Montana Colors’ Social Projects: Winter - Spring 2021

Montana Colors’ Culture Department has a commitment to year-round graffiti art events at home and abroad, from the Festival Asalto to Label Valette, Hola Utopia! to the B.Murals center. However, many of the projects that receive support go under the radar, without famous artists involved and large format murals to photograph. 

Here at MTN, there is also a company policy to provide material and expertise to organizations that work with young people, people with physical or mental health issues, collectives in danger of social exclusion and fundraisers. We’re proud to present a few of these socially-conscious initiatives today in MTN News as part of #mtnwokemonth. 

Parets amb ànima 

Translated as “Walls with Soul”, the program based in Gràcia neighborhood of Barcelona aims to communicate, educate and raise awareness on equality, social inclusion, feminism and sustainability through workshops and collective murals. 

Montana Colors, Bruguer and AkzoNobel gave support to the initiative, which was coordinated with the expertise of B-MURALS. Three internationally renowned female artists were on hand to deliver the training and oversee the final murals: Lily Brik, Núria Toll and Musa. 

The aim of the project was to give new skills to a group of women at risk of social exclusion. The program was also designed to raise awareness of the cultural heritage of the neighborhood. 

Principally aimed at adults with mental disorders and addiction issues, the project was carried out with the support of Barcelona City Council and Barcelona Activa. 

https://www.grupatra.org/servei/programa-parets-amb-anima/

Traspassant Murs

The new muralists Mina Hamada and Zosen Bandido turned teachers at Traspassant Murs. The project was coordinated by the Fundació Setba and brought urban art into the Centre Educatiu Els Til·lers, a government residence for young people with psychological issues or dependence on controlled substances.

Apart from its purely decorative value, the function of the collective mural is to help the residents work as a team, improve self-esteem and benefit from the therapeutic experience of painting and creation. 

https://www.fundaciosetba.org/traspassant-murs-de-zosen-bandido-i-mina-hamada-a-els-tillers/

MTN x Enorme Estudio x Fundación Aprocor 

Over in Madrid, the ESNE school held a Design Workshop in collaboration with the Aprocor Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities. 

The workshop, directed by ENORME Estudio, was aimed at third-year students of the Interior Design Degree, who designed and produced 60 chairs using MTN materials. The finished pieces were donated to the Foundation to complete its greenhouse project. 

https://fundacionaprocor.org/

https://enormestudio.es/

https://www.esne.es/

Fundació Friends 

A non-profit organization created to help young people with Asperger's Syndrome, Autism Spectrum Disorder and ASD, the Barcelona-based foundation also offers services to children with social communication and relationship problems. 

Montana Colors provided paint for a mural which was painted by users of the service, with the help of illustration specialists Muta Project. 

https://www.instagram.com/fundaciofriends/

https://www.instagram.com/muta.project/

Hip Hop con los valientes 

"Hip hop with the brave" is a collective audiovisual project which features the contributions of a number of MC's, DJ's, breakdancers, graffiti writers, beatboxers and creatives united to raise funds for the Sant Joan de Déu Maternal and Child Hospital in Barcelona.

A production was painted in the center of Barcelona to announce the campaign, featuring contributions of aerosol artists Kram, Eleduworks, Gabs, Tonyboy, Camil Escruela, Owen, Dtocks and Kader One.

A compilation CD will soon be available, and auctions are currently being held each week via the Instagram of the organisation. 

The initiative, which represents the social power of the hip hop culture, will donate 100% of the money raised to the children's cancer research wing of the SJD hospital, one of the region’s leading centers for its specialization in infant cancer treatment and research. 

https://www.instagram.com/hiphopconlosvalientes/

APAIPA 

Another Madrid-based organization, APAIPA works for people disabilities and their parents who organize projects and events throughout the year. 

In May, Apaipa took some Montana Systems model trains for a group of young people to decorate in a mini homage to the roots of graffiti. 

https://apaipa.org/

Asociación Aleph-Tea 

On a special day for the Aleph-Tea association, Madrid writers Asya and Rafa Frito coordinated a collective mural project that other associations, professionals, families and volunteers took part in. The association, which provides services for people on the autistic spectrum, created a large-scale representation of their great work as a community project. 

http://aleph-tea.org/

AMPANS 

In addition giving material and financial support to these projects, Montana Colors has maintained its link with the AMPANS foundation, dedicated to integrating people with intellectual disabilities into the world of work. This foundation actually provided the cleaning staff at the Montana Colors offices, in charge of the thorough disinfection service to comply with the COVID-19 prevention measures. 

https://www.ampans.cat/

Do you have a similar project that would benefit from support from Montana Colors? We’d love to hear from you! Send your proposals to [email protected].