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Spray paint, chalk, florals and tie dye — these are just some of the art mediums that 400 Battle Creek children could choose to experiment with at the third-annual Youth Day, a highlight of the annual, week-long street art festival, Color the Creek, in Battle Creek, Mich.
Color the Creek brings together artists, local businesses and members of the Battle Creek community to beautify community spaces, introduce the arts to more people and support local artists pursuing a career in the field.
Helmed and founded by Justin Andert, the organizers behind Color the Creek are a grassroots team of local artists and community members committed to using public art as a way to create more vibrancy, beauty and a greater sense of community in the city.
“We have a lot of amazing events in Battle Creek, but not a lot of them that are really focused on art,” says Andert, who calls Battle Creek home. “We want to make sure that we are the ones providing that, as art is a very important part of creating the culture of vitality here in our community.”
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation supports the festival’s Youth Day, where local artists inspire children by leading them in different arts activities, nurturing their creativity and even enlisting their support in making community murals.
As an organization committed to the success of children and families in its hometown community of Battle Creek, the Kellogg Foundation also supports each Youth Day by turning its headquarters building into a canvas and unveiling a new banner over its front door. Each new banner features a work of art created by an artist in one of the foundation’s priority places of work, which include Battle Creek, Detroit and Grand Rapids in Michigan; Mississippi, New Mexico, and New Orleans in the United States; Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico; and Central and South Haiti.
This year’s banner, “A Day of Pure Joy,” by Haitian artist Iris Geneviève Lahens, depicts people uniting as one family in harmony.
Dana François, a program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation whose work focuses on family economic security in Latin America and the Caribbean, describes the banner as, “a bridge between cultures, a window into the Haiti I know and love – a Haiti of community, resilience, and joy.” By unveiling this banner, François shares, “we’re unveiling a vision where every voice is heard, every culture is celebrated and every child seen in their full, glorious potential.”
“Now, more than ever, we want to contribute to the events and endeavors that members of the communities we serve create to make their homes more vibrant and exciting,” said Jamie Schriner, a program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation focused on community economic development in Battle Creek. “Color the Creek is a wonderful event that contributes to the vibrancy of Battle Creek. And when we thought about updating the banner over our front door this year, we couldn’t think of a more exciting way to showcase our commitment to Battle Creek and Haiti than to update our banner during Color the Creek and to highlight the powerful work, ‘A Day of Pure Joy,’ by Iris Geneviève Lahens. We are so delighted to bring her vision and perspective here to Battle Creek.”
From the banners atop the foundation’s headquarters to community murals, with each festival, Andert and his team prioritize creating opportunities for young artists to showcase their work. A key source of pride for the Color the Creek team is that local artists who first painted murals at the festival have gone on to receive commissions in Michigan and throughout the country to create public art.
But it is not only artists Color the Creek uplifts, but also local businesses and community organizations. Truly a celebration of Battle Creek, by Battle Creek, Color the Creek has partnered with over 100 local organizations and businesses, whether that be in the form of local artists painting a mural at a downtown storefront or organizations sponsoring festival activities.
This year’s festival saw Battle Creek’s local coffee shop, Café Rica, and the Art & Culture Collective come together to host the quarterly Que Calor art show, which exhibited the work of 20 local artists. Color the Creek also joined with the Battle Creek Area Disc Golf Association and the Small Business Development Office to rethink how the community experiences public spaces by holding a Disc Golf Tournament on the Linear Trail, a paved pathway running through Downtown Battle Creek. And, the festival partnered with local businesses Blue Ox Credit Union, Arc of Calhoun County and Legal Services to have artists including David Eldred, Jars, Jaziel Pugh and Sintex paint large-scale murals on their buildings.
Schriner observes the ways in which Youth Day and the Color the Creek festival have created connection in the community and invited Battle Creek families and children to experience more parts of their city.
“Events like Color the Creek create opportunities for Battle Creek families to come together, support local artists and businesses, and discover the wonderful things this community has to offer,” Schriner says.
For his part, Andert is excited about the festival bringing people together.
“An amazing part of all this has been seeing the community rally behind Color the Creek and being able to give people pride about where they live,” he says.
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