Coonabarabran is all about space and soon there will be an amazing new pop-up space appearing in John Street.
Creatives Collective ARI Inc. has been awarded a grant to test the viability of an art creation and exhibition space, run as a social enterprise, in Coonabarabran. The grant will cover 4 months of the space being open and in that time there will be exhibitions, workshops, creation of items for sale that will appeal to visitors of Coonabarabran and more. Also during that time an arts/retail employment skills program will be run. It is hoped that people eligible for the NDIS scheme will have a new opportunity to learn employable skills and join the community in a different way.
Social enterprises are businesses that trade to intentionally tackle social problems, improve communities, provide people access to employment and training, or help the environment.
The grant was originally requested for half the $16,000+ amount awarded but the grant body FundAbility (a project by Northcott developed in partnership with Family and Community Services (FACS)) was so impressed with the concept that they offered to double the amount to allow for more time for the space to be open.
Creatives Collective have been vocal about their desire to make art and art creation more visible in Coonabarabran. Opting to put their energy where their ideas are, they went ahead and applied for the grant after the council rejected the suggestion to apply for an infrastructure grant to convert the slowly decaying historic bank/CTC/Community Centre building in John street to a creative space.
“Our first step is to find an accessible shop front in the Coonabarabran main street” says Creatives Collective in their submission “There’s very few of those and we may have to make temporary adjustments to a shopfront to make it accessible to all residents and visitors to Coonabarabran”.
There is a very tight time-frame on getting the space open and Creatives Collective will be aiming to open very soon after the Articulate Festival that is on the 22nd and 23rd of June.
If you are an artist and wish to exhibit/sell your art in this new space then contact info@creativescollective.org and register your interest.
__________________________
Creatives Collective ARI Inc. is extremely grateful for the support of FundAbility, Northcott, and FACS in getting the project to Coonabarabran.
