Vision
The ‘New Lease on Life’ project will, with the help of the Matanel Foundation, transform Beit Rachel Straus into a fully accessible, inclusive community center offering a variety of training, treatment and leisure-time programs and services for members of the Jerusalem community. BRS will be made fully accessible in compliance with the 2nd amendment to the Law of Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2005).
Activity
Serving people with disabilities as well as ‘typical’ people irrespective of their age, level of functioning, religion, ethnicity, gender or other affiliation. BRS’ staff will encourage inclusive and shared-space activities. BRS will feature: – an art center for painting and photography – a music center for music lessons, music therapy, a choir, music listening and appreciation – a gym with special equipment for persons with disabilities and seniors – a Snoozylen room for multi-sensory stimulation therapy and relaxation – a ceramics workshop – a 110 square meter auditorium for concerts, plays, films, lectures, rehearsals, holiday celebrations – several multi-purpose rooms to be used for anything between professional conferences, staff training, board meetings to yoga sessions – a shop with art made by clients of AKIM-Jerusalem, the association’s guests and colleagues from all over Israel – a small café – BRS’s public areas will feature a gallery specializing in Art Brut (also sometimes called ‘outsider art’). – BRS will serve as AKIM-Jerusalem’s hospitality center and it will be the basis for the association’s international activities