A Mural of Belonging
A new mural hangs on the wall of East High School in Salt Lake City. With many symbols including flags from multiple countries and grasping hands with diverse skin tones, the mural is an artistic rendering of an important message: everyone belongs here.
Rebecca Richardson, an English Language Arts teacher at East High School, helped facilitate this project during the Leadership Lunch & Learn program. The program is designed for English Language Learner (ELL) students to gain confidence and leadership skills to be successful in school and beyond.
According to Richardson, more than 50 students contributed to the project in some way. “It helps create that sense of ownership and a sense of having power in a space where often times you may feel powerless,” she said.
Bri is a junior at East High School and one of the students who worked on the mural. For her, the theme of “belonging” can mean something different for everyone. “I think belonging is so important because everybody sees it in a different way,” Bri said. “It kind of brings everybody together, because it’s saying that everybody belongs in their own way.”
Hannah Hoffman is a teacher and artist with Workshop SLC who helped students design and paint the mural. “Students learn[ed] how to collaborate with someone that you know doesn’t have the same background but really ensuring that even though they have this diversity, that it’s so important for everybody to feel safe and to feel like they belong when they come to school,” she said.
A Message for the Students, by the Students
For both Hoffman and Richardson, one of the most important priorities for this project was promoting student ownership in every step of the process from brainstorming ideas and choosing the design to the actual painting of the final mural.
Milana, a junior at East High School, underscored the importance of this being a student-led project. “I think it’s super important because it brings more student voices to what other students are seeing,” she said. “If we embrace putting opinions of students or perspectives of students within our school and our environment, I think it’s important that we can see each other’s perspectives.”
East High senior, Bretzy, said working on the mural project enabled her to form connections with other students from different cultures. “I did gain more friends from it, but I also learned more about how belonging varies from culture to culture,” she said. “And so learning how to overcome those barriers and make sure that that person feels welcome was really a big part of it.”
Iliana, a senior at East High, believes the mural sends an important message to students with diverse backgrounds and cultures. “I think it was important because we have people from other countries, and this was a way to connect all of them and feel like everyone is there for them,” she said.
For Hoffman, this mural project–and art more broadly–has the power to transcend differences and bring people together. “Art is a very universal language,” she said. “We get to share that with everybody, which is an incredible thing to be able to share in because you find inspiration from each other; you collaborate with each other; you find belonging with each other–especially within creative spaces.”
Cross-Sector Partners Join Hands
This project was a wonderful example of what can be achieved through collaboration between schools, government, and community partners. It was one of several projects conducted by Workshop SLC funded by a grant they received from the governor’s office intended to bring more art into schools and communities. Promise Partnership Utah supported this work by facilitating connections between Workshop SLC and Promise Community Schools.
Richardson emphasized the importance of this collaboration in creating more opportunities for students. “I think now more than ever we need to be partnering with communities because it helps us move outside of those silos and it helps open up the community’s eyes as to what we’re doing in schools, who we’re teaching, what we’re teaching, and why it’s important,” she said. “There is just something remarkable when students and community and teachers work together. It’s just the best of all worlds.”
Written by Jenna Fischer, Content Strategist
