This Friday Night at the Collie PCYC is going to be a massive celebration of music arts and Noongar culture thanks to a collaborative community approach to youth engagement led by the Collie Art Gallery in partnership with Collie PCYC and Ngalang Boodja.
The Emergence project has been a 12-month series of workshops funded by nib foundation, that has been providing safe spaces for young participants to express themselves in positive ways by learning new skills and new ways of being.
The series of workshops run at the Collie Gallery, Collie Senior High School and the Collie PCYC have included African drumming, art therapy, street art, digital media and mixed media art.
"Friday night is an opportunity to show off the highlights of the journey so far and to instill even more pride, confidence and connection in the young people we have been working with.
“I am thrilled that we have two very high profile and celebrated artists living in the region attending the night, and that they have made space in their very busy schedule to invest into Collie youth by providing them with the opportunity to create collaborative artworks and mentoring" says Joshua Thomason, the project coordinator.
Noongar Artist Sandra Hill from Balingup is very excited to be attending and looking forward to the opportunity to pass on her culture and art making skills to young people of Collie. It is a place dear to her heart as she grew up in Collie and still has family connections here too.
Lori Pensini from Boyup Brook is also a highly awarded artist with indigenous heritage and will be bringing her unique mix of art skills to share in creating a collaborative artworks.
The Youth arts festival opens at 4pm with the Noongar dancers and didgeridoo players travelling from Narrogin before concluding at 8pm with a short film that shares the Emergence story.
The following day Collie Art Gallery will host a street art workshop with prolific street style artists Jordan Rush & Nathan Moody.
The youth focused sessions are open to the wider community with entry by gold coin donation.
