Lifestyle

Gucci Fosters Empowerment and Social Justice

Gucci and CHIME FOR CHANGE have collaborated with ARTOLUTION to bring public arts programming to refugees and vulnerable communities, in a wide endeavor to celebrate World Refugee Day. Indeed, the next three years will be chockfull of programs directly impacting the lives of thousands of women, children and families from socially excluded and displaced communities – think interactive art projects to promote reconciliation, healing, inclusion, expression and gender equality.

Founded in 2009 by artists Joel Bergner and Max Frieder, ARTOLUTION pegs itself as a non-profit, international, community-based public art organization, dedicated to promoting positive social change through creative, participatory and collaborative art-making in distressed communities. The organization has worked in communities across 30 countries with over 400 projects – all of which are implemented through the making of murals and interactive sculptures.

And so, for World Refugee Day, Gucci dedicated its global ArtWalls to ARTOLUTION, starting from New York, London, Milan, Hong Kong and ending in Shanghai. By giving over its ArtWalls to ARTOLUTION, Gucci aims to spread awareness of the organization’s work and the determination and spirit of the women, children and families being helped by its programs.  And with the Gucci App, details about the murals can be revealed to the public. 

 “We believe that the process of creating collaborative art is a powerful tool to bring diverse communities together in the face of conflict and social turmoil in order to address challenges that they face. ARTOLUTION projects engage women, youth and communities that have faced social exclusion and trauma, including refugees, street youth, the incarcerated, people with physical and mental disabilities, and young people living in areas of violent conflict or extreme poverty,” stated Joel Bergner.

Max Frieder said: “We focus on cultivating ongoing community-based public arts programs by educating local artists and teachers globally on how to transform their communities through inspiring public engagement, creative facilitation and cooperative participation. Through these locally-led programs, we believe this work is the next phase in the history of the arts and education in emergencies, conflicts and crises. Children and families are able to tell their stories through their own hands to their communities and to the world, this is the core of ARTOLUTION.” 

Find out more about the project at equilibrium.gucci.com – a project that is also in line with Gucci’s philosophy of ‘Equilibrium’ – a balance of the aesthetic of the House with the ethics in which it believes.



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