The votes are in and St Albans Heights Primary School Community Hub have taken home the 2017 Melbourne Art Trams People’s Choice Award and the accompanying $5,000 cash prize.
Now in its fifth year, Melbourne Art Trams is a revival of the Transporting Art project that ran between 1987 and 1993 and made possible through a creative partnership between Melbourne Festival, Creative Victoria and Public Transport Victoria in collaboration with Yarra Trams.
“All of this year’s trams tell a story and have received record numbers of votes in the Melbourne Art Trams People’s Choice Award,” said Melbourne Festival Artistic Director, Jonathan Holloway. “The stand out winner according to the public vote was St Albans, it is a great example of what a community of teachers, parents, and children can do when they come together to tell a story about this most inclusive of cities.”
Parents from St Albans Heights Primary School in the north-west of Melbourne collectively developed the design for this artwork. In a workshop parents saw similarities in their school community to the wider Melbourne community that they wanted to capture – the parents come from 38 different backgrounds and most of speak a language other than English. Coloured squares were inspired by Andy Warhol’s pop art which captures playfulness, diversity and inspires imagination -just like the school.
St Albans Heights Primary School Community Hub Coordinator Sophie Jamieson said: “Winning the People’s Choice Award is particularly significant given the meaning behind our tram design. The design observes similarities between the school community and the wider Melbourne community – that Melbourne is proudly diverse.”
The eight trams debuted on the streets of Melbourne in early October as part of this year’s Melbourne Festival visual arts program. Alongside St Albans Heights Primary School the other 2017 artists are Bushra Hasan, Emma Anna, Josh Muir, Justine McAllister, Matthew Clarke, Oliver Hutchinson and Robert Owen.
The eight Melbourne Art Trams will remain on the network until April 2018. For more information, visit: www.festival.melbourne for details.
Image: St Albans Heights Primary School Community in front of their Art Tram – photo by James Morgan