As a preparation toward the eventual establishment of the HOPE Center, we propose holding an (annual) interreligious festival in Jerusalem. Holding an interreligious festival would allow a broad section of the public, national and international, to be drawn to it, thereby increasing the impact of the event beyond the circle that is usually reached through conferences and other primarily intellectual forums.

The following elements will be part of the festival program:

1. Exhibitions on the faith and practices of participating religions.

2. Lectures on themes of common concern from the perspectives of each of the religions.

3. International academic conference, on a theme related to interreligious education.

4. Small interreligious film festival, featuring documentary and docu-dramatic movies that explore the life of other religious communities.

5. Poetry program, featuring poetry readings from the mystical traditions of the different religions.

6. Interreligious concerts. Several concerts featuring religious music of different traditions, culminating in a bigger concert in which music from different traditions, performed by different religious communities, takes place as part of one program. Music thus constitutes a form of interreligious dialogue.

7. Presentation of achievements of interreligious work to the public at large.

8. Prayer tents. During the festival, special tents will be erected for prayer. Each religious group will occupy a tent that will be adapted to the needs of its particular religious practice. Throughout the festival will be maintained an ongoing prayer for peace by the different religions.