The Art of Belonging

Over 100 people joined us  for ‘The Art of Belonging’ a spoken word poetry night and launch of a fabulous new Laneway Mural by the much loved street artists Be Free & Suki.

The night was an exploration of home, settlement and connection, and how we find belonging in an unfamiliar place by 4 thought-provoking performances.
The night was beautifully complemented by the performances of emerging young poets from St. Kilda Primary.
We were lucky enough to have the wonderful and talented street artists Be Free and Suki create a colourful and joyful mural in our laneway.  Entitled ‘Forever Young’, this fun and quirky artwork brings the community  joy on a daily basis.
Thank you Befree and Suki for your amazing support!


Poetry Competition with year 4 students at St Kilda Primary

Note from Sue Higgins the Head teacher of St Kilda Primary
Last year the Grade 4 students collaborated on a project with Space2b where they were asked to capture the essence of Space2b and ‘making a new home’ from the perspective of a child. We had many eager students enter the competition and as a result, there were 3 winning entries: 1) Zamina 2)Ada, Harry, Ocean, Manol and Hridaya and 3)Celeste & Dylan. Winners have been invited to recite their poems on stage at The Art of Belonging – Spoken Word Poetry Evening. All entries will be permanently scribed in the laneway behind Space2b as part of the new mural by street artists Befree and Suki.
As part of this project, Clare Larman, a professional artist, has supported our children to rehearse and prepare for the evening. I had the great pleasure of being present when Clare worked with the children and she is truly inspirational.

 

Performances by St Kilda primary School poetry competition winners

Performance by Sermsah Bin Saad as night falls.

A huge THANK YOU to spoken word poets, from left to right, Melissa Pearson, Nelson, Sermsah Bin Saad, Clare larman, and  Tariro Mavondo.

 

 

THANK YOU
to the Palais Theatre &  Live nation for your kind funding

 

Our Laneway Makeover

What an incredibly creative makeover our laneway has undergone. Over seven months; six artists have collaborated to create an incredibly vibrant, intriguing and colourful series of murals, that bring much joy to the area and local community.

The hustle and bustle of the laneway

It’s been a long, yet enjoyable project for all. From the initial design meetings, discussions surrounding what to paint, to putting the first brush stroke on the wall. It has been a really memorable journey to be a part of.

Elena creating a nature inspired piece

We have had numerous trips to our local paint shop ‘Paint Spot’ who have given us plenty of quality knowledge and advice. The artists themselves have been incredibly open to one another’s ideas, continually developing these together along the way.

Nidhal and Karen hard at work…

There have been many wonderful people who have been involved in this project and we would like to acknowledge them and pay thanks.

Our artists; Les, Sarika, Nidhal, Karen, Elena, Leila and Zee have been committed to this project since day one. It has been a joy to watch these artists work alongside one another, collaborate whole heartedly and over time become friends, sharing knowledge, skills, patience and much laughter.

Les, Sarika, Nidhal, Karen and Elena

 

Leila and beautiful Nika

 

Zee and his filming of the mural evolve

We would like to thank them all for making our project become a reality and for producing a mural that will be around for many years to come and will continue to breath in new life to the laneway.

We have also been lucky enough to have had the generous support of the local community, in particular our Space2b neighbours. The Kuhn family have been involved in the painting process and their lovely daughter Skye spent some time adding her own touches to the artworks.

The Kuhn family

We have also had the pleasure of the Boyle family being a part of the creative process. Thank you all.

All hands on deck

Little helpers adding colour to the pathway

A huge thank you also goes to John and Jamie who leant us their scaffolding. We certainly would not have completed the high points of the art works without their support and handy equipment.

Thanks to Jamie and John for the scaffolding

The coordination of this project has been a task undertaken over time by Dawn Perry, Lucy Worsley and Janine Lawrie and for this we thank you all.

Finally, we would like to pass on our thanks to the City of Port Phillip for their grant and support within the project.

We hope that this mural encourages the celebration of the many cultures of the world, through the different patterns that are on show and brings much enjoyment to all.

Please come and join us in celebrating the opening of the laneway mural at our festival this Sunday 25th March, from 10am – 3pm. We look forward to seeing you there!

Find out more here

 

Kindly funded by The Cultural Development Fund – City of Port Phillip

Space2b & Raw Welcome Lunch

Such a fun day! Beautiful Welcome Lunch by Space2b and RAW Garden connecting our two communities. Wonderful Somali lunch for 60 people cooked by Mariam Issa, founder o RAW.  Please enjoy these wonderful photos kindly taken by the brilliant photographer
Tatiana Castelo Chaves Scott!
We couldn’t have done it without our wonderful and dedicated team of volunteers!

