Street art celebrating Tadcaster, created with the help of youngsters from the town, has been unveiled.
And it’s simply stunning.
Three artworks now adorn different spaces. They were put together as part of Now Then!, a community art programme led by youth and community centre The Barn and arts charity Arcade.
The first was co-created with pupils from St Joseph’s, Tadcaster East and Riverside primary schools, and can be viewed inside Tadcaster Community Library.
The second was created in response to workshops with the young people at The Barn’s Easter holiday club, and can be viewed inside the main hall space at The Barn.
The biggest of all is a mural that’s just been unveiled on the outside wall of Tadcaster Albion FC.
This one was made in collaboration with The Barn and The Brewers youth group, which brings young people together to explore positive themes around football, identity and community.
Youngsters created their own graffiti-style tags which they’ve added to the mural.
Barcelona street artist Eduard Sacrest, known as Rice, worked with the youngsters on the artworks.
He told YorkMix it has been a “perfect opportunity” to work with the young people and help them express their creative side.
For the football ground mural, “they were designing some of the ideas, and then they were spraying some of the portraits we did there. So from beginning to end, they were inside of the project.”
He said the young people had enjoyed the experience.
“It’s always encouraging for them to just use a spray gun, to be doing graffiti. It’s engaging, and I think it was good for them.
“I hope they could express some of their feelings and the things they like, and I hope they have a bit of a pride in what they did.
“And now it’s up here for a while, in that cluster for them to enjoy, and maybe they will create something else in the future, I hope.”
James, who’s 11, has been involved. “I made a football heart and a peace sign,” he said. When asked if he might be the next Banksy, he said: “Probably.”
Hannah Davies, executive producer at Arcade, said the primary school pupils loved created their mural after talking with Eduard about their favourite books.
“They learned how to stencil. They had a go with the spray cans. And they created three gorgeous murals that are up in the library now,” she said.
At the Easter holiday club in The Barn, the artist worked with the youngsters on T-shirt stencils and then created another mural.
For the football mural, “Eduard worked with The Barn and the Brewers youth group and talked about themes of identity, football and positive masculinity”.
These are only some of the activities created for the Now Then! arts programme being rolled out in Selby, Sherburn and Tadcaster.
“We’ve launched a youth theatre,” Hannah said. “We’ve got a six to 11s youth theatre, and also an 11-plus youth theatre, which are running from The Barn as well. So if anybody’s interested in those, give us a shout.
“One of the other things that the Now Then programme is delivering is the Summer Fields Festival on Sunday 13 July, at Tadcaster sports community grounds aka Magnets.
“That will be arts, a community parade, food and drink, music performances – fun for all the family.”