Creating a Community Mural Toolkit
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CREATING A COMMUNITY MURAL A powerful toolkit about mural making that can be used to transform public spaces, communities, and youth. CREATING A COMMUNITY MURAL A powerful toolkit about mural making that can be used to transform public spaces, communities, and youth. © Colors of Connection 2017 ALL RIGHTS Reserved Contents of this publication cannot be reproduced or distributed without the express permission of the publisher Written by: Christina Mallie with contributions from Nadia Fazal and Laurie Reyman Illustrations by: Christina Mallie Design by: Mohammed Elnour Edited by: Rhiannon Black with contributions from Lynn Sanders Bustle www.colorsofconnection.org [email protected] Table Of Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................. 7 STEP 1: DISCOVER “WHY?” ........................... 8 STEP 2: IDENTIFY THE “WHO” ..................... 11 STEP 3: ENGAGE WITH THE COMMUNITY 19 STEP 4: RECRUIT THE YOUTH ...................... 25 STEP 5: TRAIN THE YOUTH .......................... 27 STEP 6: PREPARE THE MURAL DESIGN ...... 30 STEP 7: PREPARE THE SURFACE FOR PAINTING ......................................................... 35 STEP 8: THE GRID METHOD ......................... 37 STEP 9: PAINT THE MURAL........................... 42 STEP 10: COMPLETION ................................. 44 STEP 11: CELEBRATION .................................. 46 BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES .............. 48 - 54 CONCLUSION ................................................. 55 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................. 57 Create what you can imagine. INTRODUCTION Murals are powerful. They can positive- community desires to promote in society ly transform public spaces, act as cata- as opposed to what they desire to lysts for new ideas, and even play a role prevent from occurring. Thus, this model in shifting individual and community values the creation of positive, assets-fo- perceptions. Murals can turn a new cused, and solution-driven imagery. page in history for a community—mark- ing a change from a troubled past or In CC’s experience, the mural projects renewing a past that has been forgot- create opportunities for youth to devel- ten but has the capacity to strengthen op expressive capabilities and build and empower the community. social capital while acquiring new skills. CC has found that these projects can This toolkit presents a step-by-step promote wellbeing, foster a sense of guide to engage youth and their commu- place, build local strength, nurture nity through the collaborative process connections, and strengthen community of creating community murals. The leadership and resilience. toolkit is based on the experiences of Colors of Connection (CC)—a nonprofit CC has worked primarily with popula- organization that works with marginal- tions in Sub-Saharan Africa that are ized, vulnerable, and/or conflict-affect- impoverished, underdeveloped, hierar- ed populations, primarily in Sub-Saha- chical, and conflict-affected. Because ran Africa. this model was developed specifically for these types of communities, adapta- When working with youth and their tions may be needed when applying this communities, CC has found that a collab- model to other types of communities. orative and community-formulated approach to the arts is an effective This toolkit outlines steps for selecting means of communication and communi- participants, identifying public spaces, ty capacity building. CC has developed collaborating with community members a community mural making model. This and leaders, training participants, model aims to address developmental designing the community mural painting, and psychosocial issues (at the individu- and executing the final product. It is al and community level) and provide a designed to support any person who platform for visibility and voice for has the desire to engage in mural marginalized groups. In this CC project, making as a method of community-gen- youth paint murals while being guided erated expression. The toolkit can be by input from a community council of used by people who have basic drawing local leaders. For communities dealing skills or by those who have no art back- with trauma, isolation, depression, and ground at all; however, we recommend hopelessness, as well as social issues that an artist be available to support associated with poverty and conflict, the process. The steps in the toolkit can these murals create a vehicle through be useful for those who want to explore which they can be seen and heard. a particular issue in their community, or for those who have created murals in During the mural making process, the past but are looking for a collabora- community leaders and youth address tive community-led process. issues affecting the wellbeing of their community and identify solutions that Our hope is that this toolkit will help are then depicted in the murals thereby you to create murals that express the projecting a positive path forward for voices of the youth and their community, the community. At the core of CC’s bonded relationships, and a positive approach is to create and display vision for the future. imagery that represents what the 7 STEP 1: DISCOVER «WHY?»: Why Do You Want to Make a Community Mural? 