International Collaborations

1. Make conscious art programming a part of the foundational curriculum

2. Create a vibrant educational environment built by the community

3. Spread positivity by teaching the youth to identify the ‘simple good’ in their lives through the arts and represent it through public art. Our goal is to take students on a journey to discover positivity within themselves and their community using mindfulness and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in our international communities.

The Building Hope Project is our international initiative. We partner with local organizations and schools to take students on a journey to discover positivity within themselves and their community, through mindfulness and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Students ideate, design and execute the creation of a beautification project in their community— resulting in a mural capturing the essence of each student’s ‘simple good’. Murals represent shared values and hope to the larger community.

In the spring of 2019, we unveiled our latest mural project that exchanged the meaning of the ‘simple good’ visually between students in Kigali, Rwanda and Little Village, Chicago USA.

The project was three years in the making and included teaching the historic context of each community, bridging understanding across cultures, and the exchange of artwork representing each student body’s ‘simple good’. The evidence of this exchange has taken form in two murals, one residing in Kigali, Rwanda and the other here in the U.S. at Madero Middle School in Chicago in Little Village.

Hear from one of our students, Jumion Malcolm in Gulu, Uganda as he shares his meaning of the ‘simple good’ after completing our program. Students around the world can connect, learn, and be empowered to find positivity wherever they are and use their understanding of it to make impact on the world. Students also learn and analyze simple good artwork from our students from across the world, developing cultural competencies.