OUR History

Humble beginnings over a cup of coffee

In the summer of 2012, Steffen Gray pursued his belief - that culture and creativity can change the identity of a local environment, create pride and security, and give young people in the area a purpose. Steffen sought out Maher Khatib, the housing social coordinator for Ringsted, and quickly found a committed cultural creator and sparring partner. On a sunny day, on the bench outside Maher's office, they bouched around ideas over several cups of instant coffee. And there, between the housing blocks emerged the idea of ​​a street art association, Street Studies.

Over the course of the next year, Street Studies began finding its place among the community and building a name among the locals. What emerged was a small dedicated team including crime prevention experts who saw the potential of how creative drive could contribute to buzzing and safer local environments. Ultimately, this leads to greater social cohesion in the area.

Chomping at the bit to bring their ideas into practice, the small team set out on their first project: a creative “paint a canvas” workshop for kids in the Sønderpark housing projects. This positive hum spread and shortly thereafter the team expanded, adding a street sports organizer, then an urban planner….an architect…a sociologist…and so on.