Building Our Dream City, Surrey Arts Centre ~ Family Day Sunday March 18th
Thanks to everyone who joined us for a super-fun day of exploring and hands-on creativity for all ages. Along with tons of stuff to do throughout the whole arts centre.
I’m offered a four hour hands-on workshop-activity, Building Our Dream City, where we co-created our Surrey City of the future in a giant collage and creative writing. I was the one in a hardhat (with tiara taped to the top), safety vest, toolbelt (full of crafts supplies), and pink workshirt (no kidding, folks). My adorable assistant/volunteer snipped and glued and ooh’d and aah’d like a pro and we had a ball together. If I’d had a daughter, I’d have wanted her to be Mandy.
We constructed a giant street grid, drawn on brown butcher paper on the 4×8 foot whiteboard and bordered in caution tape and banners of construction tools. Piled up mountains of magazines, rivers of scissors, miles of glue sticks & coloured felt pens.
Mandy & Me & 150 kids explored in creative writing what was important to the kids to have in their city when they grew up, and why. Then the kids cut out magazine pix that reflected their choices and added them to the gigantic collage
By the end of the day the youngsters had shared their hearts and minds in the most fantastic vision-board I have ever seen. From the world’s first Squirrel Hospital to a senior’s home built inside a giant garden to a cultural centre where “everyone can learn about each other.” “The train that runs downtown for free so we don’t have so much pollution,” to the sushi and pizza district to the “cow farm where they make organic ice cream so the kids can have treats and be healthy.”
I spent the whole day either laughing or blinking back tears. I learned that the future is in good hands.
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