Photo by Dana Bar Siman Tov
1986
One of only a handful of institutions in the world dedicated to visual theater, the School of Visual Theater has spent nearly four decades redefining how artists are trained. By bringing together performance, movement, design, multimedia, and visual art, it equips students to create original works that challenge convention and expand the possibilities of contemporary theater.
When Pablo Picasso began experimenting with fractured forms, bold colors, and unfamiliar perspectives, his work stood in sharp contrast to the refined impressionism that had dominated the art world only years earlier. What initially seemed unconventional would ultimately reshape the course of modern art. Picasso demonstrated that creative breakthroughs often emerge when artists question established frameworks and imagine new ways of seeing. The School of Visual Theater in Jerusalem was founded on a similar belief. With the support of the Jerusalem Foundation, the school was established in 1986 by artists associated with the experimental Train Theater, the school sought to create a place where visual imagination and live performance could meet in unexpected ways. Rather than focusing on traditional theater alone, its founders envisioned a program where movement, objects, imagery, and spatial design would become central elements of artistic expression.
From the beginning the school developed a distinctive approach to artistic training. It remains one of the few institutions in the world devoted specifically to visual theater, a field that brings together the sensibilities of visual art with the immediacy of performance. Students are encouraged to experiment with materials, construct visual environments, and explore how bodies, objects, and space interact within a theatrical setting. Puppetry, performance art, multimedia, movement, and stage design all form part of the creative vocabulary through which students develop their work.
The curriculum combines rigorous artistic training with a strong emphasis on experimentation. Students learn methods of performance and visual composition while simultaneously developing original projects that reflect their own artistic voices. Throughout their studies they present new works before the public, sharing performances that often blend installation, movement, object theater, and visual storytelling. These presentations form an important part of the school’s educational philosophy, allowing emerging artists to test ideas and engage audiences as their work evolves.
The school offers a three year professional program as well as a four year joint track with David Yellin College of Education that leads to a bachelor’s degree and teaching certification. Graduates go on to work across a wide range of artistic fields, including theater, performance art, design, puppetry, and interdisciplinary visual creation.
Over the years the Jerusalem Foundation has played an important role in supporting the institution’s development. Its contributions have helped strengthen both the school’s facilities and its artistic programs. Among these initiatives was the creation of a media library in 2004, as well as scholarships including the Louise and Herb Horvitz Scholarship. The Foundation has also supported the Phenomena Festival of International Performance Art, a festival established by artists connected to the school that brings innovative performers from around the world to Jerusalem.
As of 2022, the School of Visual Theater is located within the new Jerusalem Arts Campus, established to provide a home in the center of the city to young emerging artistic creativity in downtown Jerusalem, alongside institutions such as the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School and the Nissan Nativ Acting Studio. Together these schools form a vibrant environment for artistic training and collaboration, drawing students who are interested in exploring new forms of creative expression, all in a state of the art complex dedicated solely to artistic creation.
Now, four decades after its founding, the School of Visual Theater continues to cultivate artists who approach their craft with curiosity and openness. Art rarely follows a single path. It evolves through experimentation, through the meeting of disciplines, and through the willingness to imagine forms that have not yet been seen. By offering students the space to explore these possibilities, the school ensures that creativity in Jerusalem continues to expand in new and unexpected directions.
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