By: Carolyn Desrosiers, Director of Community Engagement

On the night of August 16th in the alley behind the Appleton YMCA, as upbeat music and the smell of good food filled the air, so did a sense of community pride and belonging. It was the culmination of “Paint the City 3,” a mural project led by artist Irineo (Neo) E. Medina, which brought together 20 high school youth from the Appleton Area School District over two weeks to paint the largest mural yet in the history of the project.

Jen Stephany, Executive Director of Appleton Downtown Inc. and Creative Downtown Appleton

The mission of Paint the City is inclusion and youth-led change. “Neo continues to inspire us and knows exactly how to bring the community together to talk about what it means to be part of a community. Not just living here, but to be part (of it) and to contribute,” said Jen Stephany, Executive Director of Appleton Downtown Inc. and Creative Downtown Appleton, the fiscal sponsor for the project.

Paint the City focuses on youth from marginalized backgrounds who might not otherwise experience such a high-impact learning opportunity. Youth receive an art credit and a stipend to help remove barriers to participation and/or offset lost wages from existing jobs. As Medina put it during his remarks at the celebration, “Some kids are showing up with bigger problems than adults have going on, but they’re showing up and getting to work.”

Throughout the two-week painting process, community leaders are invited to paint alongside the youth and see them through a different lens, challenging preconceived ideas about who these youth are. Through art, the high school students hold power and influence, something some of them might have never done before this project.

“Growing up as a Latina, I didn’t really know how to put myself out there in this community, but as soon as I heard there was a chance for me to apply for Paint the City, I knew it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” shared Naomi Martinez, one of two youth speakers at the celebration event.

Will Arana, the other youth speaker, shared, “I think one of the biggest things I learned during Paint the City was how important background is to everybody. Everybody that did this project has a different background from each other, but we’re all able to make one of the most beautiful pieces of art I’ve ever seen in my life.”

The mural’s depictions of different types of shoes seem to act as a metaphor for the beauty of diverse backgrounds and the vibrance of being active, but pictures don’t do this work justice. Everyone is encouraged to come and appreciate the work in person, behind the YMCA at 218 E. Lawrence Street in downtown Appleton.

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Partners of the project included Creative Downtown Inc., Appleton Area School District, and YMCA Fox Cities. The program was supported by many local donors and businesses, including with grants from the Community Vision Fund and Fox Cares Foundation Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region.

Painters with Irineo (Neo) Medina (first row, second from right)

As the mural celebration came to a close, Medina encouraged the large crowd of community leaders, youth, and families who were gathered to meet students with trust and love and find empathy, “because they’re all just young adults making a way for themselves. If you just give them a place to stand, they’re going to move the earth.”