WALL: Working with Art to Lead and Learn

WALL, Working with Art to Lead and Learn
A European project using art and music to educate, include and act for the climate

167B Street is joining a new Erasmus+ European project: WALL, Working with Art to Lead and Learn. An initiative bringing together five organisations from five different countries, with a shared goal: developing innovative methodologies for working with young people on the themes of environmental sustainability and social inclusion, using art and music as educational tools.

The Project

WALL is a cooperation project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (KA220-YOU, Cooperation Partnerships in Youth), running for 24 months from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2027.

The consortium is made up of five partners:

• Regionalne Centrum Wolontariatu (Poland, lead organisation)
• 167B Street A.P.S. (Italy, Lecce)
• Craftopia / Evanthia Stavrou (Greece, Thessaloniki)
• IRARU (Austria, Vienna)
• Asociación Amigos de Europa (Spain, Lucena)

Five organisations with different histories, specialisations and geographical contexts, united by a shared conviction: that art and music can be powerful tools for social change, education and environmental awareness.

What We Will Do Together

At the heart of the project is the development of a shared methodology for working with young people through visual arts, street art and music. This methodology will take shape in two distinct publications:

The first guidebook, coordinated by the Polish partner, will be a theoretical and practical tool for educators: it will describe the challenge, the strategies for reaching the most disengaged young people, and the methodological foundations for working with art in non-formal education contexts.

The second guidebook will be led by 167B Street: a more visual and direct publication, with ready-to-use activity scenarios, photographs, illustrations and concrete tools for anyone who wants to bring visual arts and street art into their everyday educational work. It will be our voice in the project, and we will put into it everything we have learned through years of festivals, workshops in schools, reception centres, squares and public spaces.

Alongside the production of the guides, the project includes an international training session and local workshops in each of the five partner countries, to test the methodologies directly with young people and educators.

The First Meeting: Kielce, August 2026

The first major collective moment of the project took place in Kielce, Poland, hosted by the lead partner Regionalne Centrum Wolontariatu. A full week, from 16 to 22 August 2026, to get to know each other better, exchange ideas, and begin testing in the field what each of us does best.

For 167B Street, this meant bringing visual arts and music into the square, literally. On 23 August we brought WALL in Action to Stanisław Staszica Park: a free afternoon open to the public, from 14:00 to 19:00, with participatory art workshops, stencil-making, collective painting, music and creative activities for all ages. No experience required, free entry, open to anyone who passed by.

The following day, 24 August, was the moment of the mural: a collective live painting in Kielce’s public space, with artists from the European partner organisations working side by side on a large-scale work. A concrete, visible gesture that leaves a permanent mark on the city that hosted us.

Why This Project Matters to Us

For 167B Street, WALL is not simply a European project. It is the formalisation of something we have believed in for years: that art and music are among the most accessible, versatile and powerful tools for reaching young people where they are, in peripheral neighbourhoods, reception centres, schools, squares and public spaces, and for speaking to them about the environment, community and the future in a language they understand and feel close to.

This project gives us the opportunity to share what we have built with European partners from different contexts, and to learn from them. The final outcomes, the two guides, the methodologies, the workshops, will be freely available to anyone who wants to use them.

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.

Discover more: Non-formal education through urban art · Urban regeneration through art · Participatory art