Out of the Shadows - Street Art Event
Opening Doors to Street Art - Northern Rivers Echo 29th September 2011
The centre of Lismore’s CBD was invaded by spray cans three weeks ago and the ramifications have been widespread – money raised for a good cause, the community getting engaged with youth and young artists having their talent acknowledged. Sources claim responsibility for this lies with the idea of giving young people a legal avenue in which to practise their street art.
The event, Out of the Shadows, was the brainchild of India Morris and other students completing the Certificate IV in Community Services with ACE Community Colleges Lismore, who were required to host an event as part of their course work.
It raised $800 from an auction of 19 recycled doors that were spray painted out on the footpaths one sunny Thursday afternoon, with half going to the artists and half to Youth Connections North Coast.
Margi Hill, general manager from Youth Connections, was so impressed the organisation will now run the event in 2012.
“The model’s right so why change it?” Margi said. “More than 100 people showed up, which shows there’s real community interest, and the thing I really valued was the age range of young people and there were families and it all connected in with the markets. It was a great success.”
Student Neil Amor when said they evaluated the course and looked back at the original vision, the event had ticked every box and was everything they had hoped it would be.
“And more!” student Lisa Doherty said.
“It went above and beyond our expectations,” Neil agreed. “In terms of the money, the turnout,, giving street art a higher profile, allowing a legal space for it, the participation by the community, everything. Everyone just got stuck in on the day… even young people who hadn’t registered felt comfortable to join in. To see them engage in a whole creative process was fantastic, some of them were so proud.”
Teacher Maureen McDermott was very proud of her students.
“The online learning site is called Motivated Students and they have certainly lived up to their name – and I loved the event from beginning to end,” Maureen said. “I think it’s given the students a real taste of taking a project from inception to completion. If they go into the workforce and were asked to hold an event they really have the skills to do it. It’s wonderful and the fact Youth Connections is continuing the event really validates it for us – it was a success in the eyes of the wider community and not just in our own eyes.
“Also, the young street artists are seldom celebrated, and usually vilified. It was wonderful how the community responded to them and their artwork was amazing.”