Summer art programme for Gallatown kids

The Gallatown area in Kirkcaldy will be taking part in a twelve week programme of art activities this summer as part of the CashBack for Communities scheme.

CashBack for Communities is a unique Scottish Government programme which takes money seized from criminals under the proceeds of crime legislation and invests them in schemes that benefit young people in local communities. Since 2008, £110 million has been committed to community initiatives to improve the quality of life of young people across Scotland.

Artwork or installations created by young people will be left in popular places in local communities across Scotland for people to discover. Each item will have a tag attached to it explaining about CashBack funding and encouraging people to share their find on social media using #CashBackCreates. This guerrilla marketing style campaign has been launched today and will continue until the end of July.

Gallatown Bike Hub who are based in the Gallatown area of the town will be taking part in the art programme by teaching young people bike repair skills and graffiti techniques to respray each bike uniquely to protect them from theft.

Shuggy Hughes, who is the director of the Gallatown Bike Hub said: “There has been a rise in bike thefts recently, and by creating these pieces of moving art it makes the bikes less appealing to bike thieves.

“Also, we are teaching youngsters bike repair skills as well as painting skills. Some of the kids that have been part of the programme in the past have gone on to become mechanics with the skills that they have learned at the Bike Hub.”

Young people will have the opportunity to respray bikes using individual bespoke designs, to create one off pieces of moving community art and creating murals to decorate the run down multi-use games area in the Gallatown park and transform it into a story board of hopes and dreams for the future. They will also be involved in creating a film transformation and change process.

The youngsters involved in the scheme will be undertaking guerilla spray painting techniques on bikes - with consent by stealth - to quickly brighten up bikes and protect them against the rash of bike theft in the local area. This will be happening at the Gallatown gala and other community events throughout the summer.