Our Northern Rivers town of Murwillumbah needs a grand place to get creative. The Hey Maker! Collective can make it happen. Help us set up an inspired retail, gallery and "making" space and watch our town and its creatives flourish.

The Vision

Our big vision is to have Murwillumbah seen as a cultural and creative destination in the Tweed Valley.

Hey Maker’s vision is to inhabit a a great space in Murwillumbah – one of many in the town that currently stands vacant - to establish a platform to showcase the artists, designers, makers and crafters of the Tweed Valley region. We dream of a space that provides creative connections between artists and community so that the place we love to live becomes a rich cultural hub. We imagine a space bustling with creative energy. We imagine it's where we can host small-scale exhibitions,  plan artist residencies and organise community arts exchanges. It’s a space where you can take a seat and sew, or knit, or draw, sign up for an event or workshop, talk to a maker or purchase a handmade treasure. We envisage a central arts location where pop up ventures for empty shops and community events can be dreamed up and then spring forth. Whether it's a large store-front or a small boutique hideaway, we think Hey Maker! has what it takes to be that "go to" place for local creatives to show, sell and connect and our community members who want to buy local and handmade, access local arts events and be inspired.

The Collective

The Hey Maker! Collective is a partnership of five passionate creatives; Jo Olive of Olive and the Volcano, Kathy Egan of Oiko Handmade Textiles, Belinda Smith, Artist and Designer, Ellie Beck of Red Seed Studio and Christy Mc Leod of Creative Village. Together we form a dynamic and entrepreneurial group that has been galvanised by our mutual concern for our beautiful town. Our mission is to establish a platform which makes our town’s artists, designers, makers and crafters visable, that provides creatives with a space to retail their goods, share skills, interact with the public and build meaningful relationships with other artists and the community. We aim to do this with super-charged passion and unlimited heart.

The Project

To see this grand vision take shape, we ask for your support. It’s not everyday you get a chance to invest in the creative wellbeing of a community!

Your donations will go towards:

· The securing of an empty space in Murwillumbah's Central Business District

· Our goal to fling our newly painted doors open in September.

· The initial set-up of an inspirational and welcoming creative space.

· The initial set up of a beautifully curated retail space which will promote and support our talented craftspeople.

· A strong online presence that will promote our region, our town and our creatives.

Your generosity gets us started, our vim and vigour keeps us going!

It’s an opportunity to connect the arts sector with the business sector, the maker with the public and our regional town with the broader arts industry in the Northern Rivers, Australia and beyond.