Chelmsford’s leading street art event, Concrete Canvas, returns in May 2024 for its third year. Once again, blank canvases across the city centre will be transformed into beautiful pieces of art that not only enhance but also bring a new lease of life to urban areas.

GET INVOLVED WITH CONCRETE CANVAS CLASSROOM

We are pleased to launch this year’s Concrete Canvas with a brand new special competition for children and young people in Chelmsford in collaboration with Spark!

The competition will give children and young people the chance to play the role of street artists and take part in the local annual cultural event.

We are delighted to announce that artist Brave Arts will be joining us to select 2 winning entries, which will be painted on an Openreach cabinet in the city centre.

The deadline for submissions is midday on the 14th of May. If you are interested in getting involved, please read the information and instructions below.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

Before starting, we would like to ask teachers/parents/carers/youth workers to read the following information to enable young people to respond to the theme(s) in a meaningful way.

We would like all artworks to be inspired by Chelmsford, within one or more of the categories below:

Supporting Young People

We would like young people to develop a design that is personal and tells a story, linking to one or more of the themes above. The competition is designed to be flexible and inclusive to enable any child or young person to participate between the age of 5 and 19 years.

We are particularly excited to see teachers embed this either as part of the curriculum (art, craft and design/history/citizenship) or as part of independent/extracurricular learning.

It is helpful if young people have the chance to:

• Look at art in public spaces and think about the impact and purpose.

• Think about the themes and what they’d like to develop.

• Engage in a design process that allows dialogue and refinement.

• Reflect on and discuss their work with others.

• Use drawing and painting media to explore colour, pattern, texture, tone, and composition.

• Collaborate if needed. Submissions can be made in small groups (1-4)

You are invited to download the template available here or provide your own.

Selection Process

Entries will be judged by the amazing artist Brave Arts. We are pleased to say there will be 2 winners that will paint on either side of the Openreach cabinet.  The categories are 5-11 years old and 11 – 19 years old.

You must be available to bring the young people to Chelmsford city centre during the week of 20 – 24 May (exact days to be confirmed with teachers/parents/carers). We will share more information on this in due course.

Key considerations:

Please ensure all submission are compliant with the following:

- No artwork can be deemed to be linked with politics, racism, nudity, drugs, social unrest, violence or religion.

- No artwork can be deemed to directly advertise any club or group.

Locations and Dates

• The Openreach cabinet for this competition is located near Barclays Bank on the High Street

• Winners will be announced during the Concrete Canvas week 11 – 17 May 2024.

• Winners will be invited to paint the cabinet on the following week. This will be arranged with the teachers/carers and the artist, but we aim to conduct this during the week of the 20 – 24 May. On the booking form, you can pick a suitable date (in advance) if your student/child is selected.

• We will ask that if your student/child is selected, you can bring 3 additional students/young people to support with painting. More details will be shared in due course.

• If you have any further questions, please get in touch HERE