Artisan & Makers Village

Aim

Aim to raise a deposit to secure a farm to turn into a Artisan and Makers Village; providing affordable living, workshop & education spaces.

My name is Kezia Hoffman, I'm an artist and educator and have been working in community engagement for 23 years. Throughout that time I have recognised the importance of creativity in everyone's lives and the need for affordable making spaces for creatives. If we have a passion to learn something then the most important elements are the right tools, workshop space and some encouragement and guidance to get on with it. I've had the hunger to learn heritage craft skills all my life, especially metal work but despite training in welding, I have had to put this on hold due to the high rental price of suitable units. 

For the past 7 years my focus has been on running a Heritage & Arts social enterprise from an old Granary in Hampshire which I set up with the help of crowd funding as a not-for- profit enterprise called Granary Creative Arts CIC. All income has to go to the benefit of its community/ cultural and social aims.  It provides workshops in various heritage skills including stone carving, basketry, green wood, and copper works as an alternative education space.

The Granary Creative Arts Centre has hosted regular story telling events and exhibitions and talks and also runs weekly classes for teenagers who have been let down by mainstream education. I enable them through Art GCSE and A-level and provide a safe space for them to find their creative confidence.  Its the only space in South UK that can take Home educated teens through the Art GCSE qualification. People travel from across the country to do this.

The plan is to expand to create a sustainable Artisan and Makers space with affordable workshop units for creatives to develop their own practice alongside Tiny Homes so they can live sustainably whilst practicing their skills. It will include community workshop & education space and visitor accommodation, exhibition & event space plus food growing/ woodland management and sustainable living workshops on site. For the people who work with Hands and Land.

It takes a village..

I have teamed up with the blacksmith Gary Hodgetts and a group of creatives including, wood workers, ceramists, musicians, stone carvers, writers, bee keepers, food growers, performers, artists and educators who want to create sustainable models of living and working, with culture, creativity, and skill sharing at its core. We want this to be available to the next generation and to pioneer it now to inspire more of the same. The people who work with their hands or the land have been priced out. We see lots of investment in old buildings or re-wilding large acres of land or turning farms into glamping sites, but meanwhile the people delivering rural and heritage skills have been sidelined. There is a vital need to bring them back to the centre of the story for the benefit of the wider community, and to the land they will work and live on.  To make this happen we need help to secure a purchase on a small farm with outbuildings. 

We need your help to do this so we are offering a range of creative commissions as an incentive. Simply choose what level of art or sculpture you want and we will make it for you as a limited edition. Or if you simply want to donate then please do! 

Kezia's work here: www.keziahoffmanart.com

We have named this campaign Off Grid Artisans & Makers to highlight the need to make it as environmentally sustainable as possible.

Off Grid Artisans & Makers recognise our actions are part of the eco system. We want to enable more hands on learning spaces where people can live, work, grow food, share skills & resources and provide education & training in: 

• heritage skills and creative arts including theatre, dance music and film,
• natural building, 
• habitat management, 
• soil health, 
• carbon sequestering & local food economy.

Thereby benefiting:

• Local economy & community
• Education
• Mental health & wellbeing
• Heritage skills
• Creative & Agroecological livelihoods
• Increasing bio diversity through non intensive food production
• Reducing Carbon footprint

“ If we can recognise that the biggest threat to the planet is how we live, work, travel & consume, then surely the investment with the most return that any of us can make NOW, is to create models of sustainable living / working/ growing food, with the sharing of skills & resources. There are a rising number of people wanting to live sustainably and many of them have the skills to build these villages now. There is gap between these people, land prices and planning regulations and we need to find solutions to enable communities to get started NOW. If we wait for progress driven by corporate capital gain we are failing the next generations, the ecosystem and life as we know it.  ”  KH

“What is the Lost Opportunity Cost if we do not create sustainable models of living now?” - Pete Linnell from Grow Your Own Home

We aim to diversify our cultural offerings by assisting people from all social and economically disadvantaged backgrounds to access affordable living and workshop space and pass on their skills. We champion heritage skills, creative arts education, sustainable living and investing in a future for our children.

To get in touch, commission artwork directly & support project, email: [email protected]

Some of the work by Kezia Hoffman and Gary Hodgetts. Between us we have spent 46 years working with disadvantaged young people, special needs young adults and people of all ages and backgrounds.  We have both held this vision of an artisan village since we were young and have met the same frustrations that face many people wanting to set up working with traditional skills. We see a brighter future if we work collaboratively.

'Alfie' the fire Dragon. By Gary Hodgetts & Kezia Hoffman

Montage by students at stone carving workshops taught by Kezia at the Granary Creative Arts Centre

Montage of some of the art work created by the teenagers who are home educated and access Art GCSE. Taught by Kezia

Montage of some of the copper workshops taught at the Granary.

A team of merry carvers who spent a weekend carving at the Granary Creative Arts Centre, taught by Kezia.

Letter of support from the amazing Glass Artist - Tamsin Abbott.

Letter of support from ceramicist Jess Skelton , part of our team.

Letter of support from acclaimed sculptor Luke Perry

Letter of support from multiple media artist Chris Townsend.

THANK YOU!

This project successfully funded on 10th May 2023