Art Competition & Exhibition hosted by Foróige and Mahon Point Shopping Centre

An art competition has been running since the beginning of October hosted by the Foróige May Project and the Mahon Point Shopping Centre, Cork. 17 winners received their prizes and a certificate, surrounded by their families and friends on November 19^th.

The competition was open to young people all over Mahon, aged between 4 and 18 years of age, in four age categories (4-7, 8-11, 12-15, 16-18). Entrants came from local schools, youth/community projects and individual entries and were exhibited in the shopping centre.

Evelyn Richardson, Youth Justice Worker with Foróige said “It’s been a fantastic opportunity for the young people to show off their talents and creativity to the thousands of shoppers and staff in the centre over a number of weeks.

“The initiative was inspired by the MAY Project as a way of highlighting the positive contributions that young people can make to their community and, in particular, to the local shopping centre. The theme (our community: what it means to you) was hugely positive and gave young people the opportunity to really think about their community and to express their feelings about it.

“This initiative was hugely successful in the sense that it gave local young people a huge sense of pride in their abilities and talents, as well as an opportunity to expand on their art skills. It also gave an opportunity for young people to express how they see their community and the resulting art pieces were highly impactful and meaningful to the thousands of shoppers who saw them during the exhibition”.

“Young people frequently seek space in shopping centres and we found this a wonderful way of giving young people that space in a very positive way. We are very grateful to Mahon Point for their partnership in this, for exhibiting the art pieces and for contributing the prizes”.

“The MAY project would like to thank the young people of Mahon for their efforts and for brightening up the place with their fantastic art”.

“We are hugely grateful for all the support received during this process. In particular we would like to thank An Garda Síochána, Spark Deeley (artist), Mary Hogan (Meelagh Community Centre), Denise Cahalane (Mahon Youth Development Project), Ger Sutton (Cork City Council Community Warden) and the Holy Cross and Gael Scoil schools, for all the support they gave to the young people in creating their art pieces”.

The May Project is a Foróige run Garda Youth Diversion Project based in Mahon, Co. Cork, funded by the Irish Youth Justice Service (IYJS) and the European Social Funds (ESF).