Equal Brushstrokes, paint the world equal
A students initative for a more inclusive world
MihalisNik George Oustapasidis Axilleas Koutlis ΜΑΡΙΑ ΧΟΝΔΡΟΚΟΥΚΗ Kiki
Team birth
Within the course of the subject Social Issues, Social Innovation and Corporate Responsibility, we were called to visualize and create an organization that would bring a solution to a problem, based on a Sustainable Development Goal from the United Nations. The problem our team is concerned about is inclusivity in art, and so the goal we operate and act towards is SDG number 10, Reducing Social Inequalities. We came up with the idea of creating a non-profit organization which brings awareness to the struggles of minority artists, and we want to provide a physical and digital space for these artists to display their work and network with people. Therefore, we are a hybrid organization that gives an online platform for artists to share their work and connect. We are looking to innovate the world of art, striving to show the work of small creators and minorities in the art world. Our main focus is to overcome societal taboos, refresh art and give dilettantes and artists new experiences and opportunities to see art from a new perspective.
We chose this specific social issue as we were trying to find a middle point between our six team members, and we searched for a subject that we are all passionate about. We brainstormed ideas and since our field of study is media, communication, and culture, and two of our members study specifically culture, we thought of art and, more specifically, inclusivity in art. What pushed our team towards that filed, belonging ourselves (most of us) in minorities, was the fact that these social groups often struggle to promote their work as they are surrounded by negative stereotypes.
Based on statistics Black artists represent only 1.2 % of the global art market, numerous artists from diverse backgrounds face significant challenges in getting the recognition they deserve due to inequalities. It is well known that minority groups are not included and sometimes are not given access in the art world. They are underrepresented within the arts and cultural sector workforce. Minorities are not given the same opportunities in the work field and as a result they face economic difficulties. Moreover, they are often discouraged from pursuing their dreams because they are made to feel less, hence the lack of representation.
Our team believes that it is essential to acknowledge and understand the challenges and inequalities that play out in the art world for minority groups. We need to take positive steps to remove the barriers a person may face because they belong to a minority. So that is how we came up with the idea of creating a non-profit organization that organizes events with the target to bring diversity in art forms. We want to promote and recognize arts that are made by artists that are minorities based in Greece.
Our name
After we settled at the kind of organization we aspired to create and its goal, we wanted to give a name to our initiative. For the purpose of naming our organization, we used again the method of brainstorming, trying to produce one that is new, fresh, and focuses on bringing diversity to art by bringing voice to minorities. Out of all the ideas brought to the table, the name Equal Brushstrokes stood out to us, as it captures the essence of promoting equality and diversity in art (through the power of brushstrokes), and it is meaningful and impactful, reflecting our mission to create a more inclusive art community. It is a name we believe that will catch people’s attention and inspire positive change. We used brushstrokes to associate our initiative with creativity and diversity within the arts, especially painting, and we used plural in order to refer to equality and transmit the feeling of collectivity, the fact that we are all in this together regardless of our societal backgrounds. The word equal is the representation of unity and inclusion, emphasizing the fact that everyone should be equal and on this basis, we are working on giving voice to minorities through their art. We thought that, combining these elements, we can create a name that effectively expresses the missions and values of our organization.
Miro Board, Social Media
Subsequently, we proceeded by making our Miro board where we made diagrams, added our documents, and wrote everything down for our plan and campaign. Starting with the basic information about our team, our purpose and target, we researched the history of minorities in art, similar with ours organizations and events. We wrote everything down to keep track of our story and get inspiration. As we started working on our project and building our organization, we kept notes of everything on our Miro board.
We created our social media accounts on many platforms, and we made a website for our organization containing information about us and offering ways in which people can come in touch with us. Our website also contains information on our artists, as well as ways that people can communicate with them and promotions for our campaigns and the upcoming events.
Artists — Interviews
With the vision of organizing an event, we looked for artist to collaborate with and hold an art exhibition. In our circles, we found artists belonging in minorities who shared our vision and wanted to share their work and affect people through art.
In order to understand our artists’ perspectives deeper and adjust our target to provide them with the most suitable to their need help, we interviewed them. In those interviews we attempted to learn more about their experiences, difficulties, and dreams, so that we would be able to help them promote their work. We conducted three interviews with our stable collaborating artists and based on their answers we understood deeper the necessity of sharing different point of views in Greece, which helped us to create our ideal persona and empathy map, but also readjusted our goal. Rather than giving the opportunity to artists to share their work, we realized it is more important from the perspective of the viewers to get the chance to understand the obstacles and discrimination our artists face because of their identity. Giving voice to artists from minority groups, is not as important for them as it is for the people who get to see their work, understand their experience, and eventually embrace diversity. We believe that by embracing diverse voices, perspectives and narratives we can create a more equitable and inclusive world that can transcend barriers, challenge societal norms and promote understanding.
