£5,000 boost for young artists in Waltham Forest

TreeTops · Site Admin Joined: 03 May 2007 Posts: 2

Waltham Forest’s drive to inspire young people through art has received another £5,000 boost from the Jack Petchey Foundation.

It is the second year the Foundation has contributed towards the cost of art workshops in schools across the borough as part of the Fellowship Art Challenge, Waltham Forest’s young people’s art project.

The artwork produced by students during the workshops will be displayed at the Fellowship Art Challenge Exhibition for Young People at the Waltham Forest Theatre from the 4th –15th July 2007.

This year's exhibition theme is "Global Patterns".

Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Cllr Chris Robbins, said the funding for the workshops was invaluable in providing young people with an opportunity to showcase their ideas about the world to the wider community.

“The grant from the Jack Petchey Foundation means students from all over Waltham Forest can take part in art workshops that help encourage creativity and inspire our young people to play active roles in the community, particularly in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympics,” Chris Robbins said.

Chris added that if previous years were any indication the 2007 exhibition would once again reveal a wealth of artistic talent in the borough.

“The artwork produced by Waltham Forest’s young people for the exhibitions of the past two years has been outstanding. We look forward to another successful and insightful exploration of this year’s theme.”

The Fellowship Art Challenge project was established in 2005 following the successful “Imagine 2012” art exhibition in which young people were asked to imagine what they thought the world would be like in the year of the London Olympics — 2012.

Sue Brown, Waltham Forest Council Arts Development Officer, and art students from Highams Park School, one of the many local schools involved in Fellowship Art Challenge, accepted the £5,000 cheque from the Jack Petchey Foundation during an art workshop on Monday 30 April.

For more info: http://www1.walthamforest.gov.uk/press/detailspage.aspx?id=3121