The Secret World is coming to Wallendoon Street next Friday and Saturday, October 11 and 12, in a transformation with light, music, projections, puppetry and story-telling all created by our town's young people.
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The street will take on a high-tech festive air the likes of which Cootamundra has never seen, thanks to a year and a half's work by young people in conjunction with The Arts Centre Cootamundra (TACC), and two Sydney-based organisations, Matriark Theatre and tech-ed provider Coder Academy.
Between 6.30 and 8.30 pm brilliant projections will be mapped onto buildings up and down the street, digital interactive murals will be scattered here and there, original music written and recorded by young people will be played, and there will be "monstrous and mythical puppets" outside the library.
There'll also be exciting games and interactive experiences, amazing art and design, fabulous costumes designed by young people and "a thrilling story of risk" to lead audiences down the street performed by young people under the guidance of a theatre director.
During the 18-month lead-up to The Secret World, a group of 30 Cootamundra young people have participated in workshops with 100 young people from schools in the Riverina.
In the workshops, Coder Academy developed skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) such as robotics, circuitry, design and ideation, and Matriark Theatre developed skills in creative thinking, storytelling, puppetry and performance.
There has also been mentorship in digital media art by Mark Bolotin, and in puppet making by Jackson Eather, all aimed at helping the "youth ensemble" make their stories, opinions and dreams visible for the Cootamundra community.
Matriark Theatre creative producer Scott Parker says it's been important for the young people's voices to be front and centre.
"Often young people's voices are neglected in consultative processes," he said, "so a project like The Secret World exists to step in and give them a platform."
A partner in the Secret World project, Coder Academy, is running a free student workshop at Cootamundra Public School on Wednesday October 9, from 9.30am - 4pm.
The workshop will have children creating and coding their own "fantasmic" creature that will become part of the Wallendoon Street event.
Spots are limited, you can register online at http://bit.ly/SecretWorld2019.
