Afri-Co-Lab Opening Our Doors

Aim: Opening our doors once a week for our community. Pop by for a cuppa, bring your laptop for the wifi, or chill with a creative activity.

THE GOAL. 

This crowdfunder will let us open our doors 1 day a week, inviting you the community in to gather, meet, make friends and get creative. If we reach our target,  East Sussex County Council will match our total and we will also be able to buy 6 sewing machines and be on route to launch our Sewing Club + Dare 2 Repair this winter!!

THE VISION.

Afri-Co-Lab is a diverse-led creative community dreaming hub, built on the cultural mash-up of Ugandan & British culture. We are a grassroots not for profit community organisation on the St Leonards seafront offering a programme that supports access to high quality creative arts experiences, positive mental health, entrepreneurial incubation, skills development, and community connection.  

At the moment we open our doors for classes, workshops and events and whilst we love all of that, we want to share more of the love, more of the time with more people! Sharing this special space we have built with our community - especially those who are often left behind.

WHAT WILL WE DO.

Open House will see Afri-Co-Lab opening our doors once a week for no other purpose than to provide held space to gather.  Pop in for a quick cuppa or stay all day, bring your laptop and jump on our wifi or read and use our growing collection of books.

This crowdfunder will allow the Afri-Co-Lab space to support our community through encouraging folks to meet new people, access to free wifi, sharing space to work on creative projects and use of our creative tools (glue guns, cutting mats, paints etc) and become part of the Afri-Co-Lab family. And of course tea, coffee, biscuits and fruit will be provided. 

WHAT WILL IT BRING.

• A place to meet new people and gather with local friends
• A place to combat loneliness and encourage cultural cohesion
• A Black run space for Black and Global Majority communities and white allies to meet and gather
• A place that supports digital inclusion with free wifi access 
• A place for peer to peer learning and mentoring from other users and Afri-Co-Lab's staff and volunteer champions

THE NUMBERS.

We will use the money to:

• Pay a staff member to open the space one day a week 
• Cover our costs for keeping the space open wifi, electricity, teas/coffees/snacks
• Maintain our creative equipment for the community to use
• Buy 5 sewing machines
• Buy 1 overlocker
• Create an access document about the space

SOME BACKGROUND.

WHAT IS AFRI-CO-LAB. 

Afri-Co-Lab is a creative community dreaming hub based in the heart of Central St Leonards, East Sussex. We were founded during the pandemic to create space to collectively dream and eventually gather - something that seemed desperately needed at the time and is still so relevant today!

WHO IS AFRI-CO-LAB.

Afri-Co-Lab was founded and is run by sister; artists and educators Lilly Babirye and Anna Maria Nabirye. We now have a core team of 4 with Theresa Adjorlolo and Deanne Naula - our creative wranglers. Plus a family of local creatives, artists and practitioners at the top of their game Karen Arthur, Claudine Eccleston, Janice Kate Fisher, Elaine Mullings and Darragh O'Leary.

Things Folks Have Said About Our Work.

REWARDS.