A Summer of Street Art at Victoria Park

The Victoria Park and Watercress Fields Project has received a grant of £8,000 from Kent County Council’s Reconnect Fund, to provide a programme of Summer Street Art workshops in the park.

Reconnect is a KCC led, community based programme designed to get Kent’s children and young people thriving following the pandemic. Clubs, businesses and organisations have come together to create engaging opportunities for children and young people. Together they can have fun, catch up on missed learning, engage in sports and activities, trips and experiences, receive mental health support, regain their confidence and gain access to career development opportunities.

The Victoria Park Street Art in the Park Programme is aimed at young people aged 13-18 and will support them in making up for learning they may have missed over the pandemic in art, design, teamwork and communication. Workshops as part of the programme will be suitable for young people who may face barriers to engaging in a traditional academic setting.

The workshops will be delivered by local professional artists Hello Murals and will cover the complete stages of working as a street artist/mural artist, including running your own business, planning and designing street art, qualifications to consider, and the wider scale opportunities of what street art can cover.

Hello Murals previously designed and installed the large ‘We ❤️ Victoria Park’ mural on the nursery and toilet building in the park.

The programme aims to discourage vandalism by promoting legal forms of street art and design and will provide information on how young people can find local free graffiti walls, how to approach businesses and local authorities for permission to use spaces for street art, as well as what low-cost materials they can use at home to create street art.

The programme will also add to the growing collection of new artwork in the park being designed by young people and local artists. This includes a large new mural on the Victoria Park Project Hub.

The programme will be delivered in two parts with the first part beginning in June 2022 with the second part following later in the year in August. The first workshop will take place at the Victoria Park Project Hub on Tuesday the 7th of June, with workshops taking place on the following Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays until Early July.

Cllr Matthew Forest, Portfolio Holder for Environment and Land Management (including Sports and Leisure) said: “This is an excellent opportunity for our young residents to take part in a range of creative and exciting workshops. As well as enjoying the benefits of collaborating with artists and peers they will have the chance to attain valuable skills they could carry into their working future.”

Places are limited so any young person who would like to register will need to contact the Youth Involvement Co-ordinator Nicola via email nicola.priest@ashford.gov.uk. Young people under 16 will need to have parent or guardian permission to join the programme.