XQ Visual Arts and Activism Challenge Ft. BMike
We invited students (ages 13-21) to create a piece of visual art inspired by a world they want to see. With advice and guidance from New Orleans artist Brandan “BMike” Odums, more than 150 students created a unique piece of art.
View the galleryAbout BMike
Brandan “BMike” Odums is a New Orleans-based visual artist who, through exhibitions, public programs, and public art works, is engaged in a transnational dialogue about the intersection of art and resistance. From film to murals to installations, Odums’ work encapsulates the political fervor of a generation of Black American activists who came of age amidst the tenure of the nation’s first Black president, the resurgence of popular interest in law enforcement violence, and the emergence of the self-care movement. Most often working with spray paint, Odums paints brightly-colored, wall-sized murals that depict historical figures, contemporary creatives, and everyday people. In his otherwise figurative work, Odums departs from realism to play with color – blending lavender to paint the skin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King and robin’s egg blue for Harriet Tubman, for instance – suggesting an ethos of boldness that unites the subjects of his work and surpasses race, time, or any other aspect of physical reality.</p>


2022 Student Journalism Challenge: My Education, My Future
The 2022 Student Journalism Challenge: My Education, My Future, is a journalism challenge run by PBS Student Reporting Labs and WETA and sponsored by XQ. This new challenge invites students nationwide to report on various topics that illustrate what their lives are like as students, and what matters most to them in their schools and communities.

Billboard Challenge
What big dreams do you have for the future of high school? We called on all students ages 13-21 to create a piece of visual art showing their vision for high school for the next generation. Their canvas? A 14’ x 48’ billboard. The prize? Seeing their art featured on a billboard in their community!