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Shaquone Spencer sat inside Reign Cafe within the DCU Center in Worcester with a pencil in his hand and a series of sketches in front of him.
Wearing a black North High School sweatshirt, the senior normally would have a football in his hand closing out the season on the gridiron.
Instead, city officials canceled the fall high school sports season due to the coronavirus pandemic. With football sidelined, Spencer has turned to art.
“I play football and I run track. You can’t really do that because of the pandemic that’s going on,” Spencer said. “I have more time to myself to create more of my art.”
Shoquone Spencer (right) draws on a sketch pad while other young artists help create a mural at Reign Cafe in Worcester.
Spencer was one of about a half dozen young artists who found a place to express their artistic creativity in Reign Cafe on Tuesday afternoon.
The Vietnamese coffee shop plans to welcome the public inside this weekend for the first time since its soft launch in September. As part of the indoor grand opening, owner Tam Le coordinated with Main IDEA Youth & Arts to allow young artists to create a mural using Reign Cafe’s crown logo.
Young artists from Main IDEA Youth & Arts in Worcester helped paint a mural that will be revealed when Reign Cafe officially opens to the public.
After completing the design of the mural, the young artists painted the mural on Tuesday.
“Reign the brand is all about empowerment,” Le said. “What Reign stands for is we are all the rulers of our domain. Everyone is unique and amazing in their own way so what better way to show that message than to bring in the youth and have them help be part of the process.”
Once Le developed the idea to empower the city’s young artists to express themselves at Reign Cafe, he reached out to Joy Murrieta, the executive director of Main IDEA, a nonprofit youth arts organization that offers free art programs across the city with a focus on the Main South neighborhood.
“This is a really cool, hip new restaurant,” Murrieta said. “It’s cool to have an opportunity to come into this space and have youth have an opportunity to take ownership of a new space and have a community to make their mark on the space.”
While Le is waiting for the opening this weekend to reveal the entire mural, he said it will be based off Reign Cafe’s crowns.
Each student at the cafe on Tuesday took turns painting a piece of the mural. Each will offer their own take and style.
“Cafe’s in general are seen as places that bring communities together,” Le said. “That was one part of it,” Le said. “And also, I’m a big proponent of art and also for youth art. I thought Reign Cafe was a really nice opportunity to showcase youth talent in Worcester.”
For Spencer, the mural ties into his education and future.
Shoquone Spencer draws on a sketch pad while other young artists help create a mural at Reign Cafe in Worcester.
His AP art class requires him to create a mural. Tuesday acted as hands-on experience for his future after graduating in 2021.
“My goal is to just continue to do what I love to do, which is art,” Spencer said.
The mural will debut this weekend when customers are allowed inside Reign Cafe as temperatures continue to drop. Next week, the coffee shop will open on Thursday through Sunday.
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