Our billboard art for NYAM's Interactive Chicago Tour, which launches in the city August 28, has been chosen to represent the issue of gun violence at the 2017 Noble Peace Prize Forum in Minneapolis: Sept 13 - 16. This is an honor of a lifetime and one of the greatest opportunities for Chicago youth to have their voices and their lives matter on the world stage.

The young people who live in neighborhoods of violence have strong ideas and feelings about how deep the effect is growing-up amidst guns, gangs and death. But they won’t always tell us. Sometimes, there are no words. So these billboard artworks will show us. 

We know a picture is worth a thousand words and NYAM believes that the whole world needs to hear these pictures -- because this isn't only a Chicago problem -- this is a global issue for young people in cities and countries all over the world.

As we look to solutions for the future, it's important to know that "over 25% of the world's population is under 25 years-old" (UN State of the World Report, 2011). So while our youth are our most vulnerable population, there is power in numbers. Young people have the power to change their lives and this world for the better. And we as adults have a responsibility to our youth -- to protect them. And to give them the resources and the opportunities to grow into men and women.

Please help NYAM's youth artists take advantage of their invitation to attend this year's Noble Peace Prize Forum.