Case Study - Youth Arts

Bankstown Youth Development Service (BYDS)

‘risk it for the biskit’

Tim Carroll is the Arts Officer at BYDS. He has been working there as Arts Officer since 1991. Tim has initiated and run more than fifty CCD projects - mainly working with young people. In collaboration with Birrong Boys High drama teacher Andrew Nicholas, Carroll went on to create ‘risk it for the biskit’

This project has been lauded by many who saw it as something that signified a special moment when artists of excellence could translate the brilliant raw energies of so many young men into something that was wild and beautiful.

Boys from Bankstown doing good things! Can it be turned into news? it should be!….the boys are Lebanese and Islanders and from the right demographic to be newsworthy…. hold on a minute! they are doing art!!!

‘risk it for the biskit’ a spectacular performance by thirty boys from Birrong Boys High after an eight week series of workshops these young men will perform in a bold, funny and beautiful, action packed, blustering and blistering one night only performance where everything is up for grabs.

 

Oral History

Says Carroll, "BYDS has developed a great deal of experience in the area of Oral History over the last decade or so. We have completed and published three books that seek to celebrate and highlight various individuals from the area. These three projects have been fairly unique in so far as we have deliberately targeted people from NESB and made the input of young people an essential element. In addition we have been able to utilise skills in other areas such as performance-making to ‘push’ the Oral Histories into other directions - such as performance.

"The recent Short & Sharp production by Urban Theatre Projects and BYDS at Bankstown RSL played to sold-out houses and featured ‘fast cars & tractor engines’ performance by three young people from the area who I have been working with for some years. This performance was noted in the SMH review of the event. Projects like these provide wonderful opportunities for young people such as these to be recognised by a wider audience. In addition, through this extension we are able to promote the original project."