Member Article

North East College Students Get Creative for Charity

Creative students from Newcastle College have been putting their artistic flair to good use, creating artwork for national and local charities.

The NSPCC and the Road to Recovery Trust have both taken advantage of student talent through Newcastle College’s Creative Agency, commissioning large murals for their Newcastle premises.

The Creative Agency has been running for almost 2 years and was set up to offer students opportunities to gain work experience by undertaking real-life industry briefs. So far, around 160 students have benefitted from working on projects including briefs from Beamish Museum and Barley Mow Primary School, as well as the design of Newcastle College University Centre’s HE Hub.

A team of over 70 Art and Design students collaborated on a large scale design for the NSPCC, using various textures and bright colours to create a calming and positive environment in its reception area, with the aim of encouraging youngsters to open up about their feelings and experiences.

Cathy Galvin-Wilson, Children’s Services Practitioner at The NSPCC’s Newcastle Service Centre said: “Our reception area is the first thing children and families see when they come to access our services, so it needs to be a welcoming and relaxing space while people wait for appointments.

“We have a nice building but the space was bare, so we contacted Newcastle College to see if they could help. We were hoping that the design department, the college’s young people and children who come to NSPCC, could come up with some great ideas to cheer up the space.

“They didn’t disappoint. The area is now bright, with interactive art works that appeal to all ages. We’ve had feedback from young people who have said they like the design, the use of colour and enjoy making their own mark on it with the chalks and playing with the noughts and crosses game.”

The latest commission, by the Road to Recovery Trust, has seen a giant mural installed at George Street Social, a charity café in the city centre which helps to provide a safe, alcohol free social space for people recovering from addictions.

The artwork, displayed in the entrance and on the staircase of the café, features colourful images of nature and the twelve steps of recovery, an important part of the work undertaken by the charity. It was put together by Amy Cooper, currently studying for her degree in Visual Communications.

Speaking about the project, Amy said: “The main thing the café wanted incorporated in the mural is the twelve steps of recovery and the arch symbol within that. I’ve used vines to represent that arch and then kept with the nature theme and flowers to show regrowth and regeneration; something fresh to represent a fresh start for the people who come here for that.

“I’ve really enjoyed working on the design and seeing it through to installation, it’s all been a new experience done through the Creative Agency and it’s been such a great experience.”

Mal Maclean, manager of George Street Social Café added: “We have a close relationship with Newcastle College through customers and work we have done in the past. The idea came to commission something that would brighten up the place and represent abstinence based treatment and recovery.

“We are absolutely delighted with the finished article, it’s much more colourful and descriptive than we could have imagined. It’s wonderful to see the effort Amy has put in, how much she’s thought about the brief and how well it represents what we’re trying to do here.”

Resource Co-ordinator, Ged Cook says: “The agency is still a fairly new initiative within the College but it has already impacted a large number of students and given them some fantastic opportunities.

“We are not only providing students with valuable industry experience, we are also able to contribute to charities and community groups across the region which is fantastic. The NSPCC and George Street Social briefs have both seen real collaborative effort from students and its work they’ve really enjoyed. It’s fantastic to see it has made such a difference and I hope we can do more to support good causes going forward.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Charlotte Horsfield .