Our Impact
Engaging the belief that art creates community and community creates change.
Groundswell believes that art creates community and community creates change. We are committed to engaging diverse communities and young people in the arts to promote identity, creativity, and cultural literacy.
As a youth muralist with Groundswell, I felt successful every day just getting out of bed to do something creative. It's not only a positive experience for us as artists, but as activists as well. The murals that we paint are not just pictures but stories that provoke thought to the local people passing by. That's what I love about Groundswell. They talk about the struggles and problems and start to make change through art.
— Izaiah Herman, youth artist
Groundswell’s projects elicit a diversity of voices and underrepresented perspectives and are as diverse as the communities who help create them. Our model of inclusivity has allowed us to explore a diverse range of issues in our murals and promote community art as an integral part of the art historical canon.
In 2016, Groundswell worked with 851 youth to create 55 artworks city-wide. The youth artists directly engaged 525 community members in the research process and transformed 27,454 square feet through public art highlighting such key issues as livable streets, the body politic, and overcoming internalized injustice.
