SnakNRap returned to Medowie skatepark for some weekend action of music, art, food, skating and connection on Sunday 20 March. It was so awesome to see such a huge turn up for the event filled with skateboard and scooting competitions, art workshops, graffiti art demonstrations, open mic sessions and freestyle rap, DJ throughout the day and free food! Check out a quick video of how the day went down on our Youtube channel.

We started the event with a Welcome to Country given by young Worimi man, Charlie, who has also been working with us for a few weeks on some community arts projects and events around the Hunter. The event itself was funded through the Port Stephens Council Community event development fund, and the day couldn’t have happened without our beautiful community! A special mention goes to Issac, Tiger, Benji, Mic & Charlie. These young people did above and beyond on the day!

A huge thank you to the legends at Skate Ape and Grundy’s Skateboarding who ran the skating and scooter competitions and kindly donated prizes to winners! Young people were on point with their positive attitude and skills to the competition. A huge appreciation goes out to the Medowie Lions Club, who catered throughout the day and nourished the Medowie community with a BBQ!

Over the day, we also invited young people (and friendly doggos!) to participate in our posca pen and vinyl art workshops. It was a great way to engage and connect with young people to learn more about what events and activities they want to see more of in their community. We also encouraged young people to contribute a word that they felt described what they loved about Medowie. Community, skatepark, the bushlands and roads, sporting facilities, access to water and feeling connected were some of the words that were put the canvas!

We also hosted demonstrations and workshops for young people who were interested in learning the skills and techniques to graffiti and street art. These demonstrations and workshops are a great way to share the history and culture of graffiti and street art – and is always a good chance to teach the differences between graffiti art and graffiti vandalism.

For us, the difference between art and vandalism is about consent, so after consulting with Port Stephens Council, we received the thumbs up (and artistic integrity!) to design a graffiti-based artwork to one of the skate ramps.

Our next Medowie SnakNRap will be held during Youth Week Sunday April 10am! Scan the QR code in the flyer below for more info on the event. 

SnakNRap is a youth-focused event that combines music, art, food, and connection to help inspire young people to connect with their community. Young people participate in SnakNRap through getting creative with our art activities, or getting on the microphone for spoken work or freestyle rap. Sometimes, it might just be enough for a young person to show up and connect with people and services from their community.