Identity and Belonging – Learning Spaces

It starts with diverse narratives of identity and background. A second starting point is the exhibition “Villa Global” at the Youth Museum Schöneberg. This exhibition is conceptualized in such a way that the visitor experiences the familiar and the strange with all their senses and can contribute to the design. The exhibition provides the foundation for the first German-Israeli cooperation between the museum and the Merchavim Institute. It was here that the idea for the Israeli side came into being – the pedagogical concept of transmitting active learning spaces to Israeli youth with different backgrounds. Likewise, the project “Identity and Belonging – Learning Spaces” offers a similar framework to complement the Villa Global. Jewish and Arab Israelis living in Berlin will help conceptualize the addition to the exhibition. Both platforms enable young people to answer questions about identity and belonging in creative and individual ways. At the same time, the project facilitates the basis for an intensive cooperation between young German and Israeli experts from education, museum work, art and theater. The result is a multi-lingual publication dealing with cultural diversity so that other institutions can benefit from the experiences of this bilateral model project.



“Identity and Belonging – Learning Spaces” is a project of the Youth Museum Schöneberg in Berlin and Merchavim, The Institute for the Advancement of Shared Citizenship in Ramla. Within the framework of the project that runs from 01.02.2012 to 31.12.2013, 10 to 15 participants from both institutions respectively first develop a concept for a national education center in Israel and – in cooperation with Berlin schools – set up a model room for “Israelis in Berlin” in Germany. In a subsequent stage of the project the Israeli education center is to be tested in a pilot phase. Moreover, the model room is to be integrated as a central part of the exhibition “Villa Global” at the Youth Museum Schöneberg. Compiling a multi-language handout for dealing with cultural diversity is the second module of the project.