HOW CAN WE EMPOWER YOUTH AND ENCOURAGE CREATIVES TO STAY IN BATON ROUGE? THE WALLS PROJECT HAS A FEW

The Walls Project has a vision for the future of Baton Rouge. The group sees a city where artists can have sustainable careers, the youth have access to important resources and no neighborhood is left behind.

For some, this may sound like a fantasy. But this local nonprofit is determined to make it a reality, one intentional mural at a time.

Most residents know The Walls Project from its beginnings back in 2012, painting colorful murals on drab walls around downtown.

Now, the murals will have a different message. This fall, the Walls Project begins its new campaign #ONEROUGE. In addition to a Kickstarter to raise funds for the organization, the campaign includes the Nine Drivers of Poverty project: murals addressing primary causes of poverty, as described in reports from the Mayor’s Task Force on Poverty in Dallas and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Those drivers range from lack of affordable transportation to a high number of households with children living in poverty. During a nine-month mural campaign that began in October, The Walls Project is unveiling a new mural each month around town addressing one of those causes. The first one, located downtown, is inspired by the ninth driver of poverty and highlights equal pay issues.

Photo by Collin Richie

“We have this big interactive installation that we’re going to be putting together, as well as the mural,” says Helena Williams, director of marketing and communications. “We’re not leaning toward any policy or any political stance—we want dialogue to start. We want it to create change. It’s what sparks within you when you see it. It really puts the power in other people’s hands.”

Since 2012, The Walls Project has generated $2 million in revenue to local artists and created 120 murals and art installations across the city. It doesn’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. The Futures Fund, its STEAM education and workforce development program, trains middle and high schoolers. Its newest program, Baton Roots, educates the public on how to grow their own food at an urban farm

“Now is the time to bring the city whole,” founder Casey Phillips says. “Just as much as we support the resurgence of downtown and Mid City, we’ve been equally focused on the reactivation of north Baton Rouge. Development can’t be in piecemeal. It has to be holistic. So the future of our organization has been and will continue to be a part of a larger solution to reactivate north Baton Rouge.”

The Walls Project has more big plans for 2020. In addition to hosting its seventh MLK Fest, the organization will launch its first youth conference, JOLTcon, at the Main Library on Goodwood in March. With the help of event company Red Cake Events, the conference will be organized, planned and led by The Futures Fund students.

“We want to empower the next generation,” Williams says. “Let’s not put age as a barrier for change. We are training for a future of more conferences and more youth-led events.”

By educating and empowering the youth, beautifying the city and addressing major issues, The Walls Project hopes to create a better Baton Rouge. But they can’t do it alone.

“We want to see the city rise. But we are not the magic bullet solution,” Phillips says. “We are part of a much greater solution.” thewallsproject.org

Artist creates tribute mural for community activist Sadie Roberts-Joseph

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Part of the Baton Rouge community is memorializing fallen community activist Sadie Roberts-Joseph.

One of the latest project for the Walls Project is a tribute mural for Roberts-Joseph, who was found dead in the trunk of her car in July while Hurricane Barry was approaching the Louisiana coastline.

SEE ALSO: Massive crochet mural fills exterior wall of future Arts Council of Baton Rouge

She was the founder of the Odell S. Williams African-American Museum, and had organized the city’s annual Juneteenth celebration.

Baton Rouge artist Kristen Downing designed and painted the mural on July 20 during the organization’s ReactivateBR day of service, a quarterly cleanup day along Plank Road.

The mural, located at Pawnee Street and Plank Road, depicts Roberts-Joseph surrounded by hands holding uplifting messages that read “Art Lives Forever” and “Speak.” Build Baton Rouge, formerly known as the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority, sponsored the project.

SEE ALSO: The Old South Wall by the BR Walls Project “The impact of Sadie Roberts-Joseph to our family, our community and our nation was truly a hidden jewel. We knew what Aunt Sadie stood for in our family and the impact she had on our community, but to learn that her work had reached communities globally, was phenomenal! This has inspired me to press on even more; to let the work I’ve done speak for me as well," CADAV & Walls Project - Community Outreach Director Pat McCallister-LeDuff said in a prepared statement.

The Walls Project is a nonprofit that hopes to bridge the gap between the artistic and business communities in order to beautify the city and encourage economic development.

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