About Orkney Creative Hub

About

The Orkney Creative Hub (OCH) is a central site for the creative arts in Orkney. We provide creative education, development and enterprise opportunities for all ages and abilities. We offer regular workshops, studio spaces, bookable event spaces, exhibitions, volunteering, and have an arts supply shop located at Number 25 on Bridge Street Kirkwall.

 

Foundings

Orkney Creative Hub (OCH) came together over 8 years ago as a collaboration between Orkney Crafts Association (OCA), Orkney Arts and Crafts (OAC) and the not-for-profit art shop, For Arts Sake (FAS), the project has been set up as a Community Interest Company, ensuring its assets will stay within the community as any profits from the initiative will be distributed to local charities. The 4 representatives from these groups became the founding directors of Orkney Creative Hub: Heather Croy (OCA), Sandra Rodwell and Clive Horton (OAC) and Jan Judge (FAS)

Orkney has a long established creative heritage and it is the OCH vision that the Hub will provide a central focus in the islands to offer established artists and makers the opportunity to promote their work, a palce where the community can access the resources needed to develop their individual creativity, and will give support and mentoring to anyone wishing to turn their talent into a business.

The Orkney Creative Hub is included in the local authority’s development plan, and provides supported volunteering and employment opportunities for those less able to join the workplace, along with a wide variety of new creative experiences.

Inclusivity is very much the ethos of the project, housing a range of exciting educational facilities not found anywhere else in the islands. This is a project for everyone in Orkney. A vision of Orkney’s creative community for well over a decade, the Hub provides opportunities for those outwith the County, lending support to the remote economy and extending the tourist season.

 

Today

Over the intervening time we have seen the vision of OCH come to fruition in a range of facilities.