WHY BOOK MISTAH MATT?

Mistah Matt offers 20 years of expertise, attitude, network and approach to help the capacity building of young talents, but also to inform and educate federations, city councils and other organisations.

He specifically does so through four different actions.

TALK THAT TALK

To help improve the approach that cities, federations, organisations… use to reach the youth, Matthias offers inspiring, but first and foremost educational talks. Based on years of experience and skills, he can help you find the best approach to reach your organisation’s goals.

Here are some of Matthias’ previous talks:

Educational talk at Blaarmeersen for different city councils and (urban) sport federations to discuss the future of urban sports in Belgium.

A Japanese delegation of the international institute for youth research came by to learn about Matthias' approach to start up youth-projects.

For Gentrepreneur, Matthias spoke to young entrepreneurs to talk about starting your own business. Giving advice and helping them in the right direction.

ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS

Mistah Matt balances his mission and vision on the intersection of art and social engagement. He has found that working bottom up works better than top to top down and has therefore started several projects to tackle social issues.

During the covid pandemic all skateparks were closed. Mistah Matt put up a project to assign ‘rangers’ to every skatepark: a team of experienced, skilled skaters that are assigned to a park to keep an eye out and make sure everything goes smooth. Because of this project, skaters were able to go out and practice their sport in times where it was much needed.

To fund a documentary in Morocco, Matthias thought of a way to organise a fundraising. But of course he had to do it the Mistah Matt-way. Local artist Gijs Vanhee was asked to fully paint a brand new car before putting it up for auction. It got sold to a garage and the project was funded!

To prevent vandalism at the skateparks of Ghent, Matthias put together a team to paint the walls of different skateparks across the city. This intervention caused a beautiful environment that is much appreciated and respected by skaters and other artists.

Probably one the craziest projects that Mistah Matt is involved with is Skateistan. Skateistan is an award-winning non-profit organization which empowers children through skateboarding and education. By combining skateboarding with creative, arts-based education, they give children the opportunity to become leaders for a better world. Through KAPOW, Matthias leads the Belgian project of Skateistan.

One of his latest projects was a mural in collaboration with Ghent-based artist Kiewie. This project was commissioned by the care center De Hoop.

CREATIVE MATCHMAKER

As a starting artist/ entrepreneur it can be really difficult to navigate through this chaotic sea of opportunities.

Mistah Matt wants to use and share his sources and connections to push young talent and give them direction. He does so by providing locations for expo’s, creating content for promotional purposes, introducing artists to possible collaborations…

It’s a matchmaking process between artists and locations, projects, organisations, sources and loads of other opportunities. Some examples:

Matt curated expo’s for several street artists: Lobster Robin, Keep Punching Joe, Samor, Kiuw, Gijs Vanhee, Mr Mong, Arrf the wolf, Nina Vandeweghe, Nina Vandenbempt, Sam Scarpulla, Gleo (CO), Carbonel ( BR), Canemorto ( IT ), Soika Vomiter ( PH ) …

Parker Collections launched a limited edition of this jacket, designed in collaboration with Mistah Matt. It was designed and made in Ghana but the promotion and sales happened in Ghent.

Chrysalis: for this live performance, Mistah Matt matched artists Leeroy New and Ea Torrado from the Philippines with Suntapes from Ghent

Colombian artist Gleo came to Ghent in 2016 at the invitation of Mistah Matt. In addition to an impressive exhibition at KAPOW, she also created an amazing mural right before going back to Colombia