The Hospitals Project takes place in several main medical centers across the country: The Davidoff Center for the Treatment and Research of Cancer at Beilinson Hospital – Rabin Medical Center (Petach Tikva); Sheba Medical Center Tel Hashomer (Ramat Gan); Hadassah Medical Center (Jerusalem); and Meir Medical Center (Kfar Saba). Students visit the hospitals’ various departments once a week to perform, easing the waiting time for patients, singing to them during treatments, and uplifting their spirits. Music is a powerful tool that can be creatively and effectively used to ease and strengthen patients’ physical and mental well-being. It is evident that the stress and anxiety of those waiting for treatment decrease when music is in the background. They choose songs they love, and their mood improves. This year, due to the war in Israel, students also perform in rehabilitation departments where injured soldiers are hospitalized.

Rimon also brings the Mamtak program to several facilities focused on mental health, including Lev Hasharon Mental Health Center (Pardesiya), Yehuda Abarbanel Mental Health Medical Center (Bat Yam), and Mazra Mental Health Center (Akko/Acre). Before the students’ arrival at the mental health centers, they undergo a special training course led by a certified music therapist specialising in trauma. The course qualifies the students to enter closed wards in mental health centers and perform for the patients. In addition, the students lead a songwriting and composing workshop alongside the ward’s patients. The project contributes to the emotional expression of mental health patients, as many struggle to express their feelings in words. Music often offers an additional channel for self-expression. Writing and creating music is a new and significant emotional outlet for the patients. The project culminates at the end of each year with a live performance featuring selected original songs that were written. The patients and students perform side by side, with the spotlight on the inner world of the patients, reflected in the songs, allowing the audience (mostly families) to discover new and moving sides of their loved ones.

Beit Achim L’Chaim Association in Kfar Truman aims, as a supportive social framework, to promote and assist IDF soldiers who were injured in operational activity while protecting the homeland and its citizens, to lead in the process of their rehabilitation, and help them fulfill their personal and employment aspirations. Together, with Rimon scholarships, we share musical enrichment to support therapeutic processes in various ways: Expanding the emotional connection and expression, creating interpersonal and inner world connections on the experiential level, and developing “anchors” that ground and support participants. Participants of Achim L’Chaim convene monthly with Rimon students to write songs together. The program is directed by Ari Gorli, alongside Rimon Founders Harry Lipschitz and Yehuda Eder (who is also Rimon’s President). They also assist in the composition process. Meetings alternate between Beit Achim Le’Chaim headquarters and Rimon’s main campus in Ramat HaSharon. Towards the end of the most recent workshop, the resulting songs were recorded as an album at Ha-Ogen Studio, engineered by Beit Achim L’Chaim member Shlomi Gvili. This year, the Israeli radio station Galei Zahal agreed to present the album as a special broadcast.

Rimon’s commitment to strengthening the community can be felt through its ongoing initiatives. In addition to the many music enrichment programs we deliver in various academic, medical/disability services, eldercare, and therapeutic environments, we also mobilize around current events. Recently, we created a songwriting workshop for survivors of the Nova Festival massacre. Through music and song, they could pour out their feelings and begin to heal. The months-long program concluded with a culminating concert (listen here in Hebrew). Presidential First Lady Michal Herzog attended and delivered a moving speech. She also spent private time with the Nova participants.

RockRimon allows students to showcase their developed skills in songwriting, composing, and performing original songs within the framework of a rock band. Consisting of three competition rounds, under faculty guidance, this competition is open to all Rimon students form bands and perform their original material. Six bands perform in the finals at a public live music venue in front of an audience and a panel of judges from the Israeli music industry. The band who takes first place wins a prize package that includes recording hours and production consultation. Dozens of (now professional) musicians who studied at Rimon have participated. Bands that became well-known in Israel were formed through this competition, such as: Kol HaChatichim Etzli (Aya Zahavi Feiglin), Kalbei Haruach (Hila Ruach), Jane Bordeaux, Yaldei Hasadeh, and the first songs of singer-songwriters like Keren Peles, Eric Berman, Aya Korem, and many others were performed. Emesh was chosen as the 2024 RockRimon winner – a group of three students who are also songwriters, composers, musicians, and music producers. The band serves as a model for young female musicians who want to specialize in all areas of music, including those still considered predominantly male.

For the past three years since its inception, 90 third-year students have participated in Rimon’s EP culminating production project. Each student produces 4-6 original songs which are presented publicly at the end of the academic year. This lab provides students with an inherent support system as a springboard to their musical careers including mentoring, workshops led by top musicians in the Israeli industry (Noga Erez, Rami Kleinstein, and Ehud Banai, for example), and a platform for professional development. This program serves as a hands-on academic practicum that mimics a real world experience. The project creates a framework for the student that simulates the reality in the music industry and gives them leverage for success.Students conclude the practicum with a commercially viable recorded project in hand, which can be used to augment their professional dossier. This aims to help better position them for potential career success.

As a result of October 7th, many Rimon students have been called up as Miluim – army reservists who are placed in active duty. Rimon supports our in-service students by offering remote workshops and a special modified academic schedule that works around them. We successfully concluded the first semester built in this model. We continue to support and assist everyone at Rimon with special consideration for those who are directly affected by the war. One group’s music theory was taught by Tamar Shreck, whose students gave her a thank you gift accompanied by a card that expressed their appreciation for her patience, how she listened to them, and provided words of wisdom and support They went on to say, “Your intelligence and your caring were with us through this process and inspired us every week. This experience was irreplaceable. We’d like to present you with this “royal” treat. We appreciate you from the bottom of our hearts.” Faculty members Maya Davidoff and Yiftach Boaz received a message from another reservist: “The semester for miluim finished yesterday and I had a wonderful experience. I learned a lot and enjoyed myself. I want to thank you both for all of your effort and investment. I am sure it was challenging but it was really worth it…”

Stemming from the success of our central campus in Ramat HaSharon, Rimon partnered with the Municipality of Akko (Acre) to develop a branch that will serve the diverse and talented students of the Northern region of Israel. Akko is a center of arts in Israel, so a music school is a natural addition to the cultural landscape of the city. This satellite Rimon branch, which opened in 2022, attracts students from across the region to its academic and community programs. Rimon North is supported in part by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) who generously furnished the musical instruments for this campus.

Rimon cares deeply about helping people connect to music in as many ways as possible. Rimon offers Israeli residents and visitors the opportunity to participate in enjoyable courses and workshops targeted to their interests. Middle- and highschoolers can take classes in vocal and instrumental performance as well as music production in Rimon’s Summer Programs. Adult learners can enjoy expressing themselves through music with evening classes offered at our Extension School. Young people who want to sharpen their skills in musical theater can partake in our program based in Petach Tikva)! For students who are specifically tracking to study Jazz at Rimon, The Rimon Jazz Institute for Youth auditions young players from throughout Israel and provides the opportunity to sharpen their skills at Rimon through weekly workshops throughout the academic year. (COUNT) per year are chosen for (FULL? PARTIAL?) scholarships when they are ready to begin full-time post-high school study at Rimon.