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2025 at SAMA: When Walls Became Stories

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 start of the year, SAMA operated fully freelance, powered by commitment rather than certainty. Our founder carried the organisation forward pro bono, supported by a growing circle of local makers, partners and volunteers who stepped in, not because they had to, but because they believed in what we do. And that belief made all the difference.


From Street Art to Living Heritage

This year, we continued to push one core idea forward: Street art is heritage. But only if we learn how to see it that way. Through our work with the FARO Convention and the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, we contributed to shaping one of the first valuation frameworks for street art in the Netherlands.

At the same time, we launched and expanded the Digital Street Art Depot—a living archive where murals don’t disappear when walls do.Instead, they evolve into VR capsules, stories, and shared memory. Because preservation is no longer about keeping things still.It’s about keeping them alive.


Neighbourhood as a Canvas, Community as Co-Creator

In the Dichtersbuurt, something special continued to unfold. Through projects like:


we didn’t just create art—we created space. Space to meet. Space to speak. Space to belong. Stories were collected, shared, and reimagined—forming a living archive of a neighbourhood on the edge of transformation.


Street Art as a Tool for Change

Across Amsterdam and beyond, SAMA continued to work at the intersection of art, policy, and public space.


From:

  • Large-scale murals with Eigen Haard

  • Strategic advisory work for municipalities such as Stadsdeel ZUID

  • International knowledge-sharing—from Reggio Emilia to Lausanne


to the ongoing development of STRAATWIJS and STAR 2.0, empowering young people through creative participation. Street art became what it does best: A bridge—between people, systems, and possibilities.


Urbanites United: The City as a Living Canvas

One of the highlights of the year was Urbanites United: Amsterdam as a Living Canvas. A festival that brought together:artists, residents, policymakers, and curious passers-byinto one shared conversation about the city. Not as a finished product—but as something we co-create, every day.


Looking Ahead: From Survival to Structure

By the end of 2025, something shifted. The team re-formed. The foundation stabilised. The direction became clearer. We are entering 2026 not just with ideas—but with:

  • a strengthened network

  • a validated methodology

  • and a growing recognition of street art as a serious cultural and social force!


Final Thought

Street art is often described as temporary. But if 2025 proved anything, it’s this: What disappears from the wall, stays in the community. And sometimes—that’s exactly where it belongs.


✍️ Thank you to everyone who walked with us this year—artists, residents, partners, volunteers, and believers.


See you in 2026. The story continues.

 
 
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