'Wide Open Walls', a community-based organisation recently organised a one-day fundraising programme.

The event was hosted by Sheraton Resort Hotel& Spa one of the sponsors. The other sponsors are Banjul Breweries, the Gambia Tourism Authourity (GTA) and the Gambia Hotel Association (GHA). The event was organised to raise funds for the hosting of several international street artists in June this year; a move geared towards improving the well-being and welfare of Gambians particularly those living in the rural areas.

The international street artists are expected to paint murals on the sides of houses, walls, shops, school buildings and found objects with the permission of the residents and local communities. The project is expected to run for two-week and is aimed at bringing tremendous gain to the villages within the Ballabu Conservation Project.

Delivering a statement at the event, Abby Sarr thanked the president, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya AJJ Jammeh for his continued support for eco-tourism to support the sustainability of village life in The Gambia. She explained that the Wide Open Walls project was started by Lawrence Williams, one of the founders of Makasutu Wild Life Trust last year to create collaboration between global communities using street art to inspire and uplift the 14 villages of the Ballabu Conservation Trust in The Gambia.

Sarr added: ''Today we are hoping to raise funds to host 12 international artists that will be coming from all over the world to paint in a village''. While admitting that bringing the artists out and hosting them for two-weeks is expensive, Sarr averred that the high calibre of art is most definitely worth it, as the villages will gain tremendously from it.

According to their report, Wide Open Walls 2011 have partnered up with ''Write on Africa'', a community art project based in Cape Town, South Africa, the founder of whom will be the curator for the Wide Open Walls 2011. The report added that this will give an opportunity for the International Street Art communities to connect with local village communities to collaborate on the creation of a public gallery.

A video documentary will be made including interviews with the villagers and record their reactions and tell their stories. It further stated that, it will also allow the village leaders and residents to engage with each other before the artists arrived and will also help strengthen bonds and relationships within the communities as they meet together and discuss the impact of the project on their lives. The report revealed that the artists will engage with the local people and experience the lives of the residents as they work, while the local people will get to share the experience of the artists, thus forming lasting bonds.

It further stated that, when the whirlwind of activity is over, the result will be that a  formerly remote and unheard of part of Africa is thrust into the limelight and will also allow new communities formed to follow the experience through TV documentaries, Internet blogs, art reviews and international photographic exhibitions. The project will also pave a way for tourists go out of their way to see what all the fuss is about and leave profoundly moved; and some will be silenced as they internalise the experience, while others will become vocal as they openly share the experience by laughing, questioning, and debating the art, the setting and the meaning. It will also allow the visitors take with them a sense of being given unique access to the village.

“The art work will be interactive and unlike an austere metropolitan public gallery, the visitors can touch the wall and stand in front or underneath and be photographed.  The visitors talk to the residents and ask them about the project. The residents recount anecdotes of shared moments with the artists and other visitor’s views. Everyone leaves the site with a feeling of being part of something bigger.  It could be a shared smile or simply the universal language of Art,” the report concluded.