Street art has become one of the most visible cultural expressions of our time. From large-scale murals to small interventions tucked between streets, cities across Europe are filled with artworks that shape identity, tell stories, and reflect the communities that surround them. And yet—despite their presence—most of these works remain structurally invisible. They are photographed, shared, liked, and sometimes mapped. But rarely are they managed, preserved, or understood as p

If 2025 taught us anything, it’s this: Street art is never just about walls . It’s about people, memory and the quiet transformation of a neighbourhood in motion. At Street Art Museum Amsterdam (SAMA) , this year was not defined by scale, but by depth. Not by certainty, but by resilience. And above all—by connection. A Year Built on Transition (and Trust) 2025 was, in many ways, a year “in-between.”A year of moving, rebuilding, rethinking. With no structural funding at the st

Entering the Field: From Observer to Participant My experience at SAMA has only just begun, yet the first days have already reshaped my understanding of what it means to work in culture. Before arriving in Amsterdam, I had worked in cultural institutions where much of my time was spent behind a desk — planning, coordinating, communicating from within an office. At SAMA, however, that model quickly proved insufficient. Street art cannot be understood from a distance. It demand

Where are you from? What are you doing in Amsterdam? I am originally from Italy, and I came to Amsterdam with a clear intention: to strengthen my English and deepen my communication skills in an international cultural context. This opportunity emerged through an unexpected yet meaningful encounter with Anna Stolyarova, founder of the Street Art Museum Amsterdam (SAMA). I first met Anna in my hometown of Scandiano, when she visited Italy to present the Toolkit for Youth Worker