Street culture will take centre stage in the heart of the Campbelltown CBD following the launch of Forum Q.
The dynamic installation is a new and unique attraction on Lithgow Street that features a dance floor, reflective surfaces, seating and a stunning art mural as its centrepiece.
Forum Q is a collaboration between Campbelltown Arts Centre and local designer, dancer and all-round creative Feras Shaheen, who is pictured above.
He conceptualised the space as a hybrid art form between public art installation and recreation space for the community.
It is a space for people to gather, train, and create across multiple art forms including street art, street dance, urban photography, videography, street food, parkour, klapping, football freestyle, street wear more.
“Over the next few months, Forum Q will be a space that celebrates arts, culture and young people in Campbelltown,” says council general manager Lindy Deitz.
“This will be a place for people to gather and do their own thing or engage in a range of unique workshops that will be a completely new experience in the Campbelltown CBD area,” Ms Deitz said.
“Our Reimagining Campbelltown City Centre Master Plan identified the need for new and exciting activations, particularly in the Queen Street area, and projects like Forum Q are a unique example of that,” she said.
Forum Q will be complemented by a range of dynamic online and onsite activations designed to inspire and educate.
Shaheen will host a range of workshops and events at Forum Q over the summer, bringing street culture to the main street and engaging young people with his unique blend of movement.
“All creatives need to play, no matter how old or young you are. We just need space, a space to meet, to be inspired, to experiment, and to create – my lounge room is too small to do that sometimes,” Shaheen said.
“Forum Q is a place to meet and bond our city together, build street culture and reimagine Campbelltown,” he said.
Forum Q is part of the On Q project and funded by the NSW Government through the Streets as Shared Spaces grants.
In other Campbelltown news, several eco-friendly CleanCube bins are now being installed across the area.
The 42 solar-powered, 240 litre bins can store up to eight times more waste than a regular bin and are designed to reduce odour emitted from the bins.
The bins contain a compressing mechanism which periodically crushes the garbage within, significantly reducing the number of times the bins require emptying.
Solar powered, the bins contain hand detection and smart fill level safety sensors as well as anti-graffiti wrapping.
They are being installed in the Campbelltown and Ingleburn CBDs.
“These smart bins will be a welcome addition to Campbelltown and will have a positive effect on our environment and streetscape,” Ms Deitz said.
“They have been successfully used in cities like Melbourne, reducing time spent by staff emptying bins meaning more time can be spent maintaining our public domain.
“It will also result in less truck movements through our CBDs which will reduce traffic and emissions.’’
