Street art comes to Exmouth
The writing was on the wall for Exmouth’s mayor at the opening of a new graffiti wall at Phear Park
On Saturday 26 September, 75 enthusiastic young people picked up cans of spray paint to help local artist Ryan Stuart create a vibrant example of street art on a new graffiti wall at Phear Park in Exmouth as part of a joint East Devon District Council and Exmouth Town Council community initiative.
The event, which also featured a mini skateboard competition run by Hurtle skateboards and a circus skills session, was organized by East Devon District Council’s Housing SWITCH team in partnership with Exmouth Town Council.
The Mayor of Exmouth, East Devon District Councillor Maddy Chapman, who officially opened the new wall once the painting was completed, also joined in the fun and was seen to wield a spray can with admirable zeal. Councillor Pat Graham (East Devon District Council ward member for Exmouth Town), Councillor Pauline Stott (East Devon ward member for Exmouth Halsdon and Chairman of the Housing Review Board) and Exmouth Town Councillor Tim Dumper were also on hand for the opening.
Around 200 people attended the opening, which was the conclusion of a project involving young people from Exmouth Community College who were asked to identify a project for Exmouth with the objective of helping reduce anti-social behavior in the town.
Councillor Maddy Chapman said: “This is the culmination of a long-term project, which was initiated and funded by Exmouth Town Council, working closely with East Devon District Council’s Streetscene service, which helped us find a suitable site for the wall. It is an outstanding example of community engagement, which has been acknowledged by the Community Safety partnership as a positive way of reducing anti-social behavior. All the youngsters really seemed to be enjoying the event.”
Councillor Jill Elson, Portfolio holder for sustainable homes and communities at East Devon District Council and Chairman of Exmouth Community College Governors,said: “This is a good example of how collaborative partnerships can work extremely well. East Devon and Exmouth Town Council commissioned Ryan Stuart to come up with a design for the graffiti wall and our SWITCH team has worked really hard with ETC to organise this event, which was clearly a tremendous success. I know that Exmouth Community College was very pleased to take part in this project. This is a win-win result all round, with the local community – particularly young people – engaged and on board with this project, which will ultimately be a tremendous benefit by helping channel the energy of younger residents in a positive way.”
