Video: Pittsburgh Teens, One Young World Delegates Paint Bright Future

Last month the One Young World summit made its first landing in the United States, gathering thinkers and activists age 30 and under in Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center. They tackled issues around education, public health, human rights and the role that businesses can play in fostering sustainable development and social justice.

On Oct. 20, the more than 1,000 attendees fanned out across the Pittsburgh region to seminars hosted in local communities, discussing – among dozens of other topics — how to build social businesses, using hip-hop music to engage kids in positive change and furthering equity in women’s sports.

“Painting a Brighter Picture for Youth” brought 40 delegates to the Art Institute, where they learned about the MLK (Moving the Lives of Kids) Community Mural Project. The project channels the energy of kids in at-risk neighborhoods to create public art, and has involved artists and more than 1,000 young people in creating 500+ murals in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Miami, Atlanta and other U.S. cities, as well as in Brazil and Haiti.

In the video below, Kyle Holbrook, the project’s executive artist, describes a mural celebrating youth leadership that was dedicated that rainy afternoon at Market Street along the Boulevard of the Allies in downtown Pittsburgh. There OYW delegates joined MLK’s student artists in putting brushes to additional mural panels that will be displayed at Robert Morris University and elsewhere.

Thanks to Robert Morris University videographer Tras Watts.

Click here to read more about the One Young World summit.