Creative Enterprise Hubs

About us

Renew Newcastle: The Roost Creative – Opening. Photo by Luke Oliver.

About Creative Enterprise Hubs

Creative enterprise hubs transform empty spaces into arts precincts through arts-led initiatives in town centres.

Creative enterprise hubs are supported by Arts NSW and encourage commercial property owners, local government, State government and community organisations to recognise that the creative industries can drive economic and urban renewal.

Hubs operate in temporarily vacant and low cost or free premises, providing artists and arts groups with creative space. The rise of creative enterprise hubs coincides with strong and growing interest in creative industries in many regions and has grown out of the success of the Renew Newcastle Project.

How we support creative enterprise hubs

Creative Hub Toolkit

Arts NSW produced a toolkit launched in 2010 to help regions and organisations establish their own creative hubs and pop-up arts spaces.

The toolkit is made up of:

Marcus Westbury’s Creating Creative Enterprise Hubs: A Guide based on the Renew Newcastle initiative
NSW Planning’s Arts Revitalisation Projects and the Planning System providing information on the planning system
Arts Law Centre of Australia’s Information Sheets providing legal background and sample documents.

Supporting the Empty Spaces project

Arts NSW also supports the Empty Spaces project, managed through the University of Technology Sydney’s Shopfront Community Program, promoting temporary and short-term reuse of empty shops and other spaces for creative and community uses through:

a website with the Creative Enterprise HubsToolkit, case studies and other resources, linking projects across Australia, and
promotion, networking and advocacy activities and research.