Sat 16 Jan |
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| An empty house in an inner city neighbourhood, transformed into a blank canvas for budding artists of the future, has been nominated for an award. The work by young people from a Leeds inner-city neighbourhood is now brightening up bin yards in Richmond Hill's streets of back-to-backs – and the scheme has been short-listed for a northern regional accolade. Richmond Hill has been subject to a police youth dispersal order to combat antisocial activities. But East North East Homes Leeds’ (ENEHL), working in partnership with Space2, Leeds City Council’s Youth Services and The Salvation Army, saw an opportunity to set up a creative distraction to turn bored youths into promising creative talent. The participants were provided with a property by ENEHL which, with the help of a professional artist, Kevin Hickson, was transformed into an artist’s den.  Young people were literally given a blank canvas to design and paint themes which best reflected the environment and issues of the area and had a professional artist on hand to provide support and direction in addition to a youth services worker providing advice about education and work opportunities. Now the scheme has been short-listed for the Northern Region Award by the Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS). The Urban Art project has been recognised as the Best Practice in Youth Involvement category. If successful, then ENEHL will go through to the national TPAS awards. The project caught the imagination of Leeds Rhinos who paid a visit with some players who grew up on the streets of Richmond Hill to help generate support and engage with the young people. The ‘Urban Art’ work has been displayed on the empty walls in the bin yards between the back-to-back properties to make the place move from eyesore to eye-catching. The bin yards now double up as unique temporary exhibit space with plans to rotate the designs to keep the area fresh and vibrant. Read more and see how you cold get involved in this and similar projects here:
http://www.eastnortheasthomesleeds.org.uk/ Mill supports community arts if you have a project you want to promote please let us know. Comments on community arts from those involved in the Richmond HIll project: Angelina Fixter, chair of the East North East Homes Leeds board, said: "To be short listed for this national award is a fantastic achievement in itself and a tribute to the brilliant work being carried out with young people to channel their creativity into really making a positive mark on their communities.” Michelle Reid, Chief Executive of TPAS said: “The impact that the economic downturn has had on the housing market has in turn left its impression on the social economy, construction industry and supply chain as a whole. “Despite this people from across the social and affordable housing sector have come together and worked harder than ever to deliver some fantastic results. The entry from East North East Homes Leeds is a high quality example of this and exceeded all the criteria we were looking for.” |