AMHERST – Young people from across Canada are taking part in National Youth Arts Week, and youth in Amherst are no exception.
“We have about 15 youth here and they are doing graffiti on small canvasses that are going to be hung up in the town hall gallery,” said Jenn Borne, youth co-ordinator for the Amherst Youth Town Council. “And they’re also doing graffiti on plywood, which is going in the windows at the old Bank of Montreal building (also known as the old police station on the corner of LaPlanche and Victoria Street) downtown.”
The youth council, along with those from Schools Plus and Maggie’s Place were creating their works of graffiti art earlier this week inside the former Angus Building.
“It’s a youthful way of representing arts and using graffiti as a positive form of expression,” said Borne.
The group registered the event online with National Youth Arts Week. A quick look at the registration map shows that the Maritimes is highly represented in the event compared to the rest of Canada.
Borne said the youth are working together to try to bring awareness to people that it’s National Youth Arts Week in Canada.
The week runs through Monday, and the Amherst group has other events tentatively scheduled for the rest if the week, including a flash mob.
Sarah MacIntosh, youth program co-ordinator at Maggie’s Place, encourages people who see youth performing artistic tasks this weekend to go up to them and talk to them about how they are expressing themselves.
dmathieson@amherstdaily.com
