From planning workshops to painting a mural, join Sassy Holmes, Participation Producer, for part two of our community outreach programme at the National Football Museum.
In our last blog you found out all about the mural project, including partnering with charity Young Manchester, getting additional funding from the council, and working hard to find a space and group who would benefit from this fantastic intervention. After all the hard work, the project came to fruition with two big days of workshops.
On Friday 23 August, we delivered creative workshops on the basketball court where the mural will be made. The young people attending the workshop were a mix of kids from Sharon’s Cheetham community group, and young people living directly around the basketball court on Appleford Drive. The day consisted of two halves; creative word generation and learning spray painting skills. The first half was facilitated by Ruth Awolola, Manchester based poet and Learning Officer at the Manchester poetry library. This session included fun football based icebreakers, word association games, and resulted in the young people writing about what a hero means to them. The second half of the day was led by Oskar with a K, with help from fellow street artist Becky McGillivray. Oskar with a K took the young people (who were over 11 years old) and taught them how to use spray paint. This involved getting in overalls and face masks, and making a canvas super bright and unique. Becky got the younger kids involved by bringing a box of amazing paint pens and letting them add to a pre-spraypainted canvas. It was a vibrant and creative day, that kickstarted the process of the wall.
An exciting part of this project has been the young people exploring the creativity within football. Football has so much to offer! The young people have explored different practises, from writing, poetry and storytelling, to mixed media painting, stencilling, and spray painting. The workshops generated discussions about the impact of football and art in their lives, and has cemented the creative potential that this sport has.
After the first workshop, both Oskar and Ruth had the weekend to reflect on the workshop, and create the concept for the poem and the wall design. We then all returned to the court on bank holiday Monday to do the real thing!
Permissions slips signed and wall primed, today was all about putting the creative skills to the test. Oskar with a K led an excellent workshop, showing the young people different spray painting techniques, like blending colours and creating patterns. At the end of the day, the young people had contributed to half of the wall, and the court was already looking fantastic. Oskar with a K will return to finish off the wall over the commencing weeks.
This project had been all about celebrating; the people, places and spaces in our community. Through the creative workshops the mural project has not only celebrated footballing heroes the group looks up to, but also celebrated the special parts of the place that they’re from. We hope the final mural will reclaim and relove this basketball court, and that the young people who got involved are proud of their contributions.
We’ll be coming back to the basketball court on Sunday 29 September, as part of Cheetham Cultural Festival. It will be a celebration day, where we’ll be running some fun drop in activities with Oskar with a K and Becky. Come and pop over to the court from 12pm-3pm on that Sunday to see the mural in person!
Haven’t caught up on Part 1? Click here to read all about it.