Words by Smiley Team
“Art and skateboarding together have become a vehicle for change.”
Those are the powerful words of Charles-Antoine Bodson, a social entrepreneur committed to making an impact through his work.
For Charles-Antoine – and millions of others around the world – skateboarding is more than just a hobby. It’s more than an action sport, an activity, or a way of getting around. In many places across the globe, skateboarding means freedom.
Charles-Antoine is the founder of THE SKATEROOM, an organisation that values this tremendously. It exists to facilitate, empower, and inspire social change through skating, by collaborating with artists around the world to produce art on skateboards and fund social projects.
As a partner on the Smiley Company’s 50th anniversary project, it has revealed it’ll use at least 10% of revenue from the skateboard editions to continue funding the Free Movement Skateboarding, which offers skateboarding lessons to the diverse communities in Athens and in refugee camps around the city.
So, how did it all start? And why is this so crucial to the community in Athens? We found out.
Charles-Antoine had always been involved in art himself – he had a collection of special edition skateboards he admired – but this love turned into a career with passion when he met Oliver Percovich by chance in 2014, the founder and CEO of Skateistan.
At the time, Skateisan was the most established skate NGO worldwide, which had a specific mission of combining education with skateboarding. Oliver had travelled to Afghanistan and witnessed the number of curious kids who saw him skateboarding on the streets. It inspired him to start skate lessons at a local fountain. This was the seed that grew the Skateistan programmes – combining education with skating.
Charles-Antoine’s chance encounter with Oliver was a turning point – he saw firsthand how, with the right facilities and resources, young people in some of the world’s most disadvantaged countries could be empowered to have purpose. Inspired by the mission, Charles-Antoine decided to sell his own collection of skateboards to support Skateistan with a donation.
It was a huge success.
It was a business idea in the making. Encouraged by the positive impact his support made, Charles-Antoine decided to leverage his knowledge and contacts in the art world and build his own project that would unite artists, brands, and nonprofits around the world: THE SKATEROOM was born.
Since day one, Charles-Antoine’s goal has been to be a part of the social skate movement by supporting social projects that need funding. THE SKATEROOM made a commitment to donate at least 10% of all revenue directly to creating social change – and through this, they empower youth around the world, build new skateparks and develop education facilities and resource programmes.
Not only that, but he wanted THE SKATEROOM to be a conscious business – one that is focused on growing and improving each year with people and the planet in mind. It achieved its B-Corp certification in 2019 – and that’s how he wants the company to grow.
Since Skateistan launched, the skateboarding movement has grown tremendously. Today, there are a huge number of community projects aiming to create positive social change through skateboarding. And that can only be a good thing.
These projects make skateboarding accessible – they develop an infrastructure where there is no public interest or funding. They give free lessons in neighbourhoods and communities that would otherwise go without. And they make sure everyone is included, no matter their gender, race or religion.
One of the projects THE SKATEROOM funds is Free Movement Skateboarding in Athens, Greece.
The project, started in 2016, operates outreach programs with a mobile skatepark, transported in their trusty van. Working with refugee communities to deliver free skateboarding lessons, Free Movement Skateboarding’s mission is to go to places that could really make a difference – refugee camps are further away from the city centre, for example, where leisure and sport infrastructure is low.
They drive between refugee camps, community centres and orphanages and focus on social cohesion, integration, and mental health – as well as teaching skating. Their aim has always been to empower young people to express themselves and build friendships, especially women.
THE SKATEROOM has been supporting Free Movement Skateboarding for more than three years – the nonprofit was able to count on the support to make sure they could have their operational costs covered and run programmes directly.
Through funding, THE SKATEROOM gives Free Movement Skateboarding the support they need to expand their programs as they search for a permanent space, positioning themselves permanently in Athens city centre.
And now, through the Smiley Company’s 50th anniversary collaboration, more funds will be donated to the Athens-based project to reach even more disadvantaged people through skating.
Free Movement Skateboarding is just one of the projects THE SKATEROOM has made an impact on. There are many others, too – including Concrete Jungle Foundation, Wonders Around The World, and 7Hills in Jordan.
To find out more about how you can become a part of real social change, visit theskateroom.com.
Photo credit: Hannah Bailey
