Space for creativity to thrive.
Space for creativity to thrive.
We want to develop a network of creative spaces which creates new opportunities for the creative sector in Dundee to thrive. We advocate for and support the creation of secure, long-term space driven by the needs of the creative community which facilitates collaboration, makes the sector visible and valued and demonstrates its potential.
Hapworks is currently led by Creative Dundee in collaboration with Dundee’s creative sector and city partners.
Since February 2023, we have brought together creative practitioners and business, grassroots organisations and existing spaces through events, workshops and a survey to develop a collective vision for the future of creative space in Dundee.
Between February 2024 and June 2025 our pilot space Hapworks_00 occupied and animated a vacant retail unit in Dundee City Centre to test aspects of this long term vision and demonstrate the role creative communities can play in city regeneration.
Our report Foundations for Growth: Creative Space Infrastructure in Dundee aims to highlight the economic and social impacts of creative spaces, share the learnings from Hapworks_00 and suggest next steps we could take as a city to establish and support long-term creative space.
Tell us what you need.
We actively want to involve creative communities and existing spaces in the development of this vision. Working together we have a more impactful voice and are better able to share knowledge, experiences, resources and networks.
If you are a creative practitioner, organisation or business, help us advocate for more creative spaces and inform our future work by telling us what creative space you need through events and workshops.
Keep in touch and join our mailing list.
Support us with your skills.
We are looking for people and organisations that want to be involved in new ways of working and can support us as part of an advisory group with expertise in fundraising, property acquisition, planning, and law.
If you can offer your skills, please get in touch.
Work with us.
Financial investment and property is required to develop and realise this vision. Do you want to help create new economic opportunities for the creative sector? Demonstrate new and innovative models for vacant spaces and invest in the future of Dundee?
We would love to work with you, please get in touch.
Hapworks_00 was a pilot creative coworking and event space occupying and animating a vacant unit at 7 Castle Street in Dundee City Centre from February 2024 to June 2025.
The space offered creative coworking, event space hire and hosted a diverse programme of events and workshops, animating the street and showcasing creative work in a visible city centre location. It demonstrated the role creative space and communities can play in the reimagining of our city centres, as well as testing new models for long-term space.
Hapworks_00 was facilitated by Creative Dundee and supported by Dundee City Council through their Vacant to Vibrant initiative and Creative Scotland’s Recovery Fund for Cultural Organisations.
Hapworks_00 opened up conversations about possible long-term space and we are excited to move forward and collaborate to explore these opportunities.
To instigate lasting change, the creative sector, local authorities and city partners, and the property sector must come together to re-evaluate current systems, continue to test new ways of making vacant space accessible to creative communities, and collectively attract the investment needed to support existing creative spaces and the creation of new ones.
Our first online event in February 2023 highlighted a real desire for change and an active community in Dundee that wants to make good things happen. We heard from creatives in the city navigating the issue of space, and were joined by Ryan Macleod sharing Agency of None’s work on space and Kirsty Hilda Cameron owner of Second Home Studio + Cafe in Aberdeen.
In March 2023 we formed a Creative Spaces Working Group, made up of creative practitioners and community leaders to develop an initial vision for creative space in Dundee. In May we shared this with the wider creative community to gather feedback and prompt exchange.
As Dundee welcomed Art Night to its cultural venues and public spaces in June 2023, Creative Dundee partnered with Art Night to lead two conversations with local collectives and organisations to explore how artists and communities creatively use and reimagine space in and around the city.
Sam Gonçalves reflects on the past and continuing precarity of creative space in Dundee, and the possibilities that emerge when spaces are given a chance to thrive.
Creative practitioners from Dundee’s LGBTQ+ community share what it means for them to feel safe and represented in the city’s creative spaces.
Informed by the experience of producing Dundee Design Festival, Agency of None reflect on how collaborative environments may lead us into new, exciting and unknown creative futures.