Red Parklet

Leaps and Bounds Trust is a charity that works with young people based in Halesowen, West Midlands, UK. Between May 2022 and Feb 2024, we ran a street art project in Halesowen for young people called Blank Wall. The concept of the project was to use the arts to interact with young people based in Halesowen, through the medium of street art. Using heritage, environment, people & culture as the inspiration, the participants have through a series of workshops created designs, artwork, and images on various topics. Initially, young people from the local high school were engaged to create a project logo and workshops took place weekly from an empty shop within the town centre, located by the bus terminal. From the workshops, the young people along with professional artists were inspired to create their own and joint designs. They then identified areas of the town to install these artworks. This resulted in a series of artworks being created and inspired by the young people and then installed in various locations around the town including subways and along several planters on the high street. Various art pieces are now on display within the shop showcasing the work undertaken. Other areas that have also been completed including by the bus terminal and on other shop walls throughout the shopping centre. Along the high street are three parklets, Halesowen in host t Halesowen Bloom who are annual winners of the In Bloom competition. Using flowers and wildlife as the inspiration, the young people created designs and stencils to be used on the parklets, three main colour themes were chosen, blue, green and red.