Visions of the Future: What Kids Want to See After the Pandemic

About This Episode

As we continue to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, No Kid Hungry is telling the stories of what children faced during the crisis - and the incredible people working to feed them. Working with local artists in cities across the country, NKH’s Rebuilding campaign created a series of five micro-documentaries and murals in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, and Washington, D.C. to showcase the stories of local children’s thoughts and feelings about life during the pandemic and their hopes for the future into public works of art. In this episode of “Add Passion and Stir,” host Billy Shore and Share Our Strength’s CMO, Pamela Taylor connect with Désirée Kelly, the artist that created the Rebuilding mural featured in Detroit, MI. Kelly, a Detroit-native known for her distinctive style of storytelling through portraits with a mixture of “street art” & traditional oil technique, describes the experience of sharing her community's story: “It meant so much to me being a Detroiter and representing the community...to finally have the voice to be able to speak for everyone visually.” Giving “voice” to the stories of those acutely impacted by COVID was an important consideration for the campaign. Taylor noted that NKH worked exclusively with artists of color to share the story of Black and Brown communities, “We wanted to uplift those that we knew had faced challenges in ways that had been exacerbated. Identifying artists of color to talk with the children and to hear their stories and who were part of their community...to have that connection was so important to us.”