Artworks by pupils from across Waitaki will take centre stage at this year’s George Burns Memorial Art Exhibition.

The exhibition at the Forrester Gallery celebrates the talent of young people in the district and will run from August 1 to September 27.

Students from around 20 schools are taking part.

The Oamaru children’s art exhibition was established in 1970 following a suggestion by Oamaru-born journalist George Burns and named in his memory to honour his commitment to art, education and community.

Arts, culture and libraries manager Chloe Searle said: “When young people come into the gallery and see their art exhibited, their pride is apparent.”

“It tells them their ideas matter, their voices are worth sharing and their creativity has a valued place in our community.”

The exhibition also provided a “living link” to an Oamaru-born journalist whose belief in community, education and the arts continued to shape the district’s cultural life half a century later.

Burns, who was born in 1903, became New Zealand’s first Fulbright Scholar and had a storied career as a journalist and editor at the Christchurch Star.

He established and supported the Christchurch Star-Sun Schools Art Exhibition, which encouraged schoolchildren throughout the South Island to create and exhibit art.

Before his death in 1970, Burns suggested that Oamaru continue the idea through its own

children’s art exhibition.

That idea became the Burns Memorial Art Exhibition, now held at Forrester Gallery Mahika Kai Mahika Toi.