CIT's Orange Wolves to set Canberra's City Walk aglow

Orange Wolves - Feast your eyes on this! is an audience immersive experience conceptualised and developed by students from the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT). The Canberra City Walk three-day festival is free and open to the public on 26 - 28 November, 12 noon - 10:00pm.

The event celebrates creativity, technology and performance, welcoming the public to explore a multidisciplinary journey delivered on board six decommissioned Action buses transformed by CIT students.

The journey includes exploration of the Australian bush through environmentally friendly experiences of smells and sounds, notions of "sparkle and shelter" through shiny kinetic art using thousands of discarded CDs, and an underwater adventure on board the 'Night Rider.'

The 'Design Den' will feature augmented reality interactive content accessible to visitors through downloadable apps. A fashion parade and a music festival will be highlights of the event's opening and closing nights.

The event has been funded through a $50K City Grant from the City Renewal Authority and would not be possible without the support of both Transport Canberra and the City Renewal Authority.

City Renewal Authority Chief Executive Malcolm Snow said, "We had a lot of great applications in the last round of City Grants funding, but our successful applicants really demonstrated how their project would make the city a more fun, welcoming and exciting place to spend time."

"The Orange Wolves project will bring something totally different to our city's public spaces and I am looking forward to seeing how the community interacts with these transformed buses," Mr Snow said.

Students from multiple disciplines have contributed including fashion, floristry, hairdressing, beauty, visual arts, photography, IT, graphic design, cultural arts, music, media, sound production, interior design, landscape design and building design. Students have brainstormed, sketched and constructed the project through a collaborative process that has completely transformed the vehicles over a period of four months.

"Orange Wolves is a hands-on learning opportunity that exemplifies the significance of vocational education and training. From designing a logo and pitching a concept to displaying their creations and wrapping up when the event concludes, the students are being assessed along every stage of the project," said Fiona Dace-Lynn, Director of CIT Technology and Design.

An emphasis upon sustainability has been an important principle underpinning project delivery. The students have been required to identify and address the impact of their creations on the environment by selecting materials that can be re-used or have recycled content and for which sustainable industry practices can be applied.

Orange Wolves is a masterpiece of creativity but more importantly for the students involved they have developed critical skills in collaboration, communication, teamwork and creative thinking.