What is the voice of an activist?
 
This summer, upwards of 140 youth will discover and amplify their activist voices through the creation of seven Groundswell murals across New York City.
 
In the last year, critical conversations around social justice have erupted across the news, on our social media feeds, and at the dinner table. Every day, New Yorkers fight for a more just and equitable world, advocating for police reform, safer streets, women’s empowerment, and recognition of treasured neighborhoods’ accomplishments.
 
From Brownsville to the South Bronx to the East Village to Sunset Park, communities join Groundswell to continue this activism by rallying for a call for social change through public art.
 
Over the next two months, Groundswell’s youth artists will become inspired through Groundswell’s flagship program, the Summer Leadership Institute (SLI). They will join teaching artists and community-based partners to create meaningful change in seven New York City neighborhoods. Through this process, Groundswell’s youth will not only research, design, and fabricate large-scale murals. They will become ambassadors of social justice for these critical issues, for their communities, and for themselves as part of a community of young activists.
 
At Groundswell, we believe art creates community and community creates change. This vision inspires us to further activate the social impact created by the entire Groundswell community. Groundswell’s innovative Scaffold Up!TM model will guide us this SLI toward uniting the work of our diverse stakeholders, from our youth to neighborhood residents, from city agencies to wall owners to you.
 
Working collectively, we can reach our united goals for social change.
 
Add your voice to the conversation by following our updates through email listserve and our #groundswellnyc hashtag.
 
Summer Leadership Institute 2015 projects include: 
 
East Brooklyn Community High School
With three monumental murals already installed on the exterior of the school, Groundswell returns to East Brooklyn Community High School (EBCHS) this summer to engage students in the completion of a fourth mural. EBCHS, a partnership between SCO Family of Services and the New York City Department of Education, is a transfer school committed to helping students explore their leadership potential. As EBCHS deepens its mission to serve as a neighborhood hub for students, families, and local residents as a newly designated Community School, Groundswell youth will bring the transformative work happening inside the school outside to share with the community.
 
This project is a product of the Community School partnership between East Brooklyn Community High School and SCO Family of Services in collaboration with the DOE Office of Community Schools and the United Way of NYC.
 
Lead Artist: Misha Tyutyunik
Assistant Artist: Victor A. Saint-Hilaire
Community Partners: East Brooklyn Community High School and SCO Family of Services
Location: 9517 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, NY 11212
 
Public Design Sharing: July 21, 1 PM at wall location.
Community Painting Day: Cancelled due to weather.
Dedication:  August 28, 1 PM at wall location.
 
 
Making His’tory
Mobilized by the national conversation about police and community relations, the all-male Making His’tory team will illustrate the complex relationship between young men of color and the police, as told from the young men’s perspectives. Located in Bushwick on a Food Bazaar Supermarket, the mural they create will consider the changing nature of the neighborhood, the charged histories at play, and positive solutions that can advance justice and equity through changed hearts.
 
Lead Artist: Chris Soria
Assistant Artist: DonChristian Jones
Community Partners: Bogopa Service Corporation
Location: 21 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11206
 
Public Design Sharing: July 21, 1 PM at wall location.
Community Painting Day: July 29, 1 – 4 PM at wall location.
Dedication: August 27, 1 PM at wall location.
 
 
NYC DOT: DWI
In collaboration with the NYC DOT and Bogopa Service Corporation, Groundswell youth artists will serve as ambassadors for safer streets by creating a collaborative mural that seeks to stop Driving While Intoxicated (DWI). The mural, located in the South Bronx’s Food Bazaar Supermarket, will remind New Yorkers that our choices matter. When driving impaired, motorists are four times more likely to get into a crash than a sober driver. Together, we can help review DWI crashes.
 
This project is made possible with funds from NY-STOP DWI.
 
Lead Artist: Raul Ayala
Assistant Artist: Ashton Agbomenou
Community Partners: NYC DOT and Bogopa Service Corporation
Location: 535 E 170th Street, Bronx, NY 10456
 
Public Design Sharing: July 21, 1 PM at wall location.
Community Painting Day: July 29, 1 – 4 PM at wall location.
Dedication: August 27, 10 AM at wall location.
 
 
NYC DOT: Vision Zero
In New York City, approximately 4,000 New Yorkers are seriously injured and more than 250 are killed each year in traffic crashes. The citywide Vision Zero Action Plan aims for zero traffic deaths. As part of the Vision Zero initiative, Groundswell youth artists will collaborate with the NYC DOT to create an educational mural in Park Slope about traffic safety.
 
This project is made possible with funds from NYC DOT.
 
Lead Artist: Marc Evan
Assistant Artist: Adan Palermo
Community Partners: NYC DOT and Park Slope Fifth Avenue BID
Location: 138 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217
 
Public Design Sharing: July 22, 10 AM at wall location.
Community Painting Day: July 30, 1 – 4 PM at 540 President Street, Suite 1A.
Dedication: August 28, 10 AM at wall location.
 
 
The Trust for Public Land: PS 15 – The Roberto Clemente School
In partnership with The Trust for Public Land and PS 15 campus, Groundswell will inspire stewardship of the environment in youth artists through the artistic transformation of the East Village school campus playground. The mural will depict the Habits of the Mind educational philosophy, which describes sixteen intellectual habits to solve a problem such as persistence, creativity, and interdependence.
 
This project is made possible with funds from The Trust for Public Land.
 
Lead Artist: Angel Garcia
Assistance Artist: Jessica Angel
Community Partners: The Trust for Public Land, PS 15 – The Roberto Clemente School, and PS 94 – The Spectrum School
Location: 333 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10009
 
Public Design Sharing: July 21, 10 AM at Orchard Alley Garden, 350-54 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10009.
Community Painting Day: July 29, 1 – 4 PM at wall location.
Dedication: August 27, 1 PM at wall location.
 
 
Transform/Restore: Brownsville
Groundswell’s NEA grant award-winning initiative “Transform/Restore: Brownsville,” presented in collaboration with the New York City Department of Probation and the Pitkin Avenue BID, will come to a triumphant end this summer with its fifth and final mural celebrating Brownsville’s hidden treasures. This two-year participatory mural project engaged young adult probation clients, local businesses, and community members in the creation of visible and permanent change within their own community.
 
This project is made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, through its national Our Town initiative and the Pitkin Avenue BID. Additional support is provided by Con Edison.
 
Lead Artist: Crystal Bruno
Assistant Artist: Jose de Jesus Rodriguez
Community Partners: New York City Department of Probation, the Pitkin Avenue BID, and New York State Office of Public Safety
Location: 1478 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11212
 
Public Design Sharing: July 22, 5 PM at wall location.
Community Painting Day: Cancelled due to weather.
Dedication: August 28, 3 PM at wall location.
 
 
Voices Her’d
This summer, on the side of a Food Bazaar Supermarket in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a team of young women artists will create a mural addressing gender-based violence and the culture that perpetuates it. By creating truthful representations of violence experienced by women, they use art as a tool for inspiration and agency, act as change agents for violence prevention, and make their voices heard.
 
This project is made possible with public funds from the New York City Council through its STARS Citywide Girls Initiative.
 
Lead Artist: Danielle McDonald
Assistant Artist: Jazmine Hayes
Community Partners: Bogopa Service Corporation
Location: 1102 Myrtle Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11206
 
Public Design Sharing: July 21, 10 AM at wall location.
Community Painting Day: July 29, 1 – 4 PM at wall location.
Dedication: August 28, 10 AM at wall location.