THERE is a new buzz in Newcastle’s art scene after Hudson Street Hum swung open its doors this month.
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The new creative space is a the passion project of Suzie Galwey and Aleeta Clift. Hudson Street Hum is a space for people to get into their creativity.
“Its about connection, bringing people together,” Ms Galwey said. “The ability for the creative arts to bring people together is huge.”
The business is all about helping people discover their creativity. It is the women’s second joint creative enterprise.
“We started off as Unload creative writing,” Ms Galwey said. “So, we into schools doing creative writing classes for kids.
“Our classes were very much about celebrating creativity and ideas.
“And what we are doing here is an extension of what we were doing with our children’s writing classes.”
However, Hudson Street Hum isn’t just for kids.
“We are aiming to go across all ages and all of the creative arts, not just writing,” Ms Galwey said.
In a bit of a coup, they have snared renowned Newcastle painter Peter Lankas as one of their class teachers.
Lankas will run regular life drawing, mixed media and one-off workshops.
Both of the centre’s founders have backgrounds in writing. Ms Clift worked in publishing as a commissioning editor, while Ms Galwey worked in corporate and not-for-profit sectors, before moving into social business.
The women identified an opportunity in Newcastle’s creative landscape.
“We felt the creative arts would benefit from a professional approach,” Ms Galwey said.
The women wanted to avoid a structure that relied on grants and government funding.
“Both of us have done grant writing, but we didn’t want to go down the path of running programs and then not having the money to run them the following year,” Ms Clift said.
“We wanted to find a way that was sustainable.
“It’s not a collective, we are running a social business and it is about providing workshops for the public and also giving artists a space to run those workshops in.”
Next month they will offer a script writing class with established Newcastle playwright Jerry Ray.
“It will be fantastic for people who are working on their scripts for micro-theatre,” Ms Galwey said.
The course kicks off on February 6, and will be held every Tuesday night for four weeks, between 6pm-8pm.
The plan is to offer a wide array of creative workshops.
“We are wanting to appeal to a whole lot of age groups,” Ms Galwey said.
“There will be something at all different times of day to suit everyone.”
Hudson Street Hum is interested in hearing from creatives who would like to run their workshops in the space.
Courses
Unlocking your creativity, with Mel O’Dell.
Life as Art, with Peter Lankas
Unload, with Suzie Galwey and Aleeta Clift
Drawing to See, with Deanne Newland
Liberation on Yupo, learning to use Yupo paper for watercolours, with Deanne Neland