A Foreword by James Young.
"Lets Go"
This simple, yet impactful comment from James holds a truth within Bayonne.
These words echo the spirit of the people, the energy this town has.
Myself & Bayonne have a collection of beautiful stories, all originating from when I first visited back in 2020.
With that said, let's dive to the beginning, to where this story started.
A brick placed, for today & tomorrow.
This adventure started back in 2019. It initiated with a simple hello (from Mr Young) shot through cyber-space landing in the BenWildStudios Instagram inbox.
This message unassumingly would catapult me on a adventure across the Atlantic.
At the time I was advising for a world-renowned media/AD company and James had seen some of the work. He liked what he saw. This jumping off point led to a coffee, all happening within 12 hours of the initial communication. Upon meeting James, I could feel the spirit & energy. This then erupted with him telling his story, a story of chasing dreams. A story of wanting to impact his community 'Bayonne'. A story of wanting to leave the world better. This energy was infectious.
Over the next few months we bounced ideas & realised we could both team up on a collection of projects. There are some Fungo type announcements coming however this blog is about what we did for Bayonne.
Helping people is a huge principle for us at BWS (Ben-Wild-Studios) & once James told me about his involvement with the Buddy Baseball Programme I fell in love. BWS had to help. Over the next year we put our heads together & built out a collection of animations, illustrations & moments to celebrate the story of this programme. Buddy Baseball brings the disabled children of Bayonne together to help celebrate who they are, help them play baseball & an all round moment to bring the city together and celebrate what it means to be a human.
These paintings were then placed in the Bayonne museum on a night celebrating the amazing work of this city. This is truly a special thing to be a part of and a reason I am incredibly proud of the work we do at BWS.
As always, thanks for ready, the support & love.
Let's go!
Ben & team.