Youth Steering Group Workshop

As discussed previously, the Public Art Steering Group had decided that to better involve young people in the commissioning process a Youth Steering Group would be created. There they would take charge of their own commission for a site specific piece/pieces of art in the theatre. Gwennan Mair, Director of Creative Engagement at Theatr Clwyd, and Ibukan Baldwin, an artist who is on the Public Art Steering Group https://ibukundesign.com/, organised the group to meet in half term.

The group of 10 met for the first time on 28th October and consisted of individuals that have been involved in art based activities at the theatre previously - Criw Celf and Portffolio. 

Ibukun Baldwin started the session with some quick team building exercises to break the ice. She continued the session with an introduction into the public art commissions process at the theatre for the renovations. The attendees, including an individual joining via Zoom due to health reasons, wrote down simplified phrases of how they understood the brief for commissions. These included - “community ownership”, “good art”, "sustainable" etc.

From this, the group then had to explore words/themes they associated with Theatr Clwyd. The themes they chose were - 

• Happy memories

• Acting

• Welcome

• Sustainability

• Limitless

• Hwyl

• Amryliw

• Interesting people

• Drama

• Innovative

• Partnership

From their chosen words/themes, they had to make the words into an image or motif to be stenciled/screen-printed onto a large shared piece of paper on the wall. It was really interesting to see how they all interpreted their words differently. The aim was to mock commission the group so they understood how an artist might tackle a brief. 

Their interpretations were:

• Happy memories - thought bubbles

• Acting - a face with different emotions

• Welcome - a hand waving

• Sustainability - a leaf

• Limitless - a hot air balloon

• Hwyl - balloons

• Amryliw - a pinwheel of colours

• Interesting people - silhouettes of people with different hair styles

• Drama - tragedy and comedy masks

• Innovative - a tree branching out

• Partnership - people holding hands

They cut out their designs to create stencils and used paint to decorate the paper with their motifs.

Next they were asked to come up with sentences that were inspiring and made them think of the theatre; the aim was to again get them to be in the shoes of an artist given that brief -  beginning to question the group whether they want to be the artist creating the work, commissioning an artist to create the work or both by working with an artist to create the work they have commissioned. Language is an important part of the public art programme at Theatr Clwyd: the spoken and written word, English and Welsh. It was a challenge for some of them to begin with.

Some struggled for inspiration so looked at song lyrics. Examples of their chosen phrases include:

• “Listen, can you hear them drawing near?”, a line from War of the Worlds but it was thought it could apply to the theatre attracting/drawing people in

• “So what if I’m crazy, the best people are”, a lyric which took inspiration from Alice in Wonderland

• “Bydd Wych”, a song a couple of them knew and brought back happy memories of primary school

• “The glow of creativity shines upon us all like the silvering crescent moon to a dark night sky”

The words were then painted/written on the paper with the stenciled motifs to create a mural.

Once completed, the group was then ready to be challenged to become the commissioner rather than the artist, taking ownership of their own space. Ibukun described the room that needed artwork but left the brief vague enough for them to get creative. They were not given any budget so the sky was the limit. They were asked: what type of art would you like? Would you like to make it or have someone else make it for you? Or both? Would it be tactile, sculptural, textile? Etc.

The group was quick to decide it would like to make something with the guidance of an artist but would like to create a couple of commissions too. 

Here are some of the ideas the group discussed:

Idea	Commission or Group Made	Material
Bright, colourful textiled furniture	Commission	Reused, recycled, repurposed or upcycled. Possibility of patchwork with collected scrap material from the community
Wall mural which is abstract and colourful possibly contrasting bright with natural	Group with an artist	Paint on wall but open to material ideas
Ceiling mural of solar system which could drip down the walls	Either	Paint, glow in the dark and possibly UV paint
Wall mural natural to surreal landscapes	Either	Paint or reused found materials
Textile tree to hang their own artwork off in the space - tree permanent but the artwork can change	Artist Commission	Textile but with some form of structure for the artist to decide
Tactile wall	Artist Commission	Possibly found objects like pool noodles
Comic Strip wall that can be altered like a storyboard	Both	Whiteboards? Editable surface etc
Furniture that is functional but also art - storage, bins etc	Both	Possibly purpose designed but could be out of found furniture
Wooden plank wall	Commission	Repurposed off cuts or crates
Moveable shape wall that is tactile and encourages play	Commission	Sustainably designed
Flooring to be a mural	Both	Carpet tiles as pixel art where the image can be changed if they want to
Sensory safe zone	Commission	Calming materials and objects/lighting
Plants	Either	Actual plants that wouldn’t need too much maintenance

They wanted the room to be fully accessible for everyone and all abilities. All materials used to be eco-friendly, recyclable or restored/repurposed items. The textile furniture was discussed at length with the idea to collect scrap materials from the community to create the pieces; the young people liked the idea that everyone could be involved. They would like interactive things in there, if possible, such as tactile art, interactive art/creative games on the walls. One idea was for a share zone with a library which could possibly be hidden in the wall. They would like it to be bilingual or any language if possible. To begin with they weren’t concerned about where an artist was coming from to help create the artwork; they wanted the best for the job. As they discussed different ideas and themes, they agreed local artists would be better as it is more environmentally friendly as they aren’t travelling as far and it would be another way to involve the community. 

All participants agreed to carry on with the exploration in another session and continue with their involvement in the Youth Steering Group. 

For the next session we will need to provide more visuals for the group: what the room will actually look like so they can imagine the space for themselves. Give them examples of artworks in other buildings so they have more inspiration for what can be achieved in the space they have.

It is a great starting point and one we can report back to the Public Art Steering Group when we next meet.