Art Build: School Strike for Climate for the Sunrise Movement

In 2019, I hosted an art build for the Northwest hub of the Sunrise Movement (www.sunrisemovement.org) to create signs for a School Strike for Climate at Philadelphia’s City Hall. This event was part of an international movement of school students to skip Friday classes to participate in demonstrations to demand action from political leaders to prevent climate change, and for the fossil fuel industry to transition to renewable energy. In the spring and fall of 2019, these demonstrations occurred in over 150 countries and gathered millions of protestors.

I collaborated with the leaders of Sunrise Movement’s Northwest Philadelphia hub to choose poster designs, cut stencils, and set up activities and materials that would work for participants of many ages. Using both printing and painting, everyone made signs for themselves and to hand out to other protestors. Teenagers who were primarily interested in climate justice and teenagers whose primary interest was art got to meet, collaborate, and build relationships for future projects.

School Strike for Climate was a beautiful example of thinking globally and acting locally.