Pillars of business get colourful

SIXTEEN pillars in the Woodside building at number one Adelaide Terrace will undergo a sensational transformation under the creative direction of a team from Awesome Arts.

A plan to inject a little life into Woodside’s corporate finance division has developed into an innovative project for a group of young people and Awesome Arts.

Woodside is a key partner of Awesome Arts, a community organisation that works with young people throughout WA, including the annual Awesome Children’s Festival.

Woodside funding manager and refurbishment coordinator Troy Hayden said by using Awesome to facilitate the project, staff got the opportunity to interact with young people.

“Not only will they benefit from participating in a project that actually demonstrates the values of an organisation like Woodside, but we will also gain from dealing with a group of creative young people,” he said.

Awesome Arts Australia director programming and management Gary Chard said the project was part of Woodside’s Making a Difference for Young Australians Program.

“The financial team saw the work being done with Woodside and they were looking to do something creative in their area – traditionally one of the more sterile parts of the office,” Mr Chard said.

The office space was punctuated by some rather disruptive pillars, but rather than work around them Woodside and the team at Awesome Arts decided to develop the columns into individual works of art.

“It’s about having quality art installations and introducing the young people to an environment they don’t see a lot – and there’s a benefit to the team and other people that might use the building.

This innovative project reinforces Awesome Art’s commitment to developing strong partnerships with private enterprise that deliver benefits to both parties and the community.

The workstations in the building are currently under construction and Woodside is developing a theme for project.

Four artists Awesome has chosen for the project will work with a group of young people to develop creative solutions.

Woodside has previously worked with Awesome to create a tableau that explores the idea of Woodside’s identity for both staff and the community.