Shaare Zedek, Bezalel partner on solutions to coronavirus challenges

As part of the partnership, medical teams and designers will work together and create joint projects.

Shaare Zedek Medical Center. (photo credit: COURTESY SHAARE ZEDEK)
Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
(photo credit: COURTESY SHAARE ZEDEK)
Shaare Zedek Medical Center and the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design will partner to find solutions for the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, the hospital announced in a statement on Monday. The partnership will be supported by a grant from the Jerusalem Foundation.
As part of the partnership, medical teams and designers will work together and create joint projects. They will be mentored by the medical center and the arts academy, which will help them to develop the projects.
The cooperation will focus on innovation and community development. The goal of the partnership is to ensure the creativity and innovation of communities and create new models to get through the current, unprecedented situation. 
The organizations decided on a partnership in recognition of the pandemic's effect on hospitals, which they say showed that hospitals are not only places for medical treatment, but have an important social role to fill and provide for the social fortitude of the communities they serve. 
The pandemic also demonstrated the fragility of Jerusalem's art community, leaving many of Jerusalem's artists with no ability to earn a living, especially those who work in the field of live performance.