The kids of summer had a good time doing a little creative work with the Estevan Mercury when they engaged in a second year of Art and Ads in partnership with the Estevan Art Gallery and Museum.
“We’re happy to see the kids enjoyed the opportunity last year and many of them are participating again this year,” said Cindy Beaulieu, advertising sales manager for the Mercury when she learned this year’s class participation level was at capacity with up to 21 children being engaged in the process of creating handcrafted art works for local businesses. Mercury readers will see these ads strategically placed throughout this week’s edition.
The classes began on July 24 under the direction of EAGM educator Karly Garnier and later with the EAGM’s summer students Jacqueline Peeace and Lauren Klatt.
The individual students were partnered with an Estevan business and were then given an opportunity to “build” an advertisement for that particular business.
The one-week adventure included a tour of the Mercury’s office where they received their directions and some basic ideas from the newspaper’s production team.
Beaulieu said her representatives were able to gather 19 businesses who were agreeable to undertake the adventure. Some of them were also repeat participants.
“It must have been pretty popular because we had 16 kids registered last year and 21 or more this year,” said Garnier.
“Yes,” said Beaulieu with a chuckle, “we have a backup plan in the event of some illegibility.”
“We let the kids spread their creative wings and do a little exploring while they learn a little bit about the world of advertising,” said Garnier. “We begin with a question such as ‘if you had a business, what kind of advertisement would you build for it?’”
Some of the results, she said, showed a great deal of creativity and imagination. There were strong displays of colour and a good flow of ideas once the youngsters became engaged in the process with a deadline in mind.
Look for the work of the Art and Ads kids throughout this week’s Mercury.
