For two days in October Wallendoon Street will take on a magical new personality thanks to a unique project stretching the imaginations and creativity of a group of young people from Cootamundra's schools.
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On Friday and Saturday October 11 and 12 the street will be transformed in a similar way to the Circular Quay precinct's transformation during Sydney's Vivid Festival in May and June.
The Secret Wold Project which will transform Wallendoon Street into a magical mystery tour in October has come out of nearly a year of interaction between Cootamundra's young people and members of a Sydney theatre company, Matriark Theatre.
Earlier this year Matriark worked with students to develop artworks for a successful exhibition at the Arts Centre in late April entitled Discover the Secret World.
Matriark's creative director Scott Parker and lead artist Hannah Grant have now been working with students from all Coota schools to create a one-kilometre journey from Cootamundra High School to The Arts Centre, involving monsters and magical doors and all sorts of imaginative experiences.
"We've got an amazing digital media artist working with us, Mark Bolotin, who's going to help design some interactive visual media installations as you go down the street," Mr Parker said..
"We were conscious we didn't want to just come in and dictate to the kids what to say about the town, so a lot of the work we've been doing is to draw out their own ideas.
"They've come up with some fantastic things and the ideas are still evolving so we don't want to say too much about them at this stage.
"Suffice to say I came in with assumptions about what they would say but they've come up with a much more varied and nuanced set of ideas than I was expecting.
"We've done a lot of photography down the street and they've been able to make the transition between having an idea and bringing it out into the street.
"There'll be stations along the street, for example going past Jubilee Park, Captains Walk, the bridge, the Albion roundabout, the post office, the laundromat, Wattle Tree motel and the old TAFE building.
"For the TAFE building I think they're interested in some sort of climatic zombie battle so we'll see what that turns into!"
Although some of Matriark's theatrical work has been in Sydney, the theatre has deliberately adopted a "counter-urban" policy of working in regional areas including Dubbo, Wollongong and now Coota.
