Painted Stories of Police Brutality and the Power of Community Are Uniting Neighborhoods Across New York

Walking down Manhattan Avenue, on the edge of the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, passersby are met with an enormous black-and-blue mural bearing the somber message, “I Just Want to Come Home.”
The mural, sprawled across the side of a grocery store, wasn’t created by a woke graffiti artist. It was painted by a team of young men in response to the complex relationship between men of color and police officers. 
That mural is one of over 500 murals created by Groundswell, a New York City-based organization that unites artists, young people and communities. The murals serve as tools to enable social change, and they focus on topics like diversity, healthy living, conflict resolution and history.
“We’re not just painting things to make [them] really beautiful,” Robyne Walker Murphy, Groundswell’s executive director, told AM New York. “We’re speaking to issues like police brutality and sexual harassment. We’re also talking about possibility and celebrating the beauty in these communities, too.”
 
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByQVBhyltN4/
 
Young people partner with artists to brainstorm and create murals in collaboration with communities
The end result is as important as the creative process. Through planning, artists engage with the community about what topics they’re interested in. They research the history of the neighborhoods and ideas they want to explore. For example, with “I Just Want to Come Home,” the team of artists spoke with activists, city council members, residents and police officers before any work on the mural began.
After the research phase is over, an artist drafts a sketch and the design is reassessed. Finally, paint cans are opened and the painting takes place. Groundswell works with a variety of populations, including at-risk youth, incarcerated youth and women of color to help create the murals.
Each year, Groundswell works with around 800 young artists to create about 50 community projects. Since its founding in 1996, the organization has put its paintbrushes to over 500 New York walls. 

This Groundswell mural “Recovery Diaspora” was painted as a response to the healing and recovery led by communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

The projects range from “Be the Change,” a mural that encourages elders to serve as mentors at Castle Hill Housing, a housing development in the Bronx, to a mural centered around food justice in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. 
At Castle Hill Housing, where gang violence is common and buildings within the development have broken doors, windows and appliances, murals initially felt frivolous. 
But the art ended up bringing the community together — something that home repairs wouldn’t typically do.
A group of artists between the ages of 16 and 24 met twice a week to transform their community center into a colorful painting of athletes, trees and clasped hands.
Sixteen-year-old Mousa Conteh helped paint the mural. “Everybody has dreams,” he told The New York Times. “This is going to most likely inspire them to keep doing what they’re doing.” 
The mural is part of the 2016 Public Art/Public Housing program, launched in conjunction with  Groundswell and the New York City Housing Authority, to create murals in five housing developments across New York. Groundswell also has other programs, like the Summer Leadership Institute, which employs young artists over the summer to create murals.
“For me, the most powerful aspect of this project has been seeing the excitement among everyone who has played a part in the mural as they put their personal stamp on the anonymous space of the community center,” Rob Krulak, the former interim executive director of Groundswell, told The New York Times. “This mural is an act of telling the world and each other about the importance of the people and activities that populate the center.”
More: This Website Empowers People in Need to Make Art — and Sell It for Thousands of Dollars

10 Outstanding Solutions of 2017

Across the country, changemakers are operating behind the scenes, working to solve some of America’s most daunting problems. They do so humbly, without seeking praise or notoriety. At NationSwell, we’ve always sought to elevate the innovation and tenacity of their efforts in the hopes of inspiring more people to action. Here, a celebration of the top work in 2017.
My Final Act of Service
Before Marine Corps veteran Anthony Egan dies, he has several lessons he wants to teach his son.
Disarmed: The Reclaiming of a City From Epic Gun Violence
In a community that’s experienced a 200 percent increase in the number of shootings in the past three years alone, ordinary residents are becoming peacekeepers.
The Rx for Better Birth Control
Colorado attempts to end the cycle of poverty by preventing unplanned pregnancy.
When Liberals and Conservatives Came Together on the Environment
Today’s politicians should look to the past for inspiration on how to achieve bipartisan legislation for the good of the planet.
From Blight to Beauty in the Motor City
It started with a dad protecting his family from drug dealers. Thirty years later, his revitalization efforts are still going strong.

An illustration inspired by the #metoo movement.

