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Young people from the Eyres Monsell and St Marks communities of Leicester are to have a key role to play in the long-awaited opening of Phoenix Square next week.

Working with the midlands-based ‘public art collective’ Urban Canvas, the young people aged between 12 and 18 will take part in a series of ‘light painting’ workshops in the weeks leading up to the launch, to eventually deliver a street performance and projection which will be seen by both civic guests and the public as they arrive on 17th and 19th November respectively.

Commissioned by Phoenix Square new home and office studio developers, Blueprint as one of its contributions to the launch events, the theme for the performance is ‘Arise’. Urban Canvas will carry out street-based workshops in the St Georges area with up to 40 young people over the next few weeks.  Images from these workshops will be projected for viewing on the launch nights and the final ‘show’ will see the teenagers creating ‘light paintings’ which will interact with the surrounding environment.

Anthony Donnelly of Urban Canvas, said: “We have already made our mark in the St Georges area with our ‘Beings of Light’ murals painted on hoardings adjacent to Phoenix Square. We wanted to take this a step further by working with young people from city centre communities, getting them involved in what promises to be a truly amazing launch celebration and a landmark event for Leicester.”

Peter Connolly, development director at Blueprint, added: “Phoenix Square will bring a host of new opportunities to Leicester – a new place to live, work and play - and a centre of excellence for creative communities. To achieve this, it needs to celebrate its surroundings and engage with the existing community which is exactly what the workshops and performances delivered by Urban Canvas for the launch night will do.”

Phoenix Square is the creation of a partnership project between Blueprint, Phoenix and Leicester City Council in collaboration with De Montfort University, and is an example of 21st century sustainable building design, coupled with leading-edge architectural quality.  The ‘Arise’ performance will form part of the celebrations on the Civic launch night on Tuesday 17th November and at the public opening on Thursday 19th November.

For further information visit www.phoenixsquare.co.uk