through a creative synthesis of the visual and performing arts.
Mesibat Maccabbee
Creates events for Jews and allies to have fun, build community, and be unapologetically themselves in a safe space. Mesibat Maccabee ("Maccabee Party") is a community open to all Jews and allies, welcoming all ethnicities, backgrounds, and levels of religious observance.
Sababoosh
Nurtures a love of Israel and its beautiful culture through talks (in-person and virtual), courses, articles, a podcast, and educational resources. Endorsed by Mishy Harmon and Yossi Klein HaLevi, Sababoosh is a home for Israeli culture in English, exploring music, language, television, art, and everyday life, curating and interpreting contemporary Israeli culture for diaspora audiences.
School for Creative Judaism
Exposes students to the knowledge and life experiences of what Judaism has been and can be, empowering people to develop and define a personal relationship with Jewish history, faith and culture. Arts infuse the learning of Jewish customs and traditions, as does the centrality of social justice in action and the responsibility to participate in “Tikkun Olam” – Repairing the World.
Shai Davidai Projects
Educator, activist, author, and podcaster dedicated to strengthening Jewish intellectual, cultural, and civic life at a moment of rising antisemitism, polarization, and uncertainty. With work including two complementary podcasts, Here I Am with Shai Davidai and Pragmatic Judaism, Shai Davidai amplifies Jewish voices, explores Jewish identity, and helps people engage thoughtfully with the challenges facing Jewish communities today.
The Ark Jewish Conversation Project
Serious, accessible Jewish programs for audiences seeking trusted conversation about Jewish life, Israel, the Jewish Diaspora, geopolitics and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, history, culture, and ideas. Also a safe online space for Jewish conversation, connection, learning, and civic reflection in a moderated digital community where those who care about Jewish life can gather to process current events, engage, share resources, and build relationships .
The Broom
Delve into the post-immigration story of Leonid Pekarovsky, a Ukrainian art curator who turned street-sweeper. In the experience, participants step into Leonid's shoes and journey through 40,000 years of art history with a VR headset and a broom, exploring the transformative power of art as one soul seeks solace.
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