Preparations

Welcome Laughter session to get people relaxed

Delicious food, stimulating conversation, and lots of fun! 

Some great connections

A day to remember

Space2b art gallery launched with street artists BeFree and Suki art

Be Free and Suki are two amazing street artists that utilise Melbourne’s laneways and streets to create colour and fun for everyone to enjoy.

We are so lucky to have them at Space2b where they have created a unique and beautiful installation in our soon to be laneway cafe

There is also amazing artwork on sale until the 3rd September.

They have kindly donated 50% of their sales to Space2b programs.

Space2b is at Fitzroy Market

Space2b will be having a market stall at the Fitzroy Market on Saturday 15th July, 10am – 3pm. The stall will be indoors, so you can keep warm whilst you browse through our gorgeous products. Come and grab a sale and say hi to our volunteers. Every purchase helps support new migrants and refugees. See you there!

Fitzroy Primary School – Cnr Napier & Greeves St
Saturday 15th July
10am – 3pm

News on our crowd funding campaign to build a laneway cafe and training centre

On behalf of everyone at Space2b THANK YOU SO MUCH to those of you who donated,
shared and volunteered to help us raise funds to build our Space2b.

We couldn’t have done it without you!

The good news is that we now have a total of $31,095!

$16,095 through the crowd funding campaign;
$5,000 from the Igniting Change Foundation;
$5,000 from the Ryan Cooper Family Foundation;
$5,000 from the English Family Foundation.
The plan is to use the $31,000 on:
Training Centre – Modernising the space.
Laneway Café – roof, floor, plumbing and electrics.

Even though our crowdfunding has ended we will continue to fundraise for
Modernising the toilet in the Laneway Cafe
Art gallery – lighting and a picture rail system.
Changing room for our retail space.
Air conditioning and heating.
Front area and ceiling.

We will keep you informed on the progress as we go.
Come and say hello and visit us in the shop and we look forward to seeing you at the Cafe Launch!

 

Get Striped for Diversity, Acceptance and Respect

Thanks to funding from the City of Port Phillip, our Get striped festival last Saturday during Multicultural week was great fun, and we loved sharing the day with our partners who helped to make it a great success.
‘Get Striped’ Space2b project marks acceptance and respect  through creative arts reminding us that we all deserve to be safe and happy.
The day included a design Market run by Lana from Meet Me at the Market, and the St Kilda farmers market.  We also  had Basketry and african beading workshops, henna art, cultural dance and face painting.   We finished off in the afternoon with an inspirational forum and Q&A with some great speakers, Mariam Issa, Abe Nouk Amini Nyikang and singer song writer Nela Trifkovic.Thanks to photographer Tatiana we have some fantastic photos to share with you and lets face it, pictures say a thousand words.

 

Kindly funded by the City of Port Phillip Festival fund

Celebration Day for Acceptance + Respect

What a wonderful day at Vegilicious and 4Dverse to celebrate Acceptance and Respect!
Delicious food cooked by Sharifeh and Helen together with Giovana in the Vegilicious Kitchen!
Fun workshops, and lots of monkeys sold.
We have made over 100 monkeys, so 20 have gone to children in detention.
A reminder to them that they have not been forgotten!

Thank you to the City of Port Phillip for funding this important event!

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Handing over the monkeys to Tri for the children in detention

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Program Launched by Pamela Curr, ASRC

Program Launched by Pamela Curr, ASRC

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100 Stripey Monkeys – Vegilicious wall

Vanessa Huxley, Councillor, City if Port Phillip

Vanessa Huxley, Councillor, City if Port Phillip

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Giovanna, Sharifeh and Hadis – Vegilicious kitchen

Sharifeh cooking with Giovana in the Vegilicious kitchen

Sharifeh cooking with Giovana in the Vegilicious kitchen

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Giovanna with Leila and Helen – Vegilicious Kitchen

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Leila Ashtiani – Exhibition at 4Dverse Gallery

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African Beading with Tissi

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Indigenous basket weaving

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Now Moving Forward – an Amazing night with Julian Burnside and Guests

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I thought I should report on this special night, even if I am a bit late!
Such a wonderful evening!  So lovely to see a great turnout, and so it should be with such amazing guests. There was humour, entertainment, many ‘makes you think’ moments and some practical and compassionate ideas.
Our thanks again to our wonderful speakers and entertainers: Julian Burnside, Abe Nouk, Tasneem Chopra and E’eda

julian burnside

julian burnside

Abe Nouk

Abe Nouk

Tasneem Chopra & E'Eda

Tasneem Chopra & E’Eda

Ban, Linda & Keeru

Ban, Linda & Keeru

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Helen & Mitra serving up Delicious Iranian food

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Abe entertains!