Skateboards that engage artists and consumers in social projects

The Skateroom utilises work from artists around the world to drive an "art for social impact" movement based on skateboards

Spotted: A not-for-profit B Corp in Brussels has curated an artistic space dedicated to inspiring a new, socially-driven business model. The premise of The Skateroom is based on a collaboration between acclaimed artists and art foundations, and skateboards, which drive the “Art for Social Impact” premise. Artists display their work on skateboards around the exhibition area, an idea based on the company’s statement that a skateboard is “affordable, mobile, and useable”, “a symbol for freedom” with “the power to break social barriers”. 

Charles-Antoine Bodson, founder and CEO of The Skateroom, was inspired by the opening of a Skate Park in Cambodia, where he saw a disadvantaged community inspired by the hope the Skate School represented. As a skateboard fan himself, he wanted to come up with a business model based on creativity that would allow him to donate a part of the company’s profits to such social projects, support communities and minimise environmental impact, whilst remaining profitable.  

Their aim with the project, therefore, is to become a model for a new type of business driven by social impact, and to inspire “deep economic change and consciously engaged consumption”. The Skateroom is the outcome of this premise — a space in which consumers engage with the art and thus become part of the movement to challenge the status quo. They state: “We believe art should be accessible to all. We believe art can change the world.”

The Skateroom openly states that its aim is to be “a leading example of the social enterprise category”, and with every collaboration, the community puts 5 per cent of the turnover, or 25 per cent of profit from every sale — whichever is higher — towards a social project around the world. They have so far raised over £500,000 to fund 33 social skate projects dedicated to empowering at-risk youth around the world, and 100 per cent of its profits are invested to support NGOs.

The Skateroom has recently collaborated with the likes of Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and even Van Gogh. 

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