CITYARTS
Empowering Young People
To Create Global
Peace Walls
Story and Photos by Tim Boxer
SIPI
BEN-HAIM is a woman
possessed with a mission to bring art to inner city youth. As
the executive and artistic director of CITYarts, she has created
260 projects in 21 years in urban areas around the globe that
bring people together to create murals and mosaics and unique
"peace walls."
At an awards dinner at the Ana Tzarev
Gallery in Midtown, the Israeli-raised dynamo told 250
supporters that her group has painted a peace wall in the Jacob
Schiff Park at 138th St. and Amsterdam Ave. There is
also a new one in Karachi, Pakistan.
"We are now working on a peace wall in
Jaffa with Arab and Jewish kids working together," she said.
"They found something in common. If we can make it in Israel, we
can make it everywhere."
Robert Dunn accepted a brick award
on behalf of Badr Jafar, executive director of the
Crescent Petroleum Group.
Liesel Pritzker presented an
award, made by artists, to Amir Dossal, executive
director of the United Nations Office of Partnerships.
"Art is the greatest equalizer,"
Dossal said. "Tsipi actually brought together people like
Israelis and Palestinians."
Dossal welcomed his fellow honoree,
Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. She’s the former wife
of Queen Elizabeth’s second son, Prince Andrew,
the Duke of York.
She is founder of the Children in
Crisis organization and a bestselling author of children's books
(Ashley Learns About Strangers). Her latest project is a
series titled, Helping Hand Books, coming in the fall from
Sterling Publishing.
Dossal introduced her as "the Duchess
of New York" and said she’s "a killer."
"She’s a breath of fresh air at the
United Nations. If we work together, we live better, and we’ll
bring peace to the world."