THE START OF SOMETHING?

(more images below the text)

On the 7th and 8th November Lozells Methodist Community Centre held a community arts and crafts show, and 100 people visited over the 2 days. Resident artist Eddy Aigbe (http://eddyaigbe.com/) had been working for weeks contacting groups, individuals and schools to find material (both Mayfield and Selly Oak Schools starred on the day), as well as planning how to display work from the Centre’s own children’s art activity. The results can be seen in the slide show below. One detail jumps out from the comments made about the event: the description of one child’s uncontainable joy at seeing their work displayed in this way. Professional art is usually displayed in galleries, amateur art in community halls, and children’s art in schools. This exhibition combined all three, and there may be some lessons coming from it about how to motivate children and young people to take part in creative activity – and how to sustain that motivation. Staff from The Lighthouse Young People’s Centre who attended seemed to think so, and were enthused enough to now plan an event of their own.