An installation inspiring school communities with the words of children
New artworks for 2024 open now
The words of children take over their school!
For the fourth year, Zest ran workshops with 130 children at three primary schools in Darlington. Our aim? To create space for children to reflect on their experience of the last few years and release the voice of a generation. Zest's Creatives facilitated workshops alongside young people from Future Proof who live in Tees Valley.
Zest made space for Year 6 pupils at Corporation Road Community Primary School, Firthmoor Primary School, and Northwood Primary School to reflect on their experiences and talk about anything and everything—from daily life to the universe's big questions.
Their words have been transformed into vibrant artwork on banners and posters inside and outside their school!
Refresh Darlington places children's voices at the heart of their community, bringing colour and conversation to the place they call home!
#RefreshDarlo
Locations
60 quotes from Year 6 pupils across Darlington are unleashed to inspire their schools!
School corridors are filled with thought-provoking ideas to empower pupils of all ages.
Whilst outside, artworks on fences and railings bring messages of unity, hope, and inspiration to their local community.
2024 Gallery
2024 Credits
Creative & Production
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR / LEAD FACILITATOR
Toby Ealden
DESIGN
Fabric.
PRODUCER
Adam Pownall
PARTICIPATION COORDINATOR
Adam Perkins
PHOTOGRAPHER
Dave Charnley
Research & Development
SUPPORTING FACILITATOR & ARCHIVIST
Dan Morgan
WORKSHOP FACILITATOR
Sophia Bowe
Participating Schools
Corporation Road Community Primary School
Firthmoor Primary School
Northwood Primary School
With thanks to
Kate James for Darlington Borough Council
Environmental Responsibility
Young people are incredibly concerned about the environment and urgently want the world to prioritise this issue. However, touring, theatre, and public art can be extremely wasteful and have a negative impact on the planet. Zest is therefore working to reduce our work's environmental impact. We want to keep learning and adapting our practice and processes - we’ll therefore be updating the sections below to be transparent about our choices, share our learning, and be accountable for the elements that negatively impact the environment.
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All posters are recyclable.
We now use a more environmentally-friendly banner product! EnviroBanner looks exactly like PVC and has the same strength, but it is completely free of both PVC and phthalate. It also uses less water to make the banners. If all PVC banners sold each year were replaced by EnviroBanner, it would save enough water to fill 1,750 Olympic-sized swimming pools! Emissions from the fabrication and transportation of EnvrionBanner are over 100 times less than those created by PVC banners! Compared to non-eco-friendly alternatives, EnviroBanner can be incinerated safely without any harmful effects on the environment or personal health. -
We’ve made this an area of improvement for a few years but are unable to find a suitable alternative.
We are using BlueTac and various tapes to install Refresh posters, both of which are not environmentally friendly. We are looking for more eco-friendly alternatives, easy to remove and can remain unseen once the artwork is installed.
We also use strong cable ties to secure our banners to the school fences. Again, cable ties are not environmentally friendly. Our Refresh banners are large and will stay up for the remainder of the academic year. Whilst biodegradable cable ties exist, there isn’t currently a suitable product to ensure the artworks can safely remain in place in all weather over the coming months without deteriorating in the rain.
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Zest tracks the emissions created from our mileage and hotel stays and then offsets this through the wild flowering of protected meadows.
