Creating the World's First Living Art Gallery

In 2011, after a very frustrating and unsuccessful funding drive left her mentally and emotionally exhausted, Viva CEO, Meleney Kriel decided to begin painting at the Viva Village. She asked her son, artist Rheece Moonjava, to join her and together they began to create murals on the walls of the facility in the Alaska Informal Settlement. The members of the community loved the murals and begged them to come and paint their shacks as well. The idea to invite other artists to join them, became the foundations for the first of many Viva Township Art Festivals and the plan to systematically create a living art gallery. Visitors to the Alaska Informal Settlement are greeted by brightly coloured shacks of community members participating and a walk in this chaotic, but beautiful place, yields artistic gems around every corner. Music and performing arts were added to the project with the Viva's got Talent competition and in 2018 a full-time music teacher was sponsored from donors in Holland, through the assistance of the well-known conductor Gerben Grooten. The transforming power of art and music is clearly visible in the township and also in the lives of the children and youth in the Viva Village Independent School.