The Factory Community Centre's Mosaic Project in Waterloo

The large and brilliant mural mosaic is located at the Waterloo Green Marton Gardens area, which is between the high rise social housing buildings, bringing new colour and life to the area.

The project was sponsored by the City of Sydney and the NSW Department of Housing and was coordinated by the Waterloo/Redfern Housing Communities Assistance Program (HCAP) (a community development program) at the Factory Community Centre, in partnership with many community organisations in the area.

Young and older residents have worked together on these projects over the last 9 months - from designing, to creating, and installing the project with over 348 young people and 363 adults taking part at various stages of the project.

Michael Shreenan, HCAP Community Development Worker, said “We hope this fantastic piece of street art will be respected and enjoyed by the whole community. It gave young people and local residents the opportunity to put their creative talents to positive use, and involve them in the regeneration of the area. They have invested so much time in the design, planning, and creation of the art – and they should all be extremely proud of their efforts.”

“Street art projects such as this provides an opportunity for everyone to get involved and with it a new vibrancy and real excitement to the area. We hope to be able to secure additional funds to build upon the success of this project.”

The project was aimed at creating greater sense of community pride and helping people to builder stronger relationships with their neighbours of all ages. It is hoped the project will go a long way in assisting to reduce unsightly graffiti ‘tagging’ and vandalism that is often seen in community spaces.

The Factory Community Centre would like to thank all the volunteers, residents, young people, and our partner agencies that made the project a success. The official launch of the project will take place at the Factory Community Centre Waterloo Green Silver Anniversary and Christmas Party which will take place on the 7th December 2007.

The above project has been documented by the local Photo Voice group and is currently being exhibited at the Factory.

For more details on this and other work at the Factory, please contact us on 02 9698 9569.

Background Info

What is HCAP?

Housing Communities Assistance Programme (HCAP) has various programs across the state and is managed locally by The Factory Community Centre and is funded by the Department of Housing NSW. HCAP program locally has an agenda of working with local residents and agencies within a community development framework. We work with various partner agencies from across sectors. The excellent partnership working which is vital for our projects success comes under our Time 2 Act logo.

So what does the service do locally?

• We promote community participation
• Work with others to improving the quality of life for local residents
• Provide support and specialist advice to local community groups and help individuals establish new ones.
• Represent housing tenants views
• Promote interagency working

The Factory Community Centre

The Factory has various community groups and support services available. This year we are celebrating our 30 years of service to the Waterloo and Redfern community. For more information contact us or just drop in for Cuppa and we will show your round.

For more information contact Patrick Russell or Mike Shreenan at the Factory Community Centre, Tel: 02 9698 9569 or see www.the-factory.org.au