Radisson helps adds colour to youth at risk

Add Colour to Lives brings community street art project to youth at risk in West London

Add Colour to Lives, a responsible business project from Park Inn by Radisson hotels, focusing on helping youth at risk has recently launched in hotels across Europe, the Middle East and Africa . 

To celebrate the launch of this long-term project, a coordinated social action art campaign – #addcolourtolives – bringing together disaffected and vulnerable young people from local communities across EMEA, arrived in London last week. 

The initiative, driven by the Park Inn by Radisson hotel brand in partnership with acclaimed muralist, street artist and educator, Joel Bergner; celebrates the positives in disaffected youth.

Throughout September – Park Inn by Radisson’s Responsible Business Action Month – Joel Bergner will visit five global cities and Park Inn by Radisson destinations (Malmo, London, Brussels, Cologne and Cape Town), and along with the hotels, partner with a local Youth at Risk organisation to design and create a collection of huge public murals to celebrate the positives in disaffected youth and empower them through art. 

The aim is to simply give a voice to those who generally go unheard – street kids, the marginalised, those from deprived backgrounds. 

"Being part of the local community fabric and giving chances to young people in the cities in which we work is important to us."

"Young people, who have had a difficult start to life, are being engaged to create some positive and awe-inspiring work on the walls of the cities where they live." said Inge Huijbrechts, Vice President Responsible Business for Carlson Rezidor, management company of Park Inn by Radisson.

It was London’s turn to Add Colour to Lives last week and the project came alive through the efforts of an incredibly enthusiastic and motivated team from Green Corridor, a charity organization with the primary aim of reducing social exclusion and improving education opportunities in some of West London’s poorest areas.  Green Corridor offers young people the opportunity to expand skills, experience and qualifications through land-based activities. In a barn on the outskirts of London’s Heathrow Airport, Joel led a workshop with youth from Green Corridor, where together they explored the social issues that are important to them, inspiring the design of a large-scale mural. 

The participants then spent the week developing and creating the piece of art to express and communicate their hopes, dreams, opinions, and feelings to the wider world – supported by Joel and team members from the Park Inn by Radisson hotel in Heathrow. 

"It was an incredible experience to see our young people embrace an opportunity to tell their story through colour and art, the end result took our breath away. We know our work at Green Corridor makes a difference but to see it so vibrantly and visually displayed with such a personal touch, through the hands of those we work with, was both humbling and over whelming, it made us extremely proud" says Jean Rolfe, CEO, Green Corridor.

The final result, Seeds of Change, is a bold and spectacularly striking piece, depicting a number of powerful messages across three important threads: Recognize the past, appreciate the present, and look forward to the future. 

The artwork was unveiled in a celebration with Joel, the youth’s, their family members, Green Corridor representatives, and team members from the Park Inn by Radisson.  The (insert sizes) will now be transferred to the Park Inn by Radisson Hotel & Conference Centre, London Heathrow, where it will be proudly displayed for guests and visitors to enjoy, before a more permanent local public setting is found.

Valere Tjolle

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