NSW Youth Week's Success in Federation Region

Published on 30 April 2024

Federation Council’s NSW Youth Week activities have come to a close with a program of exciting events taken place. The week-long celebration organised by young people, for young people saw members of Federation Council’s Youth Council working alongside Council’s Events Team plan and execute various activities.

The Federation Youth Council hosted their first event at the Oaklands Outdoor Cinema. Around 25 young people braved the cold night to watch “Instant Family” on the big screen at the Oaklands Football Oval.

“It was a great first event for the Youth Council,” said Federation Youth Council Facilitator, Amber Harvey.  “The Youth Council members gained many skills from organising and hosting this event including stakeholder engagement, event planning, project management, marketing and communication skills. Most importantly they worked as a team and all pitched in and helped set up and pack down at the end of the night. I was really proud of them.”

The Youth Council would like to thank the Oaklands community for attending and the Oaklands Recreation Ground Committee for their support in the lead up.

The Trick Out Your Tumbler Workshops held in Rand and in Mulwala allowed for unlimited creativity as participants eagerly sifted through over 2,000 stickers to create unique collaged surfaces on drink tumblers, phone cases and helmets with the ‘sticker-bomb’ technique. Participants also enjoyed a delicious complimentary lunch of sandwiches, cakes and wraps.

The Street Art Workshop held in Corowa was facilitated by the team at Upper Murray Quirky Events. The day was a riot of energy and experimental aerosol techniques. Participants walked away with unique street art inspired artworks and finished the day off with a sausage sizzle lunch.  Participants also had lots of fun with the new experience of pricing their work for sale. The workshop produced 29 artworks, many of which can be viewed as part of the Express! Youth Exhibition.

Aspiring artists aged 24 and under were invited to submit new or favourite artworks into the Express! Youth Exhibition, resulting in over 30 works on display at the Corowa Art Space. The vibrant collection of work spans the mediums of aerosol and street art, digital art, 3D works, oils and sculpture.

The Federation Youth Event Assistant Program was a career development opportunity formed in partnership with Murray Arts. Participants of the program Maddison Andrews, Imogen Lake, Charlie Whitechurch, Meg Rogers and Olivia White gained hands on experience with the peak arts body of our region and were on the ground to assist with event support at “LIMELIGHT: Art – Science – Light On Tour Corowa”.

The one-night only extravaganza of animated projections, sculptures, storytelling and interactive art drew in over 900 people to the Bangerang Park precinct and was a great success. Alyce Fisher, Limelight Artistic Director said of the Youth Crew, “The five young people who took part in the Federation Youth Event Assistant Program, were all enthusiastic, team players who were excellent additions to our LIMELIGHT On Tour Corowa crew. They aided to ensure the event ran smoothly and received a fantastic introduction into the realities of behind the scenes of outdoor events.”

Council would like to thank all youth participants, event partners, volunteer committees and the Federation Youth Council for their contributions. We encourage you to remain connected with our various communication platforms to stay informed about more youth activities that will be announced later in the year. 

The Oaklands Outdoor Cinema, Trick Out Your Tumbler Workshops and the Federation Youth Event Assistant Program were supported by the NSW Government through the NSW Youth Week Program.

Image credit:

LIMELIGHT Youth Crew, back row Olivia, Charlie and Imogen, front row Meg and Maddison. ‘Flower Power’ by Art Starts Here. Image courtesy of Murray Arts Inc. Photography by Sue Davis.