Jonathan Allman

Project Candy is a relatively small Chinese NGO charity project that is dedicated to establishing rural children’s Art centres and providing resources and lessons for left-behind children in rural China, easing the imbalances between urban and rural education development. Project Candy has already established two art centres that have directly benefited over 5,000 children each year since their opening.

Over the past 3 years, I have organised annual fundraising art auctions which have raised in excess of 150,000 RMB to help maintain the Project Candy art centres, provide resources, and fund summer camps for children in the rural communities. These events have facilitated the development of mutually beneficial relationships between the children and educators of rural and urban communities. 

In the Autumn of 2019, I had the pleasure of visiting a Project Candy art centre located in Baoding, China. In preparation for the upcoming annual art auction, children created individual artworks and began painting a collaborative mural project that would be completed by students of the inner city school which hosts the event.