Building Community Through Art: Fostering Empathy, Connection, and Collaboration
Art can be a powerful bridge — creating space for dialogue, understanding, and shared experience.
In this keynote, you’ll explore how creative collaboration can strengthen community engagement and support conversations around social and racial justice.
Get an introduction to the history and purpose of graffiti, street art, and public art as tools for expression and community connection. Hamilton will then guide you through a hands-on, collaborative drawing exercise inspired by the process behind Mending Walls, a nonprofit organization that uses community art to build empathy, foster collaboration, and encourage meaningful dialogue.
Leave with a practical, adaptable creative approach you can use in classrooms and community settings to engage young people, promote connection, and support collective reflection.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Describe how collaborative art and creative expression can facilitate dialogue, empathy, and connection among youth and community members.
- Explain the role of public art and creative expression in exploring themes of social and racial justice within community and youth engagement efforts.
- Apply a collaborative, art-based activity that can be adapted for classroom or community settings to promote youth engagement and collective reflection.