Culture for All artwork inspires Young People in the North West

Wednesday 12th February 2014 at 9am 0 Comments Community Arts

Image: Mabhorgne Glennon (11) and Jade Johnson (13) are working with artist Sean O’Donnell on the Cornshells Historical Culture Wall project, which will represent 28 iconic figures from Co Derry/Londonderry and will be unveiled at a special event next month

Off the Street Community Youth Initiative in Derry/Londonderry is one of 33 groups across Northern Ireland awarded grants totalling £256,567 from the Big Lottery Fund and Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Culture for All programme. It is the culmination of a fantastic year for the small grants programme, which offered grants of up to £10,000 to communities across Northern Ireland wanting to play a part in the UK City of Culture celebrations. Projects across Northern Ireland have benefitted from money worth a total of £1.6 million since the first awards were made in November 2012.

Off the Street Community Youth Initiative in partnership with Cornshell Community Network, received an £8,235 grant to run the Cornshells Historical Culture Wall project.  The project aims to showcase Co Derry/Londonderry’s history through a wall-mounted artwork in the Cornshell Fields housing estate. 

Artist Sean O’Donnell is working with 30 young people and a number of adult volunteers to create 28 storyboards of iconic figures who were born in Derry or have strong links to the county.

One board will represent the UK City of Culture, with the final board featuring the names of those taking part in the project. The boards will then be mounted on a wall in the estate using a steel frame.

The figures come from the worlds of the arts, literature, sport, music, and science. They were chosen by the young people and residents and include poet Seamus Heaney, Turner Prize nominated artist Willie Doherty, boxer John Duddy, the Undertones, singer Nadine Coyle and Amelia Earhart, who touched down in a field in the area after flying across the Atlantic in 1932, the first woman to do so solo.

Project manager Catherine O’Donnell from Off the Street Community Youth Initiative said: “Cornshells is a large housing estate with absolutely no provisions – it has a shop and above that is a little community hall. There are no youth provisions – it’s out on its own. This is a reimaging and promotion of Cornshells. We want to make it a tourist attraction. These are iconic figures from the county.”

She said the young people are throwing themselves into the project.  “They’re really excited. We couldn’t take all the kids that wanted to take part. Just that sense of personal achievement that some of these kids are going to get out of it is going to be mean so much. They’re not all high achievers at school, and some of them come from difficult backgrounds so this is something for them to take pride in and say, I did that.”

She said she hopes the figures that are represented in the artwork, which will include a backdrop representing the first UK City of Culture, will serve as an example to young people in the area.

“We chose the figures deliberately to inspire them in different fields of work. So not only could you be a footballer, you could be a scientist, you could be a writer – look at what these people who have come from this area have done.” 

The artwork will be launched at a special event next month.

Joanne McDowell, Big Lottery Fund NI Director, said: “The Big Lottery Fund and Arts Council of Northern Ireland are delighted to announce these grants. Culture for All was a great success and gave communities across Northern Ireland the chance to be a part of one of the world’s most significant cultural events in 2013. 
“We are delighted with the range of arts and culture projects from across Northern Ireland that we have been able to support which link to the City of Culture celebrations and benefit their local community.”

To watch the Culture for All film, which showcases some of the many brilliant projects funded under the programme click here.

The Culture for All programme closed to applications on 30 August 2013.

Details of additional Culture for All awards are available to download here