Youth workers at Woden Youth Centre are trying a different approach: street art.
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The ACT government has reopened the Callum Street drains as a legal graffiti zone with the nearby youth centre embracing it as an opportunity to connect with people using their centre by teaching them street art.
Street artist Dan Maginnity aka 'Byrd' said it had given young people a place to express themselves.
"Street art is wanting to talk to more people, so you're trying to say something more broadly in a public space," Mr Maginnity said.
Every Thursday between 3pm and 5.30pm, Mr Maginnity and fellow-street artist Geoff Filmer teach young people how to create street art.
"It's open access to anyone so there's no kind of exclusion," Mr Maginnity said.
Youth workers take part, asking participants about problems at home.
Youth worker Stacey Rheese said people didn't know about the extent of the problems facing Canberra's young.
"A lot of people wouldn't realise you might have disengaged 14-year-olds smoking crack in the drains who just don't have any opportunities to make any impact. This is really highlighting their ability to actually do that," Ms Rheese said.
"It's a lot less threatening to young people to start a conversation when you're actually doing an activity. And a great way to get to know them as well," Ms Rheese said.
Youth worker Andrew Hill said participants came in with zero street art experience but left keen to experiment.
The drains are a local hang out spot and the open-air nature of the project allowed random passers-by to join in.
"Just the freedom that brings them. They just start to experiment, not so much on the mural, but everywhere else just doing little drawings here and there," Mr Hill said.
Mr Hill and Ms Rheese said a lot of the kids talked about problems at school or dealing with mental health issues.
Others experienced domestic violence at home, or experiencing homelessness, some even had substance abuse problems.
Street artist, Geoff Filmer said the idea was to connect with the more disengaged attendees of the youth centre.
"The most effective think that I find with these workshops [...] it instantly brings the youth workers to the same level as the kids," Mr Filmer said.
"It's a great thing that people can come and do art and let out their frustrations in a positive way."
The project was organised with the support of Transport Canberra and City Services.
A map of legal graffiti zones is available on the Transport Canberra website.