First Campaign — Exhibition
Finally, we researched for a site where we could hold our first exhibition. One of our members communicated with the owner of an art space which tends to support initiatives like ours, Vryssaki art cafe. After a lot of discussion between us, we came to an agreement, giving life to our vision with the first event of our organization; “Empowerment Through Art: Celebrating Diversity”, which will take place in 22nd-24th February.
This event will showcase a captivating collection of artworks from talented artists belonging to various minorities. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with artists and learn about them and their artworks. Our commitment to fostering inclusivity and promoting diversity within the art community has inspired this exhibition. We believe that art has the power to transcend cultural boundaries, enabling a deeper understanding of the unique perspectives that minorities bring to the creative landscape. We encourage you to join us for an evening of art, culture, and celebration. Your presence will not only support these talented artists but will also contribute to the broader conversation about the importance of representation and inclusivity in the art world. Our goal for this exhibition is not just to fill our art space with diverse art, but also to create an environment where everyone can see themselves represented and feel welcome by embracing diversity in art exhibitions. We want to create more inclusive art spaces.
Challenges
Alongside our journey we faced, as expected, multiple challenges, mostly technical. Many of them were associated with the collaboration with our artists. As we pursued variety in social backgrounds and we did not acquire the possibility to compensate them financially, it was difficult to find artists that would want to devote their time for our project. It was hard even finding the right demographic, in our case minorities in Greece. This process met another obstacle as well. Because of the fact that the data and documentation about minorities in Greece is extremely limited, tracking organizations and people who could help us and getting in touch with artists of our targeted groups was not easy. Even when we eventually found potential collaborators, they often did not want to cooperate because they wanted a fee for participation, and they were expecting some type of payment.
Furthermore, we faced challenges with time management and working our schedule together with the people we collaborated. Since each of us has different obligations, schedules and separate lives, different programs are hard to combine. So, our artists were not always available to us and the interviews got postponed several times until we eventually worked it around and managed to find a common available time to get them. As a result, not only did of the interviews get delayed but our whole project, since much of our work was based on the information we had to derive from these interviews.
Moreover, another hard part was booking a place for the exhibition since we were asked to meet some circumstances or conditions. It was demanding finding a place which would allow to us its free use in the first place. Unfortunately, we are only students so we would have trouble finding the resources in order to afford financially to book a place. Thankfully, we found dependable and understanding people who played a decisive part into making our event a reality.
Another challenge we faced was the unfortunate lack of data and reports about the issue of the discrimination against minorities in art in Greece and how important it is. That fact made our journey even harder since we aspire to promote and recognize arts that are made by artists belonging in minorities based in Greece, which is hard when there are not many insights and files in our country about this specific subject, it means that there are no similar organizations from which we could get help and cooperate with. In addition, from a theoretical point of view, because there are few files, documents, and reports that address the issue in Greece, the awareness is still very little, leading to actions towards the issue being also limited. Subsequently, this fact is the reason of the existence of stereotypes that prevent society from trying to understand minorities and see things from their perspective.
However, that is exactly our mission, and these challenges are what we hope to surpass and change through our exhibition. We want to display works of minorities and give a better understanding about the difficulties they face as we mentioned and above. Although the greatest challenges are yet to come, thanks to our first exhibition (which has not started yet), we aspire to overcome every difficulty in the way, learn more from this, and our upcoming experience, and become better by facing the obstacles that are put in our way.
Reflection
We believe that, to make real world impact, you need to find an idea which you are passionate about and brings meaning and value to the community. In our case, to exploit art to unite the world, through art exhibitions. It is needed to have a goal that meets the audience needs and to be able to offer real solutions.
It is essential to find other people that share the same mindset and cause, so surround yourself with those people and cooperate with them, in a way you can create together greater impact making your journey at the same time easier and more enjoyable. Creating awareness about the issue that you address is particularly important so you can promote your work and enable a better understanding of the issue, leading to a bigger contribution by the people for your cause.
Taking all of this into consideration, some advice that we would give to upstarting innovators is to find something that they are enthusiastic about and to do not be afraid to act towards it. To surround themselves with people that have the same mindset so that the journey becomes more fun and to not worry about the difficulties, for they are part of the journey, but rather take motivation from them, learn, and become better. Last thing to remember is that, if you can impact your community for the better, do it anyway. Success is not just about wealth, it is about inspiring others and making a difference along the way.
