Students Promote Community Cohesion With New Art Installation At Newport Bus Station

A new ‘Flower of Life’ artwork at Newport Bus Station has been co-created by students at the Island Learning Centre, artist Nathan Holt, and various Island organisations and prominent local people.

It aims to promote understanding between generations and better community cohesion.

The stunning work is part of Artswork’s Young Cultural Changemakers programme on the Isle of Wight, which empowers young people to make a positive difference to their communities through creativity and is one of several funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner with the aim of strengthening communities and reducing crime.

The flower is made up of 90 individual MDF petals, each decorated by a different person in the community.

As well as creating their own petals, the students led sessions with younger children at Hunnyhill Primary School and older people from Northbrooke House and Independent Arts.

Others who contributed to the piece included staff and governors at the Island Learning Centre; staff at Southern Vectis where the work is sited; Veteran Outreach Support; Active Living; IW Council’s director of children, young people and families Ashley Whittaker; and Richard Quigley MP.

The work is the result of a 12 week project where the students worked with Nathan Holt exploring themes around empathy and how we treat others, particularly across the generations.

Juliet Lainson, art and design lead at the Island Learning Centre, explained why it’s important that students get the opportunity to work with professional artists:

“Having creative practitioners lead workshops helps to break down some of the barriers between young people and their perception of adults, helping to increase student confidence and provide different experiences beyond the curriculum.

"Being a positive male role model, Nathan was instrumental to student engagement, particularly among some of the boys.”

An important aspect of the Young Cultural Changemakers programme is promoting youth leadership.

Lainson said the students really excelled in taking ownership of the project and adapting to different generations, settings and needs.

She said:

“Students identified particular groups they would like to work with and we were able to implement this through the opportunities this project provided.

"This offered real life experience, widened conversations and generated understanding which has created lasting consideration for the people the students have met.”

Artist Nathan Holt added:

“The students embraced every challenge and excelled in their creativity.

"The final outcome is even more impressive than I had envisioned, representing a true multigenerational collaboration that I hope will be enjoyed by the whole community and spreads a message of togetherness far and wide.”

Artswork’s Young Cultural Changemaker programme is funded by the UK Government through Arts Council England.