3 Ways to Show Empathy When Talking About Sexual Assault
The words used when speaking about sexual assault can have an impact on what others view as acceptable.
Neo-Nazi Music Is on the Rise. These Companies and People Are Taking It On
A former white supremacist fights back against the alt-right’s use of music to spread a message of hate.
A Prison With No Walls
Can a facility that relies on strict discipline instead of barbed wire and bars result in lower recidivism rates?
6 Stunning Art Projects That Are Making Cities Healthier
Cities across the nation recognize the revitalizing powers of beautiful community art.
The School Where Only Addicts Roam the Hallways
A cohort of sober youth confronts the realities of living drug free.

6 Stunning Art Projects That Are Making Cities Healthier

Communities coast to coast have added artistic flourishes to troubled or abandoned neighborhoods. But revitalizing areas takes additional finesse — and, oftentimes, creative placemaking projects capable of connecting segregated communities. Here are some of the public art efforts that have helped do just that.

Forty works of art, including “Valence” by Michael Cottrell, are located along a sculpture trail in Huntsville.

Huntsville, Ala.

The midsize Southern enclave of Huntsville always had public art tucked in here and there, but it lacked a comprehensive way to tie those works into the greater landscape. With its profile on the rise, Huntsville created a master plan to make large-scale art more accessible and better integrated into public spaces. This targeted approach has resulted in collaborative projects like SPACES, a revolving sculpture trail with nearly 40 works by 22 artists from 12 different states. According to a report by Americans for the Arts, in 2015, Huntsville’s art initiatives generated nearly $90 million in economic activity while supporting the equivalent of 3,073 full-time jobs.

Philadelphia’s Porchlight Project is made up of numerous pieces of public art, including “Sanctuary” by James Burns.

Philadelphia

The mission of the city’s Porch Light program: to strengthen community wellness through public art. By working with those suffering from mental disorders, trauma and substance abuse, Philadelphia has shown how civic engagement can foster healing and challenge social stigmas, while simultaneously giving the existing landscape a meaningful makeover. Since the program’s inception in 2007, dozens of massive murals have been erected throughout the city, providing opportunities (like community “paint days”) for the public to contribute to the meaningful works of art. And research has shown that public art really can promote public health. Philly residents living within one mile of a newly installed mural reported an increase in social cohesion and trust among neighbors, according to a study by the Yale School of Medicine.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the globe have visited the Heidelberg Project in Detroit.

Detroit 
In 1986, troubled by the violence and blight of Motor City’s East Side, local artist Tyree Guyton began transforming empty homes and lots, as well as nearby sidewalks, streets and trees, into a massive public installation. Dubbed the Heidelberg Project, the colorful houses and funky sculptures made mostly from recycled materials and found objects, have attracted an estimated 200,000 visitors annually and generated millions to the local economy since its inception. Last year, Guyton began removing some smaller, less prominent installations on Heidelberg Street to make room for a new vision: Heidelberg 3.0, which organizers say will continue the transformation of the McDougall Hunt neighborhood “into a self-sustainable cultural village for residents and visitors alike.”
Artists Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn were commissioned to create this work, which is located in one of Baltimore’s parks.

Baltimore

Arts programming got a boost when four Baltimore nonprofits banded together to raise the profile of the long blighted area now known as the Station North Arts and Entertainment District (SNAED). Though it lies just north of a major commuting hub, most travelers pass through the zone without ever leaving the station. To encourage passersby to stick around, SNAED holds programs and performances, such as Final Fridays, a monthly public art event, and the “Think Big” awards, which supports local artists, in empty lots and abandoned buildings. Though the neighborhood has long suffered high vacancy rates, it’s become a cultural center, with numerous arts and entertainment venues and several artist live-work spaces opening in recent years.

By bringing in more pedestrian activity, Greensboro’s Over.Under.Pass has contributed to the revitalization of an abandoned area of the city.

Greensboro, N.C.

After plans for a roughly four-mile, multi-use walking and biking greenway started coming together in 2001, the local nonprofit Action Greensboro saw an opportunity to help revitalize Greensboro’s city center by installing public art along the route. The project Over.Under.Pass transformed a long-abandoned railroad trestle with Art Deco-style iron sculptures and interactive light displays. Action Greensboro also commissioned ColorHaus, which brought together artists to paint bright, Bauhaus-inspired murals on highway overpass concrete supports. The economic impact of the pedestrian walkway has exceeded expectations, with high visitorship in particular to the Over.Under.Pass section of the trail. “Over.Under.Pass is unlike anything that has been done before in Greensboro,” said project manager Dabney Sanders, “and the interactive aspect of the installation has been particularly well received.”

Inspired by Spartanburg’s textile past, an artist used the worn brick surface of a smokestack as a canvas for a high-powered LED light display.

