Creative Community Events
Since 2015 Founder and Director Eliza Duenow has been organizing and hosting community initiatives to bring together children and adults with local artists. Halloween in the Old North, sponsored by The ARC, was one of the earliest and largest, and now longest running(!), traditions that has grown into an incredibly impressive grassroots community event that has spread to a half dozen other neighborhoods! Local artists work with Eliza to prepare creative interactive activities and installations, and families come together to celebrate the spirit of the holiday that they love and miss from their home countries.
The ARC hosts smaller scale Festivals of Lights every December, Fairytale Installations every Purim, and playful installations every May for the annual ArtTour Community Art Festival. This Spring we will introduce a new initiative to bring folks together for another fun shared street wandering experience(!) Stay tuned here~
Halloween in TLV! The ARC does Halloween~
A Haunted Past~
The original TLV Halloween Event in the Old North commenced in 2016, with Eliza Duenow at the helm, working with Smadar Barak, another mother from their English-speaking gan. These two mothers were bound by their shared nostalgia for Halloween, and dreamed of sharing the beloved holiday tradition with their children in Israel. Eliza initiated the community event for Halloween to gather parents and children for a shared celebration before Trick-or-Treating. Halloween held a special place in her heart, having grown up in the States with two artist collector parents who put great celebratory emphasis on the tradition, alongside All Saints All Souls Day and Dia De Los Muertos. Her father's art focused on Momento Mori, exploring themes of Death and dying, and Eliza grew up surrounded by his extensive collection of skeletons and death-motiffed artifacts he’s been amassing for over 60 years(!) Their home was a haven for Halloween enthusiasts, every nook and cranny adorned with macabre paraphernalia from diverse cultures and media. On Halloween her sculptor father's pumpkin carving was elevated to an art form, and her mother's talents in textile and decorative arts guaranteed exceptional Halloween costumes. For the last 8 years, Eliza has been thrilled to share her love of Halloween with ARC families and local community. Halloween in 2016 marked The ARC’s first larger scale collaborative community event, spanning multiple locations, including Wonder School, Magid Community Center, the Boulevard on Nordau, and a costume parade leading to the Castel plaza and then past Kikar Milano up Yehuda Macabi. Activities such as face painting, “Altars of Past Homes”, circus-like posing posters for selfies, and sidewalk chalk drawings engaged the community. Every year since, The ARC artists and students have produced extensive installations and interactive activity areas for local families to come celebrate the holiday. The famous Pumpkin Pop-Up event, “Installation of Items Lost”, black cat cut-outs, cardboard grave markers, sugar skulls, sheet ghosts, stenciled bats/rats/spiders, mummy wrapped sculptures, and the impressive haunted house murals have made Halloween a homey playtime for all! Each year, Eliza and her creative teams of Teaching Artists at The ARC have exponentially expanded their pre-trick-or-treating event and activities, involving more local schools and families from new neighborhoods. Last year the ARC programs engaged over a hundred children in creating the Halloween decorations for the park. And The ARC staff welcomed over 300 people to the little Aristobulous Park before the trick-or-treating in 2022(!) Halloween has become one of the most well-attended and cherished annual events in the area, touching the lives of countless families in the international community, preserving the unique traditions of so many Anglo parents’ childhoods, and introducing the joy and spirit of this fun holiday to so many Sabras across further TLV neighborhoods, who have just fallen in love with Halloween~ The ARC has self-funded all aspects of the Halloween event for years, from project preparation to materials, staff time, setup, and cleanup. However, the event has grown exponentially, stretching their resources to the limit. Eliza is managing Halloween on her own this year, funding her team of young local Teaching Artists, and The ARC crews are now asking for support to continue delivering an extraordinary Halloween experience to the community. The ARC is welcoming donations and volunteers from participating families. We so hope you’ll join to help— Halloween literally takes a village to make it what it is!
Yalla Halloween!
