Guest post: My top 7 moments from the Zeal Paint Party

At Zeal’s Paint Party on Friday night, I was lucky enough to spend my time on a platform – which put me in the perfect position to watch all the colourful and epic things that were happening. Thankfully, the platform wasn’t too far away from the action – I still have specks of neon-coloured paint on my wheelchair to prove it (and I love that)!

Here are my top 10 moments from the Zeal Paint Party. After you’ve read mine, make sure you tell the Zeal team your best moment from Friday night using the hashtag #zealpaintparty

The first of my best moments has to be seeing a group of young girls all dressed in white tutu’s entering the gates. I saw them a couple more times throughout the night and I can confirm that their tutus did not remain white – they became a mix of orange and pink quite swiftly. But if the gigantic smiles on those girls faces were any indication, that was their plan all along. It was a joy to watch.

As the night went on, a young girl who had said hello to me (but was super quiet all of a sudden) began busting out some amazing hip-hop moves and, before long, she was joined by another dancer and they both carved it up like it was a totally casual thing for them to do. The Zeal Paint Party made it clear to me yet again that there are so many talented young people out there and it was a pleasure to see it in action.

Another one of my best moments were the conversations I had on Friday night. It was a privilege to chat with a few girls who asked me, “So, what is Zeal? And what’s BUZZED?” It was also epic to chat to one of the other Zeal volunteers who was having as great a time as I was (he, however, was considerably more orange). I loved seeing so many young people chatting to one another and simply having a good time in a positive environment. It really made me happy to see.

Number 4 has to be the paint and confetti guns. They were responsible for countless smiles and friends climbing on other friends shoulders to get closer to the action. Who knew that paint and confetti could evoke so much elation?

The four artists who took the stage as DJs were equally responsible for the elation among the 500 young people who attended. I loved seeing young talent take the stage and knowing that Zeal was empowering them in their craft made me feel so proud to be a part of this organisation even in a small way – and I know for certain I wasn’t the only one who loved the artists. The hundreds of groovin’ teenagers were testament to just how well received Friday’s DJs were.

It isn’t just the DJs that were incredibly talented. The entirety of Zeal’s team was truly the bee’s-neon-orange-knees – especially the photographers, who snuck around the back of the venue or climbed some scaffolding to stick up their GoPro’s, drones and DSLR’s to get the incredible shots you’re seeing online!

Nate is the person who is responsible for the creation and orchestration of the Zeal Paint Party – he went big and it paid off. It meant a great deal to me that he made the time to talk with me, and he is truly passionate about the work he does (that’s why he’s so good at it). Nate is an amazing person and so to spend time with him while helping to make over 500 people feel amazing – that was a great honour of mine.