Youth Engagement Program: “THINGS I WANT TO SAY”
The Condensery - Somerset Regional Art Gallery, Toogoolawah, Queensland
2022 - 2023
Mapping ideas at the first workshop with local teens on 27 August, 2022.
In 2022 I was approached by Rachel Arndt, then Curator of The Condensery - Somerset Regional Art Gallery in Queensland to advise and help program a months-long youth engagement project for local young people.
The project was part of the broader program supporting the exhibition Things I want to say (6 May - 16 July 2023) curated by Arndt and Imogen Dixon-Smith, and culminated in a one-day public program on Saturday 1 July.
Things I want to say brought together six emerging artists from across the country - Jordan Azcune, Tyza Hart, Dylan Mooney, Luce Nguyen-Hunt, Gutinarra Yunupingu & Justine Youssef - whose practices negotiate identity in contemporary Australia.
Working with artists including Sidney McMahon and Zenus Moonbeam, we developed a series of scaffolded workshops for local teens that ran in the months leading up to the final public program, using the ideas in the exhibition and the idea of an Art Party as a point of creative departure.
The program aimed to encourage community building and confidence engaging with The Condensery as a welcome space for young people.
The culminating Art Party on 1 July 2023 included a series of activities, artist-led workshops and performances all directly inspired by the works in Things I want to say.
Art Party event images courtesy: The Condensery - Somerset Regional Art Gallery. Photos: Jim Filmer