WHEN? THURSDAY October 31 16:00 Halloween Arts in the Haunted Park (BRING YOUR OWN CHALK AND DECORATIONS TO HANG!) 16:30 Costume Procession 17:00 Trick or Treating 20:00 End or until all run out of candy~ WHERE? Aristobulous Park for Art Activities, Interactive Installations and Haunted Park fun. Then Trick-or-Treating across the Old North! NOTE: This year we are collaborating with other neighborhoods to add all our houses to one CITYWIDE MAP so you can plan looong routes across town~ We will create an online map listing participating houses. Folks must REGISTER and DECORATE their home in order to have access to the map for trick-or-treating. HOW? Steps to join the Event and go Trick-or-Treating: • Get a Costume • Decorate your house • Prep a big bowl of candy (wrapped!) • Enter your house on the interactive map (Check details are correct!) • Come to Aristobulous Park on Oct 31 at 3:30/4pm for the Haunted Park Activities • Join the costume parade procession • Go trick-or-treating! Grand Prize for best decorated house-- widespread honor and neighborhood talk for years to come! HELP MAKE IT HAPPEN: Please help support The ARC do Halloween! • Help with freecycle costume trade event at Aristobulous! • Help install Haunted Park decorations • Come make interactive spooky art decorations • Help us convince local businesses to give Halloween discounts if folks arrive in costume(!) • Help manage the tech balagan of our interactive map! • Volunteer to work Community Candy Station at Aristobulos during event • Be a wandering helper guiding folks and keeping in check teens who follow families and just grab handfuls of candy (happens every year...) • Donate 10-20 nis per family to help support The ARC staff and community volunteers pulling the event together(!) All monies collected go towards event!
Resources to Prepare
How to Find the best stuff-- RESOURCES to help you Shop. Make. Costume up. Decorate! Looking for volunteers to help host a *PRE-HALLOWEEN EVENT* In past years we have run: Pumpkin Pop-Up AND Freecycle Halloween Costume Exchange in Aristobulous Park! LET US KNOW IF YOU'D LIKE TO HELP ORGANIZE! (Pumpkin Order Form template available to work with local farmer) Costumes can be brought directly to the park this week! (please bring extra hangers!) Online links coming soon! Partyztlv.com AliExpress.com M.Shein.com Amazon.com Pinterest.com Shops in TLV Matalon Street in Florentine, South TLV Local Max 20 shops Local park Freecycle corners (Aristobulos/Ben Gurion/Dubnov) Best places for candy-- Levinsky Market Osher Ad Hetzi Hinam Rami Levi Ideas for your house Pinterest Links(!) *PRE-HALLOWEEN EVENT* Pumpkin Pop-Up (if volunteers!) AND Freecycle Halloween Costume Exchange in Aristobulous Park! Costumes can be brought directly to the park in October.
Please Donate(!)
Dress Up, Step Up! Play Some, Give Some! Donate~ Help us keep the tradition strong! If you are taking part then be a part of giving to support! The ARC has been footing the bill for the Halloween activities for the last 7 years. But our little neighborhood celebration has grown into a HUGE community event that needs more support! Please help us keep the tradition strong with enough art activities and installations for all who come and enough staff to support the project preparations, installation, map technical troubleshooting assistance, support during the event, and clean up!! Every year we ask local folks to be fair and if you participate in trick-or-treating for candy, then you must decorate your house and provide candy for other trick or treaters! Do not bring others in from other neighborhoods, send them to make their own local Halloween(!) And if you see teens running from house to house without costumes just grabbing handfuls of candy, then please SAY something to them-- Tell them it's not cool to steal candy from children! Finally, this year we are asking everyone to contribute a token of sweet holiday spirit to help fund all the work it takes to put on this big amazing production! If you are taking part then BE a part of giving to support! Paybox link and Bit link included BELOW. Both connected to: 0543013909 See how your contributions help~ (Crowdfunding list of items coming SOON!)
Gallery of Event Images from Halloweens Past~
Happy to Donate to our Halloween Event in the Park!
I want to help with the event! Decorating/Setting up/Guiding/Candy Station/Clean up