Working with Granite City Speaks to brighten up Cruyff Court Neale Cooper.
Throughout 2024 we have been working with Denis Law Legacy Trust (DLLT) and Granite City Speaks (GCS) on a series of projects to empower young people to express themselves at the Cruyff Court Neale Cooper.
We first hosted a workshop at the family fun day in summer 2024. There were loads of great interactions with the community who helped to shape our work in Torry. After the workshop we were approached by Granite City Speaks to help them address an issue they had identified down by the Cruyff Court in Tullos.
The eight concrete benches which sat around the pitch had suffered from wear and tear, so we used sketches and designs made by the young people and attendees at the fun day to reflect the spirit of Denis Law Legacy Trust and Granite City Speaks.
We sent some designs back and the team were pleased with how we had incorporated the different ideas into our designs. We were inspired by the sense of community and friendship, as well as how fun, playful, and energetic the day was, and tried to communicate this in the designs.
Because the benches were made of concrete with no prior paint application or base coat, we spent more time than usual on preparation. On Friday night we were helped by Streetsport volunteers and staff to prime the benches. This was a long process of applying white masonry primer to white benches! But with help from the team we got it done in no time, ready for Sunday morning.
Bright and early on Sunday morning we met again, ready to tackle the benches. We asked the GCS members to decide where they would like each design to go, and they did a great job of pairing the different designs so that they would compliment each other. We practiced using the spray paint cans again then set to work – and the Streetsports team smashed it! Considering it had been a while since the first workshop, they were naturals, able to use skills such as pressure control, hand-eye coordination, and cutbacks to apply the designs.
As ever, the designs evolved a little on the day. One of the Streetsports team had the fantastic idea to add faces to the shapes on one of the designs to make it the ‘emotions bench’ – somewhere young people could go and express their feelings. GCS had asked us to include a design for a pink bench in memory of Kacey Seivwright and her sister helped us on the day to develop the idea further, adding hearts and her initials to the bench.
Brooke Flood, a Granite City Speaks member, said, “Spray painting the benches was a fantastic experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you to Kirsty and Naomi for teaching us the basics and trusting us to paint our own benches. I would 100% participate in an activity like this again.”
This was a very special project as it has been touched by so many people in the community who either attended the fun day and contributed designs or spoke to us while we were painting. And of course, with the support of Granite City Speaks, we are really proud of how the designs reflect the vibrancy and community spirit of everyone who used the Cruyff Court.
Aimee Culley, Streetsport Operations Co-ordinator, shared “It’s a privilege to work with like minded organisations such as Outlines Collective to provide our young people new and exciting opportunities to learn creative skills and better their local communities. I am really looking forward to future collaborations with Outlines.”
We are really excited to keep working with Denis Law Legacy Trust in 2025!
This project has been funded by the ETZ Ltd Community & Coast programme.
Outlines Creative C.I.C. 
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