Anyone who knows us know the John Humphrey Centre’s Global Youth Assembly usually incorporates urban arts as a form of free expression for at-risk youth. We throw a big hip-hop summit but also feature workshops on the urban arts–whether it’s DJ’ing, rapping, graffiti or dancing so I was really pleased to see another new initiative in the news about iPulse, a new youth group in Edmonton working in partnership with the established Edmonton Youth Council homelessness committee.
The project they’re currently working on is called the Street Speaks Mural.
Edmonton’s city hall is home to a new art project called Street Speak. It’s a collection of nine paintings that represent the voices of the homeless in words, doodles, pictures and symbols. — CBC
iPulse and the Edmonton Youth Council set up 8 or 9 (reports vary) masonite panels at 8 or 9 different homeless shelters to capture the voice of those living in poverty and to give youth working with the organizations a more in-depth look at the causes and consequences of homelessness in Edmonton.
The organizations involved with the Project:
Armoury Youth Centre.
Skeptics think that projects like these don’t actually do anything to eliminate poverty and homelessness. And they don’t–at least, not literally but people often forget that life isn’t just about houses and wealth. Those are materials necessary for basic well-being but self-expression through art is material necessary for spiritual and mental well-being that, without, wouldn’t make a house a home.
Check out the exhibit at City Hall, on until February 28th.
