Key Food Stores Co-Operative Inc. has teamed up with Artolution, an international, community-based public art initiative based in New York City, to create a mural with youth that promotes positive social change as well as reconciliation and healing through collaborative art making.
The Key Food located at 52 Avenue A in Manhattan, a Man-Dell Group store, will unveil the new mural Friday, July 19, at 5 p.m.
Over the past month, teenage clients of the nonprofit organization KIND (Kids in Need of Defense) have been working with artists to design and paint a large-scale public mural to reflect their experiences. Artolution and the teenagers have also teamed up with We Are Royale, a west coast-based creative and digital company, to design and build an augmented reality app that will enable visitors to view animations highlighting the stories of the youth, their life struggles and their dreams for the future in an innovative and interactive way. The AR portion of the mural will be launched in August. On Friday, the teenagers will celebrate the mural unveiling with a theatrical dance performance.
Founded in Brooklyn in 1937, Key Food Stores Co-Operative includes more than 275 grocery stores with $2.7 billion in annual sales and is headed by CEO Dean Janeway and Chairman Larry Mandel. In addition to Key Food, these stores operate under various other banners, including Food Universe, The Food Emporium, SuperFresh, Food Dynasty and Gala Foods Supermarkets in all five boroughs, Long Island, upstate New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Florida.