Spartanburg, S.C.

Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light,” a dynamic public art project built as part of the annual National Night Out, promoted crime prevention, strengthened police-community relations and fostered neighborhood camaraderie. Funded by a $1 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies, “Seeing Spartanburg” brought temporary LED-light installations, including “Glow,” which transformed two of the city’s towering smokestacks into multicolored beacons, and “Benchmark Spartanburg,” a long public bench backed by pulsating lights, to 10 local neighborhoods. According to Jennifer Evins, president and CEO of Chapman Cultural Center, the project began to “cultivate relationships between local residents and law enforcement officers, which is a step towards reducing crime.”
MORE: Want to Fight Urban Blight? Wield Art as a Weapon
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Jennifer Evins is the president and CEO of The Arts Partnership. NationSwell apologizes for the error.

One Man’s Plan to Green the Coal Industry, Spotlighting Urban Blight With Public Art and More

 
A Curious Plan to Fight Climate Change: Buy Mines, Sell Coal, The New York Times
The lines in the so-called war on coal were drawn long ago: Sierra Club lawyers, on one side, clashed with Republican legislators and energy companies on the other. Tom Clarke, owner of a chain of nursing homes, set up a lonely camp in the battlefield’s middle ground. His nonprofit is buying up mines at bankruptcy proceedings, then selling the coal bundled with carbon offsets from tree-planting.
The Art of Breathing Lights, Albany Times-Union
At sundown in upstate New York, the blight is aglow with light. For the next two months, as part of a massive public art project, hundreds of vacant clapboard homes in Albany, Schenectady and Troy are being lit from inside with LED lights. Pulsing as if they were slowly exhaling, these abandoned houses refuse to be ignored.
The Children Who Saw Too Much, RYOT
Whipped with a belt buckle by his abusive stepfather, 17-year-old Ryan grew up believing all adults deal with their problems through aggression. At least, until he attended the nation’s first summer camp for children marred by domestic violence, where he learned, amid the Northern California pines and Klamath River rapids, about a different emotion: hope.
 

One Artist Turns a Pothole Problem Into a Public Art Project

After enduring a punishing winter with below zero temperatures and heaps of snow, Chicagoans are finally enjoying some better weather. But along with those warmer days come one of the city’s biggest nuisances: Potholes.
Every year when the ice thaws and the streets crack into mangled turf, residents grouse about the countless road dimples, but invariably, the city cannot fill them up fast enough. This year, Chicago saw one of the worst pothole seasons on record, with 47,500 pothole complaints between December and March alone. The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) assumes there’s at least five unreported potholes for every complaint — meaning that officials estimate there’s a minimum of least 60,000 holes that remain unfilled, according to the Chicago Tribune.
With only 30 pothole crews, that’s a problem.
But instead of getting mad, 49-year-old Jim Bachor is getting creative. During February of last year, Bachor shared the plight of navigating through his northwest side’s pock-marked streets. With the help of his 87-year-old neighbor’s watchful eye, one night Bachor snuck out onto the street and filled a pothole with a 16-by-24-inch mosaic he designed to look like the Chicago flag, emblazoned with the label, “Pothole.”
Bachor, an artist and former advertising executive, has since made five more mosaics and has at least two more in the pipeline, according to Fast Company.
MORE: What New York’s Bryant Park Can Teach Other Cities About Caring for Public Spaces

“What really drew me to the mosaics originally was the permanence of the artwork. When I first went to work in the late ‘90s and came across the ancient mosaics still intact 2,000 years later it blew me away,” Bachor said. “Potholes can never be solved. They come back every year. They keep people employed, but it’s always a temporary solution.”

Each mosaic costs the professional artist and stay-at-home-dad about $50 for marble and materials and takes at least 10 hours to dry, which is why you won’t see these pot-art pieces proliferating around town.

“When I’m doing this kind of stuff, it’s amazing the percentage of people who pay no attention. And then there are people who stop by and say, ‘Thanks for beautifying our neighborhood,’” Bachor said. “One guy stopped to thank me and gave me a coffee and a Danish.”

While it’s not a practical solution, Bachor’s work is brightening up communities and turning an annual headache into a neighborhood beautification tactic. As for the CDOT, while they’re not advocating Bachor or others take on the task of filling in potholes, they’re certainly not discouraging the pleasant addition.

“Mr. Bachor and his art are proof that even the coldest, harshest winter can not darken the spirits of Chicagoans,” an official city statement said.