About PICZ
We equip and prepare socially-minded entrepreneurs to launch projects.
The PresenTense Institute for Creative Zionism brings together innovators on the cutting edge of Jewish creativity: programmers and designers, informal educators and rappers, nonprofit managers and biotech visionaries—pioneers with a vision and a portfolio of innovation. Every fellow in the institute is given personal attention and support to bring his or her project into reality. Through PICZ, fellows are introduced to the best and the brightest of Israel’s hi-tech, social, artistic, and political circles – giving birth to a network of Zionist thinkers and doers: Chalutz 2.0.
PICZ is dedicated to transforming the way the Jewish people think, program and work. We're inspired by the vision of Zionist thinkers across the ideological spectrum, such as Ahad Ha’am, AD Gordon and Ze’ev Jabotinsky, who foresaw Israel as the laboratory for the renewal of the Jewish People and the reinvigoration of Hebrew culture.
The Institute is built by start-upists, for start-upists
1. Daily breakfasts in the institute's common space, open to all fellows and members.
2. Unstructured "creative time" between the hours of 9-5pm, to allow Israeli fellows to continue their day-jobs and Diaspora fellows to either telecommute or work on projects they run from the institute.
3. Two to three nights a week (alternating) of programming, aimed at developing their skills and enriching the network. The programming tracks we are planning are the following:
a. Leadership (hadracha style empowerment to help develop their skills when taking on projects)
b. Creativity (Incl. Workshopping start-up ideas, etc…)
c. Culture (Incl. Zionism, Israeli culture, Judaism, etc…)
d. Business / Innovation (Sponsored by a VC, prominent speakers)
These sessions, which will be 2 hours in length at tops, will provide the backbone to the institute, and be buttressed by sub-group time in which teams will work on different projects. Some of the sessions--and the entire leadership track--will be restricted to fellows, thereby ensuring the development of a core team by investment in in-group experiences.
4. In addition, as mentioned above, PICZ is going to incubate a number of nonprofit initiatives that the fellows will collaborate upon throughout the summer with the aim of having concrete projects ready to roll by the end of the session. The manner of what these initiatives will be is still up for discussion: currently we are planning to solicit ideas both from the fellows themselves, and well as from Jewish organizations that may one day fund such projects, and set up self-selected teams with team mentors from sponsoring organizations to help integrate these new ideas into the Jewish community. (We're still searching for sponsors--and if you have any suggestions, we'd love to hear them).
5. Friday Expert Breakfasts -- four in number, bringing together fellows and members with leaders in the political, social, business and hi-tech spheres.
Sessions frameworks have been inspired by traditional Jewish models, and are structured as follows:
Chevruta: Natural work-groups based on the model of chevruta learning in the Jewish tradition, where small teams of two or three will work in a collaborative environment.
Kehila: Works-in-Progress seminars, peer-led, happening three times a week, where fellows present ideas, discuss projects they are working on, and are moderated a group member in Google's structured feedback methodology which ensures that input is relevant and project-centered.
Hadracha: Outside lectures and day-trips to organization offices, to better acquaint fellows with the vast Jewish communal apparatus in Israel.
Sicha: Summary sessions, once a week, reflecting on the course of the program, allowing for the organization to learn as it goes.
Whereas Chevruta and Kehila time will enable fellows to interact with one another, Hadracha sessions will open the doors of the Jewish institutional community to the Fellows, and vice versa. Hadracha will comprise creative-centric, service oriented modules focused on cutting-edge trends in the Jewish People and questions raised by this new age.
Types of Fellows:
In seeking a variety of activists engaged in various types of activity--computer programmers, graphic designers, writers, musicians, visual artists, etc.--the summer institute will provide ample opportunities for paradigm busting. Fellows are being recruited from around the world based upon their track record of creativity, from across the disciplines and proficiencies, in order to gather a vast array of multi-talented individuals whose interaction can develop unanticipated partnerships and mixes of mediums.
There are two levels of fellowship: resident fellows and commuting fellows, the only difference being that resident fellows will live in the house itself, and bear additional responsibility for planning programming and community maintenance throughout the course of the summer.
In addition, the general community is encouraged to apply for membership--Members can participate in members-only activities throughout the summer, including lectures by leading-edge thinkers and business people, and workshops.
Sponsors
PICZ fellows will work in teams on a variety of projects--including the environment, poverty, Jewish/Diaspora relationships. If your organization would like to sponsor a team, please contact us.
Sample Schedule:
8-9:00: Breakfast and Chevruta Time
9:00-17:00: Free work time
17:30-18:30: Kehila three times a week, group-project three times a week
18:30-20:00: Hadracha three times a week
20:00-21:30: Dinner (attendance encouraged, but optional) and Sicha two times a week.