Making youth demands visible in our daily life is crucial for our society. Through this method youth demands are collected and then colored and written on the streets. Combining political issues with Street Art gives the youth the possibility to work on their artistic potential and to give some visibility to their demands. Street Coloring Actions are an easy way to make youth work visible in the city/village and can reach quite some people.

Youth Group, School class, group of young interested persons

2-30 participants, 1-2 trainers

One big open square with concrete floor you can draw on

Approx. time: 1,5 hours

Chalk in different colors

The aim of the methodology is to formulate and work on youth demands and bringing them with a creative method to the ground where they are seen by pedestrians and/or politicians.

Step 1.
Identifying together with the participants the most important political issues to them.
The Group is divided in small groups (around 4-5 persons per group) and writes in 10 minutes on two flipcharts the answers to the following questions. “When looking at the world – what makes you really angry?” “What would you suggest to change this problem?” Each small group should by voting agree on one main topic they want to work on. (E.g. “All the food waste makes me really angry.” & “I want supermarkets to be obliged to donate their food to charity organizations before throwing it away.”)

Step 2.
Collecting data on the chosen issues.
The group has 15 minutes to do research on their chosen topic and find some data which underlines their issue. (E.g. “1/3 of the produced food is wasted globally.”)

Step 3.
Coming up with powerful slogans.
The next 20 minutes are spent to transform the issue, recommendation and data in powerful slogans which can be drawn on the streets. (E.g. “Stop food waste!” “Stop throwing 1/3 of our produced food away!”)

Step 4.
Finding images for the slogans.
Now it’s time to shine for the creative heads of the group. How can you underline your demand with images/drawings? Let the group think of little images, pictograms they can draw on the street next to their slogans. (E.g. “a huge pile of wasted food”)

Step 5.
Bringing them to the ground.
Step 5 brings the group outside. Take chalk with you and go to your chosen place and write the slogans/statements to the ground. Also make the group draw their images next to the slogans.

Step 6.
Making it immortal.
Make sure to take pictures of your art work and post it on social media (if you are using these networks.) This is important in order to keep the art work longer than until the next rain falls.

Look for a good place where to do the street action, a busy pedestrian area, in front of the city hall or another important building are good ideas. Make sure to inform yourself if coloring on the streets is allowed in your city/town and announce the street action if needed to the authorities.