Young Sparks is a community based project involving youth from across Orange and our regional villages. The project provides young people with an alternative means of expression through the creation of theme-based artworks that will decorate the streets power utility boxes.

 

 

The Young Sparks project first launched in 2015 as part of the Orange Youth Arts Festival. Orange primary schools were invited to transform a dozen electrical utility boxes in and around the city of Orange into bonafide works
of art.

 

The Young Sparks project provides a platform for young people to experience the joys of collaborative art making and to foster a sense of meaningful participation and connection to their community. Teachers,
carers or mentors guide small teams of 'Young Sparks' through the projects six stages of development; a creative process which sees students original ideas and concepts transformed into completed works of art.

 

Project participants are encouraged to imagine the electrical utility boxes as public ‘voice boxes’, or canvases upon which they can collectively express and ‘communicate’ their own views, perceptions and insights around the projects themes of identity, place, belonging and community.

 

Phase one of the project included a major exhibition of completed artworks hosted by the Orange City Library as part of the Festivals Aesthetica event. 

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Young Sparks is an Orange Youth Arts Festival initiative made possible by
the in-kind support from Essential Energy, Orange City Council, Orange City Library, Family and Community Services and the Dept of Education.

 

Second phase of the project (decorating utility boxes) is currently in planning and scheduled for completion late 2016.

 

One of the many schools involved was Spring Hill public, located in a small rural village near Orange, where students were motivated to tell their stories and inspired to turn them into works of art.

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The final stage of the Young Sparks Project (installation) will occur in 2018  

 

 

See ABC Central West Article:

 

http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/08/26/4300170.htm

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Banner Artwork: Glenroi PS, Orange NSW