Task Force - Youth Hub Moorabbin Mural Program
The Youth Hub in Moorabbin approached Creative Sparks Projects to run a program to engage with the young people taking part in the Reset Life Program (a program designed to support young people going through drug/ alcohol addiction and looking to move on in their life with a solid foundation). The goal to create a mural for the common room that represented the Youth Hub story, while engaging with the participants to contribute to the process.
Working with the Youth Hub Team, the program incorporated a Brain Storm Workshop for the young people to share their experience at the Youth Hub, share their experiences and create a story that represented the Youth Hub values.
The Creative Expression Session. This entailed the young people expressing themselves freely & creatively with spray paints, stencils and paint markers onto blank skateboard canvases (kindly donated from Globe Skateboards). The young people experienced working through their expressions, facing obstacles and making mistakes but carrying on and completing a piece of art they could take home.
The final workshop from the program involved the young people to spend some time contributing to painting the mural. They saw how their ideas and thoughts from the brainstorm workshop were incorporated into the design and how the visual mural artwork represented the story they wanted to share with the community at Task Force Youth Hub.
The program was successful in engaging with the young people and adding value to the Reset Life Program run by Task Force. Amanda, Team Lead Reset Life had the below to say:
“Thank you for the amazing work you have put into this program. We have absolutely loved working with Kyle from start to finish. We have found Kyle to be incredibly responsive to our program needs and supportive of any changes we needed to make along the way.
The brainstorming session was a wonderfully inspiring session, which encouraged everyone to consider the things that mattered to them about the program and how to tell this is a visual story. The way Kyle engaged all the participants in this was an indicator as to how engaging the rest of the sessions would be.
The skateboarding sessions were equally exciting. The participants were able to explore their creative sides with guidance and then take something home with them to keep forever. However, the painting of the mural was definitely the best part of the whole experience. Everyone was a little nervous to start with, unsure of how well they could participate with little or no confidence in their painting abilities. However, by the end of the day everyone was painting with confidence and excitement as we could see the design taking shape.
What used to be a plain, white wall now has depth, warmth and understanding. Thank you so much for everything.”
The storey the young people wanted to share was the Road to Recovery. A common theme that presented itself throughout the brain storming session was the up’s and downs of their recovery journey, the friendships they made, the progression towards their goals as well as the challenges they faced along the way.
They wanted to incorporate details in that represented their achievements including the Lotus flower and its growth from mud & dirt (challenges, hard times & mistakes) to blossom into the beautiful flower (the achievement of conquering addiction).
The Gum Leaves throughout the design represented the community at the Youth Hub - the mentors, leaders, participants and families that created the community - while also paying homage to the Welcome to Country from First Nations Australians.
The story of the Kookaburra that signals the sun to rise each morning with its laugh, the rising of the sun being the start to a new day and new beginning. The Kookaburra is wearing headphones and an old school cassette player to symbolise a method of learning at the Youth Hub called “Play the Tape” whereby young people can play out scenarios in their head to slow down their decision making process & make the decision that yields the best results for them.
The background colours were chosen from the Emotion Wheel to represent the emotions to be aware of along the Road to Recovery.
And finally the road itself is represented with the rocks at the start in indicate hitting rock bottom before starting along the joinery to recovery. The road is often times rocky & challenging with periods of smooth, easy going sections. Twists and turns as recovery isn’t a straight journey in life. And the road finishes up at the Sun rise to indicate the continuing journey through life and the Lotus symbol as the drive to achieve goals.
If you are interested in working with Creative Sparks Projects and bringing a Project to your community, youth group, church or school. Reach out via the Creative Sparks Projects page HERE