Joel Bergner, co-founder and CEO of Artolution, describes how his organization uses collaborative public art to strengthen wellbeing and resilience among young people in communities affected by conflict and displacement. Artolution operates globally, working in refugee camps, informal settlements, and marginalized neighborhoods through programs led by local artists who live within those communities.

By training artists in psychosocial facilitation and collaborative methods, Artolution ensures that artmaking becomes a process of healing, not just expression. Participants work together on murals, performances, and other public art projects that help rebuild trust, amplify local voices, and create shared visions for the future.

Artolution’s work includes:

• Recruiting and training local artists, including refugees, to lead community-based mural and performance projects.
• Integrating mental health and psychosocial support techniques into creative workshops to promote connection and self-expression.
• Supporting long-term, youth-led art initiatives in Kenya, Uganda, Jordan, Bangladesh, and other regions through funding and professional development.
• Partnering with humanitarian agencies such as UNHCR to align arts programming with community- and family-level mental health support.

Bergner notes that funders often focus on the number of people reached rather than the depth of transformation, though longer-term programs show stronger effects on confidence, relationships, and hope. Measuring this impact across diverse contexts remains challenging, but Artolution’s growing body of data—and the stories behind it—show that collaborative art can build community resilience more effectively than one-off interventions.

Sustainability is another obstacle, particularly as registration requirements and limited funding complicate work in refugee settings. Still, Bergner emphasizes that centering local leadership and livelihoods keeps the model strong: communities can heal and grow when they create and own their art together.

At Artolution, Operations Director and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Advisor Marine Burdel helps communities use art as a language of expression, healing, and connection. The organization works in refugee settlements, conflict zones, and underserved urban areas across the globe, creating safe spaces where young people and families can share their stories through murals, theater, craft-making, and performance.

Burdel finds that resilience grows when communities lead their own creative recovery. Artolution identifies and trains local artists—often refugees or survivors of violence—to become facilitators who guide others in using art for collective healing and social cohesion. This approach shifts away from outside intervention, instead building capacity within the community itself.

The organization’s model includes:

• Training local artists to lead workshops that promote emotional expression and community dialogue.
• Running participatory art programs in refugee camps and post-conflict settings, such as Jordan, Uganda, Bangladesh, and Colombia.
• Using shared symbols and collaborative mural-making to foster unity between divided groups, including rival ethnic communities in Uganda’s Bidibidi resettlement camp.
• Developing “Virtual Bridges” that connect youth across countries through digital and virtual-reality art projects.

The impact is visible in renewed trust, cross-community collaboration, and the restoration of cultural pride. Participants report increased confidence and connection, while artists gain livelihoods and leadership roles.

Challenges persist in balancing the dual roles of artists as both beneficiaries and staff, and in navigating volatile environments. Yet Burdel believes the key lies in humility and partnership. “There are artists out there,” she says. “Our work is complementary work — to transform and amplify what is already there.”