Projects - Arts Project
Creative connections in the local community
Oxfordshire’s Inspiring Community Arts Project
Our Spaces Our Places
Young people in Oxfordshire have been making creative connections with their local community through an arts project called Our Spaces, Our Places. Oxfordshire Association for Young People (OAYP) in partnership with Clubs for Young People and Oxfordshire Youth Arts Partnership (OYAP) have worked with youth clubs in Chinnor, Radley and Wantage to produce a wide range of creative outcomes.
The project begins with a youth led walk around the local area at dusk. Young people interview passers-by, point out their favourite shops and their least favourite hang-outs. The young people used the opportunity to reflect on spaces and places that impacted on the identity of their area in both a positive and negative way. Seeing the area at dusk, in the transition between night and day was very important. For many areas, parks for instance, nightfall changed its atmosphere and purpose dramatically, from a space of play and fun to spaces of fear, risk taking and urban legend.
Each group of young people then worked with artists from OAYP and OYAP to decide how best to creatively respond to their local area.
Chinnor Youth Club decided that they wanted to create a positive image of young people in their area. The parish council approved their request to design and paint a mural on their club wall which is a space that gets shared with other local clubs.
Mike Dix, youth worker at Chinnor Youth Club said "It’s good to see them all committed, as it can be hard to get young people to stick at things unless they’re interested. Having their own design input was what got them all going, it’s really caught their enthusiasm".
Finja Kieslich, a young person from the club said "The project’s really good because it gives us something to do and we get to display our work without it being taken down after a few weeks. It could be here forever.
Another young person, Hana Castle, said "This project is fun, it’s what we like doing and it’s much better being allowed to paint on the wall rather than on paper. The club was plain and now it’s joyful. People will come in and be like “WOW!!!”
The Sweatbox Youth Club in Wantage decided that they wanted to create a film to promote their youth club to young people who currently spend their evenings on the street or in parks. As part of the film process they are planning to interview local community workers, police, shop owners and other young people.
Young People at Radley have had drama workshops, and created collages. In the coming weeks they will be interviewing members of their community and local officials to help them make a film about what other people think of Radley.
The projects have helped to promote the role of young people who take an active role in their communities. All clubs are in the process of planning exhibition events to share their imaginative creativity with people form their community.
Check out our YouTube video produced by Sweatbox
For further information about the project please contact Laura Sewell
More Information
Categories
Sports and Activities
Peer Education