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 The Jaffa Institute's Musical Minds program exposes Israel's disadvantaged children to quality arts education and provides an outlet for self-expression and cognitive development. The program provides music education for all children, and not only for those who have outstanding musical abilities, or whose parents have the means and awareness to provide for their musical training. Conducted at the Institute's program sites in Jaffa, Bat Yam, and south Tel Aviv, children from 15 elementary schools, lead by a team of specialized artists, join in singing, dancing, playing, and listening.
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Through specially designed teaching methodologies and materials, the long-term aim of the program is to help children of diverse cultural backgrounds develop cognitive, performance, and communication skills through the study of music.
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 The Jaffa Institute provides the Musical Minds program in cooperation with Bar Ilan University's Yehuda Amir Institute for Advancement of Social Integration in Education and the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation promoting cross-cultural dialogue through the arts. Indeed, a unique and central feature of Musical Minds is the on-going documentation and analysis of the project's activities conducted by the Yehuda Amir Institute. Their evaluations generate knowledge, steer the program in new directions, and provide crucial information to local and State officials from the Ministry of Education and Welfare.
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 The program is proven to help disadvantaged children improve their ability to listen, practice positive communication, and develop a wide range of cognitive and social skills. Further, their music performances and creative activities involving parents actively contribute towards building community unity and pride.
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Advancing Children through the Arts
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 This past April, the Jaffa Institute, in cooperation with Bar Ilan University and the International Yehudi Menuhin Foundation, hosted an international-array of musicologists and other specialists to explore the cognitive and communicative affects of arts education for at-risk children. The successful conference advanced international dialogue on effective practice, the impact of arts education on a child's overall education, and explored interdisciplinary perspectives of studying the arts. For more information, please take a moment read Haaretz Newspaper's article on the conference.
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