Tapping into Ipswich’s at times overlooked creative scene could drive the city to new heights of prosperity.
That is the idea Pauline Bradbery and Caragh Dickson want to explore by starting a conversation with the community.
The pair make a living from the creative industries and say connecting more people with the city’s many artists, musicians, visual artists, writers and photographers would have positive cultural and economic outcomes.
They recently started Creative Ipswich to help those working in the creative space to come together.
They are looking for local Ipswich creative people, such as artists, musicians, writers, photographers, visual artists, dancers and the like, to come together to create more opportunities in Ipswich for talented locals who work, study or play in the creative industries.
They believe Ipswich has all the ingredients to become a creative city.
“If we want to work on bigger projects like large festivals that drive tourism, physical hubs for community or economic development, we need to pool resources and get more people behind these ideas,” Ms Dickson said.
Ms Bradbery believes it’s an exciting chance to actually change the future.
The task is made harder, however, as some creative people and agencies are listed as being ‘in Brisbane’ which makes it difficult to find them.
“People need to be Ipswich proud,” Ms Bradbery said.
“We’ve got some amazing creative talent and they need to stand up and own that they are in Ipswich.
“Ipswich has changed its face now, we are in a new era.
“People may think negatively about Ipswich because of the past. People need to start speaking up about what is new and what’s good about it.”
Ms Dickson agrees that businesses want to support locals but it is currently too time consuming to try and find them.
“As a business owner, I don’t have time to spend six hours scouring Facebook to find that one local hashtag,” Ms Dickson said.
“It’s going to be a great exchange because the more creative who stand up and say ‘we are here in Ipswich’ the easier for everybody to find them.”
Ms Dickson said the first thing they want to do is meet with other local creatives and find out what they want from their local creative hub.
“Some people have said they would like a physical hub where they can come together around other creatives, others would prefer to work solo but still want to be connected,” she said.
“Collobration is absolutely crucial and skill sharing is everything.
“If we can all work together towards a goal, we can come up with some really great ideas to put our city on the map as a creative destination.
“That is what is going to be a turning point for our industry and also for our city.”
What: Creative Ipswich invites local Ipswich creative people to head along, share ideas and work together towards a common goal.
When: Friday 24 May, 6.30pm – 10.30pm
Where: 97A Winland Drive, Deebing Heights
