Community Creative Studios

Aim: We are aiming to raise funds to help towards building a classroom for our new CIC project. Running creative classes & support groups.

I'm Amy and the main person behind the Community Creative Stuios CIC project, although I receive lots of support from friends and family who I would be lost without.

I started crafting in 2012 when my husband was away for work for a month and I was struggling with being lonely, I found something I really loved and helped combat my loneliness and anxiety. Pair that with an addictive personality and I jumped in to trying many things and from that sprung Amy's Emporium my small home and giftware company. 

I have been running that for nearly 10 years now, our family has grown and the business has enabled me to be available to our youngest son George who has severe epilepsy among other things.

He is one of the biggest things to spur me and my husband on with this project. As he has got older we have started to wonder how he would cope in a mainstream workplace, we are sure he could adapt to an environment but with refractory epilepsy (medication resistant) the uncertainty of when you will be ready in the morning due to seizure activity or how much you will be able to achieve in a day would be a lot for an employer and would also put strain on him and his mental health. With that in mind my husband set out to teach him how to weld, and he is pretty good at it! He finds that sense of achievement from it and actually wants to make items for me to sell at summer fairs.His face after he finishes a piece just makes my mum heart melt. We are hoping this skill will enable him, if he wanted to, to carve a career for himself, where he can work around his own needs instead of trying to fit into a mainstream workspace.

And that is where the Community Creative Studios started.

At our creative studios, we're dedicated to supporting individuals on both personal and professional levels through the power of creativity. We believe that engaging in creative activities not only fosters immediate feelings of accomplishment but also offers invaluable tools for ongoing mental health support.

Participating in a creative class can have an immediate impact, offering individuals a sense of achievement and providing them with new strategies for enhancing their mental well-being. The benefits extend far beyond the studio walls, potentially influencing various aspects of their lives in the long term.

For those who aspire to turn their passion into a business venture, the effects can be life-changing. We're here to provide the necessary support and resources to help individuals transform their creative pursuits into sustainable businesses tailored to their unique needs and aspirations.

By nurturing creativity and entrepreneurship hand in hand, we aim to empower individuals to not only find fulfillment in their artistic endeavors but also to build a foundation for long-term success and fulfillment.

Now what will we be using this crowdfunding for?

In September last year Amy's Emporium moved into a big workshop space, that has plenty of room for classes but the space isn't suitable for classes and support groups all year round as it is to cold and offers no privacy. 

To enable us to be able to have these activities 12 months of a year in a suitable environment we are looking to put a closed in class room at the back of the studio.

This will also free up space for us to have workbenches and machinery for hire to those looking for somewhere they can start their own creative business ventures.