The Queensland Family & Child Commission supported CREATE to deliver four art competitions and showcase events across Queensland. Over 12-months, this series encouraged children and young people with a care experience to express their emotions, ideas and experiences through art.
Young people voted on the theme for each competition and were invited to submit artworks relating to: Life in care: My story, What does safety mean to you?, Hopes and dreams, and Connection with family.
We received paintings, recordings of piano pieces, clay sculptures, drawings, collages and so much more. The abundance of creativity among our youngest QLDers blew us away!
Hosting art competitions and art showcases for children and young people with a care experience across Logan, Cairns, the Gold Coast and Brisbane has been a privilege that has felt like a great celebration. One that has honoured the creativity of kids and helped young people to speak up and have a voice through art.
We thank each and every young person for sharing their art with us as part of the CREATE x QFCC Art Competitions and we hope that you enjoyed the art showcase events in your city as much as we did.
Highlights
Youngest artist
1-year-old
Prize pool
+$3,000 awarded to QLD children and young people
Total entries received
206
Looking back at each Competition and Showcase
Theme: Connection with family
Brisbane Showcase
The Brisbane Art Showcase was held at Visible Ink Youth Hub being a fun and relaxed atmosphere for young people and their friends. Local artists got to admire their artworks in a dedicated viewing room before casting their votes for People’s Choice!
They also got creative in Visible Ink’s art room which was full of all the supplies a young artist could dream of. We topped off a fantastic afternoon by announcing the People’s Choice winners and a crowd-favourite — pizza for all.
Congratulations to our People’s Choice Winners
Event gallery
Theme: Hopes and dreams
Gold Coast Showcase
Our Gold Coast Showcase event transformed Southport Community Centre into an Art Exhibition with framed works. We also got our hands dirty working with clay which was a new art modality for some of our young people.
The Queensland Family & Child Commission’s Principal Commissioner, Luke Twyford attended the Showcase and presented the People’s Choice winners with trophies and words of congratulations.
We finished the day by hosting CREATE’s signature Speak Up training, which teaches young people advocacy, leadership and public speaking skills.
Congratulations to our People’s Choice Winners
Event gallery
Theme: What does safety mean to you?
Cairns Showcase
We held our Art Showcase in Cairns during Youth Week, running a free workshop with Karen Reys exploring new artistic techniques.
Queensland Family & Child Commission’s Principal Commissioner, Luke Twyford attended the event, awarding People’s Choice winners with their trophies and pondering: Is it really Youth Week if there isn’t pizza and a paper plane competition?
Everyone had a blast and admired the local talent that had come out of this round of the competition. When Cairns young people heard about the Art Showcase event coming to their city, they got busy creating powerful artworks on the theme, What does safety mean to you?
Congratulations to our People’s Choice Winners
Event gallery
On a hot sunny morning I was laying in bed and just woke up and I remembered it. My dream was walking through the rainforest in Kuranda where I’m from and I was inspired to bring the snake to life in my artwork and remind me of my roots and where I’m from.
Too many people tell me I need to be ok or they try “fix” me straight away. Sometimes it’s best to not be ok.
Theme: Life in care: My story
Logan Showcase
120 people came to our final Art Showcase in Logan, Queensland — our biggest Showcase event yet. We had t-shirt printing, karaoke, games, free haircuts, a live DJ and more at our amazing venue at Wilbur St Youth Centre.
People of all ages came along and voted on the artworks sent in by children and young people from all across Queensland.
Hosting our final Showcase event was bittersweet. It’s been an incredible 12-months of seeing what young QLDers have to say through their art. The impact of that has been immense on our team and we hope to create more opportunities for creative expression in the future.
Check out what some of the young people had to say about the Logan Showcase event:
Congratulations to our People’s Choice Winners
10/10 experience need more like that.
I really do think my son had new found confidence after seeing his artwork displayed and then going up on stage and everyone clapping for him and he got a trophy! That trophy is his favourite thing, he won’t let me have it in my room he wants it displayed in his room and up high so no one else can touch it. I never got anything like that as a kid growing up. I was always the failure in school etc cos I was so troubled so it meant a lot for me to have that opportunity now and even see my son have that opportunity as well because that sort of experience really does boost your self esteem.
The event was amazing. Not much feedback.
I liked that there was so many activities to do, I wasn't left bored and I noticed I was bonding with people especially during volleyball where we worked as a team to defeat the opposing team. I also really enjoyed how fun and chill the event was.
It was so much fun! Definitely would recommend that place again, cause it was so spacious and the vibes were immaculate.
Event gallery
This painting shows me and my sister holding hands under a rainbow, each carrying a heart shaped balloon. The balloons represent the love we carry for each other, even though we are apart. The rainbow stands for safety, hope, and new beginnings. The black glitter silhouettes show that even in hard times, our bond shines brightly. No matter where life takes us, our hearts will always be connected.
Thank you to the Queensland Family & Child Commission for making the QLD Art Competitions and Showcase events possible.
