Arts company to open shop for Weston’s creatives
Arts company Terrestrial has moved into Weston-super-Mares High Street.Picture: North Somerset Council - Credit: North Somerset Council
Weston’s creative minds are being encouraged to take part in a range of different activities organised by arts company Terrestrial, which is due to open its doors in the town’s High Street in the coming weeks.
The arts organisation is hoping the space in the High Street, which replaces the former Saltrock unit, will become a creative hub for the arts community in the town.
It is the first unit Terrestrial has opened and the company was given the keys to the unit by North Somerset Council.
The creative space now forms as part of the Sovereign Shopping Centre in Weston, which the authority purchased last year.
The company’s employees spent the weekend before last decorating it for its opening and it believes Weston is “the perfect place to launch our work.”
Director at Terrestrial, Tom Spencer, said: “There are hundreds of arts students and recent graduates of the town’s University Centre, along with scores of people who spend their evenings after work writing or painting.
“There are innovative tattoo artists, musicians, app-designers, you name it, but there’s almost nowhere for these folks to come together – so we wanted to find a space for creatives to work, to make a mess, to learn new skills and to collaborate.
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“We’ll be working with the council and the Sovereign Shopping Centre to organise events in the town centre that bring people together, support local businesses and enliven the area.”
Music, drama, photography, guerrilla marketing, gaming and coding including dancing classes will be on offer to people in the town by the company.
It intends to stay in the space for a year while the council looks for a suitable shopping unit to replace it.
Deputy leader of North Somerset Council, Cllr Elfan Ap Rees, said: “Offering temporary use of this otherwise vacant retail unit to Terrestrial and repurposing it for public use will offer a tremendous benefit to the local community.
“As customer behaviour is starting to change, shoppers are looking more towards a visitor experience than purely a retail one.
“Terrestrial will join a growing variety of town centre activities, along with our mix of chain and independent shops in and around the High Street.”