8 The first question you have to ask yourself is: “Why do I want to make a com- munity mural?” After asking yourself this question, brainstorming, and writing down some responses you will be able to dig a little deeper and discover what kind of impact a mural could have on your community. People are drawn to create community murals because they may want to: CREATE a new form of public knowledge about where a community wants to head into the future concerning (issue) Show everyone that YOUTH can have a positive impact in their community because the public (and the youth themselves) may think that the youth in their community are (negative adjectives) TRANSFORM the because it is (name of a public space or building) (negative adjective) and it could be (positive adjective) Draw attention to the ISSUE of that is affecting the community. (drought, health, sexual violence) CONNECT the and the (names of ethnicities, religious groups, etc.) (names of ethnicities, religious groups, etc.) who live in the same community but are isolated from each other and do not get along. Publicize youth’s talents and abilities in the ARTS because (names of youth artists) are talented, but they do not have a place to exhibit and share their creative abilities. 9 Any and all of the above could be answers to the question: “Why do I want to make a community mural?” The wonderful thing about a community mural is that it can accomplish a multitude of positive things at once. If you need to discover some of the potential ways that a mural can positively impact a community and are not sure where to begin, take a moment to consider the community’s history, current events, and any of the important (but perhaps overlooked) issues that exist in the community. For example, at CC we began our first project by asking: “What difference would a community mural make for people in the small post-war town of Harper, Liberia?” We knew that in Harper, burnt out-shells of buildings could serve as physical reminders of a painful past. With this in mind, we wondered: “How can these build- ings be transformed into something beautiful and hopeful? How can they be used to represent possibilities for a more positive future?” 10 STEP 2: IDENTIFY THE «WHO»: Who will be Involved? YOU (the facilitator) Who will be Involved ? You will facilitate the process of making the mural by training a group of youth, creating a communi- ty arts council, and helping these The project will involve three to four different kinds of mem- two groups to communicate with each other. As a facilitator, it is bers: you, a community arts council, the youth, and project important for you to provide the assistants (optional). Each member will have a role to play: necessary tools for the project and to organize and manage the entire process. Your role, however, is to bring the voice of others forward—to enable the youth and community arts council to be the primary creators of, and decision makers for, the mural project. As a facilitator there will also be times when you will need to provide direc- tions and make decisions; for exam- ple, when there is limited knowledge on a particular topic area of inter- est, or limited skillsets that are nec- essary in order to move forward. In these moments, you need to work towards holding the interests of the community arts council and youth group in your mind above your per- sonal interests or preferences. You don’t need to be a profession- al artist, but if you are not trained in drawing or painting and lack these skills, you will want to partner up with someone who has this skillset. You will need to enlist his or her help when you teach art skills to the youth and when you need to 11 12 make creative decisions. 13 Note: In our projects, we ask the Tips for Identifying Community Note: In our projects, we typical- community arts council to identi- Community ly hire assistants between the Project fy the themes for the murals ages of 18--25 who are from the because we have found that Arts Council Members same community as the project’s these leaders have a broader Arts location. We have found that the Assistants societal-level perspective about assistants, like the community the issues that are most impor- It is important to identify community leaders who are represent- arts council, help to ensure tant and relevant to address in Council community investment in the Several (2--5) young adults who their community; in contrast, the project. Their local knowledge will assist you with project activi- youth tend to have a more ative of the diversity and complexity of the community. can help to make the content of narrow perspective that relates lessons relevant to participants, ties. It is best to select project more specifically to their individ- A diverse group of communi- When looking to find a diverse and representative group of and their mastery of the local assistants who are just one age ual lives.