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Let's Celebrate Creativity

Vans Checkerboard Day is a global initiative established to champion the power of creative expression around the world. Following a period of isolation, this year's Checkerboard Day will focus on the vital role creativity plays in helping individuals and communities address mental health and well-being. This year, Vans will support 10 charities from around the world whose shared purpose is to use programs focused on creativity as resources for coping with the stressors that impact mental health and well-being, by donating a at least $1 million USD.

Let's Celebrate Creativity
Ways to Participate
  1. Wear checkerboard.
  2. Try something from this list!

    Ways To Participate:

    • Visit a museum (IRL or online) to discover inspiration and meaning
    • Write a poem about when, where or with whom your mental health is strongest
    • Share how skateboarding has affected your life in a meaningful way by submitting a skatepark story
    • Join a CALM Collective to talk about your passion with others
    • Write a letter to your future self about the person you want to be
    • Create a collage of a place you'd like to visit for a gateway to feel more rejuvenated
    • Skate, surf or ride out to spend time with yourself or friends
    • Play or listen to music to express your emotions, relax, focus, or feel connected.
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Join the Challenge

We've spent a lot of the year apart, so this Vans Checkerboard Day we're coming together to donate over $1M to organizations that support mental wellness, because creativity is good for your head. Join us on TikTok and show us how you ride, paint, play, sing, or whatever it is you do to express yourself with #VansCheckerboardDay.

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A weekly source of creative inspiration. The Vans Family shares how creativity is good for their heads.

The Vans Family shares how creativity is good for their heads.

Vans will support 10 charities from around the world whose shared purpose is to use programs focused on creativity as resources for coping with the stressors that impact mental health and well-being, by donating at least $1 million funded by The Vans Checkerboard Fund at the Tides Foundation or via a direct donation from Vans. Each will receive at least $100,000 USD to use towards their organization's mission to improve the mental health and well-being of youth across the globe through creativity.

  • Arte por la Vida AC
  • The Wave Project
  • The SkatePark Project
  • The Ben Raemers Foundation
  • Get Lit
  • Social Skate
  • SAMH
  • Buku Jalanan Chow Kit
  • WABC
  • CALM

Arte por la Vida AC

Arte por la Vida AC's goal is to expand the minds of thousands of kids, teens and elders living in vulnerable situations through art and culture. Thanks to donations, they can continue their mission by having the necessary resources to buy enough material for workshops, support teachers and professionals in their program and provide transportation to their programs.

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The Wave Project

The Wave Project's goal is to help young people improve their emotional and physical wellbeing through surfing. Surf therapy is beneficial as an intervention for young people in the UK facing social and emotional challenges. It helps them to feel more positive about themselves, socialize better with others, create new and stronger friendship networks and feel more confident and optimistic about their life.

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The SkatePark Project

The Skatepark Project helps underserved communities create safe and inclusive public skateparks for youth. According to a study done in partnership with the University of Southern California, skateboarding was found to improve mental health, foster community and encourage diversity and resilience. When young people feel disenfranchised, skateboarding and skateparks provide a shared space to connect with others.

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The Ben Raemers Foundation

The Ben Raemers Foundation seeks to raise awareness around the tools, techniques and skills that can be used within the community to address issues surrounding mental health and suicide. The foundation aims to bring awareness of mental health issues and suicide to the forefront. It wants to end the stigma and burden that so often clouds these issues.

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Get Lit

Get Lit — Words Ignite fuses classic and spoken word poetry to increase teen literacy on the page and in visual media. They cultivate enthusiastic learners emboldened to inspire social consciousness in diverse communities. Get Lit's poetry and film curriculum engages young people by providing a creative outlet, community, and real-life work experience, transforming students into activists, scholars, and stars.

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Social Skate

The Social Skate Association's mission is to develop the social, educational and cultural spirit of children and young people in vulnerable situations through culture, art, education and skateboarding.