Artists come together for a 24-hour Art-A-Thon to help save Liverpool community creative hub

Liverpool artists are coming together this May bank holiday weekend for a 24-hour Art-A-Thon to help save a community creative hub.

Smithdown Social Arts Hub is in danger of closing after failing to secure funding last month. 

Since it opened in 2021 on Smithdown Road, opposite the junction with Ullet Road, Smithdown Social Arts Hub has become a much-loved inclusive place for artists to exhibit and for events including poetry, music gigs and drawing classes.

But now it’s facing a financial crisis and came up with the idea of the Art-A-Thon to raise the cash needed to stay open.

Three main artists – Merce Badia, Ella Francesca Afellat and Sophie Powe – will create works round the clock in eight-hour shifts from 10am on Saturday May 3 to 10am on Sunday May 4. 

They’ll be joined by around 20 other artists at all times of the day and night.

Brenda Monahan, Director at Smithdown Social Arts Hub, says they’ve set an initial fundraising target of £2,500 and hope supporters will get involved and donate.

She explains:

“There are seven different ways that people can support us: they can become an artist during the Art-A-Thon and donate a piece of work, donate via GoFundMe, buy a raffle ticket to win an artwork, share our posts to help raise awareness, donate a piece of art if they can’t come along, sponsor an artist with a pledge, or offer CSR business sponsorship.

“Hopefully people will come in over the weekend and throw money into buckets around the gallery space too.

“We want this to be a real community event and the main artists will be in the window so people walking by will see them. 

“Our first artist, Merce, is going to invite people off the street to add to her art and then she will work around whatever they’ve added so that will be a collaborative community art piece.”

Brenda says since Smithdown Social Arts Hub launched it’s benefited hundreds of creatives from art to music, film and literature, providing a supportive creative and exhibition space.

“We’re approachable and compassionate, and one of the only local artist exhibition spaces left in south Liverpool, so over the past four years we’ve helped about 150 local artists to exhibit, many for the first time. 

“We also have social groups including weekly art socials for people who have autism or are neurodiverse, in partnership with Autistic Spectrum Collective. They’ve been coming since August 2022, at first just to create art and socialise, but we soon realised they might like to do an exhibition so that was an extra goal and we’ve done three exhibitions of their work so far.

“As well as art we help musicians, we’ve done videos for musicians and podcasts, we’ve published books, held a scriptwriting class and created short films with local filmmakers which are all on our website.

“We really are a multi-creative support space, and by providing creative services in the local community we improve mental health and reduce social isolation.”

Since October 2023 Brenda and her co-founder Paul have been unpaid volunteers at Smithdown Social Arts Hub, trying everything possible to cover the costs so people can carry on enjoying it. 

She hopes the weekend Art-A-Thon will give them a vital boost after their bid for funding was turned down and that the community will get behind their efforts.

“We’re appealing to everyone – don’t be one of those people that says it’s a shame that it’s gone, be one of those people that says I donated so it could continue.”

Support the Smithdown Social Arts Hub fundraiser here.

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