RESILIENCE… Parkes Shire Drought Officer Roger Kitson and local artist Sean James Cassidy are organising ‘The Art of Resilience’ competition for students aged 6 to 18.
Creativity is known to bring relief in a time of crisis, and art created during hardship often results in masterpieces.
We have been living with this long, slow burning drought for quite some time, and young people in the Parkes Shire now have an opportunity to express their emotions using music, poetry, photography and art.
‘The Art of Resilience’ competition invites students aged 6 to 18 to create works using the theme resilience in the face of drought, and also the bushfires and COVID-19’.
“Emotions and feelings cannot be shared just through speech. The arts are an important part of a society’s language. Art is an important part of a community’s conversation,” said local artist and organiser of the competition Sean James Cassidy.
Sean is collaborating with Parkes Shire Drought Officer Roger Kitson, who has been working with farming families for the last 18 months across the Parkes Shire.
“Creative arts can be used as a means of self-expression, mental health, healing and unity, as well as equip us with resilience and provide hope,” is Roger’s observation of this time of crisis.
According to Roger a drought is very different to other natural disasters as it takes place over such a long period of time. “This means people are affected in so many different ways. I am really interested to see what the youth are going to come up with in this competition.”
Sean said that was why they were not too specific in what the art should be about. “There are so many different emotions and issues that resulted from the drought, and the youth have such a different perspective on things.”
Roger said when he first moved to Parkes he was amazed by the amount of local talent. “This competition will provide an opportunity to showcase the creative capacity that exists within our region’s young people. I can’t wait to see the collaborations that might come out of this.”
The competition categories include photography, song writing, poetry, drawing and painting. Entry forms can be found on the Art of Resilience Facebook group or downloaded from Council’s website at www.parkes.nsw.gov.au.
Submissions close Friday, 31st July, and the winners will be announced on Friday, 14th August. Winners will be selected from Parkes, Peak Hill, Trundle and Tullamore, and will be showcased as part of The Art of Resilience exhibition to take place on Friday, 16th October (subject to the latest COVID-19 restrictions and advice).
Winners of the song writing and poetry categories will have their work professionally produced into a collaborative CD, while winners of the painting/drawing and photography categories will have their work professionally published in a digital style format.