By Jess Driver, 7th February 2026
Art thrives when everyone can participate; it offers imagination, creativity, and shared joy. When people are welcomed into creative spaces, arts environments become a communities. There is no limit to creativity so why should we limit the access…
By Dasha Kurbatova, 14th January 2026
There is a palpable divide in people’s minds between ‘fine’ art and craft or decoration. There is an intolerance towards something ‘crafty’ being considered art, even the word itself, ‘crafty’ can be used as an insult, a diminishment of work. A painting in a gallery would seldom be labelled ‘crafty’, but hand-made items, jewellery, clothing etc. can often be attributed this label…
By Kate Lawrence, 2nd December 2025
Very sadly Nottingham is losing the City Arts building in Hockley at the beginning of March 2026, due to the challenging pressures of the current economic climate. Although City Arts will continue to flourish beyond the building. However, it got me thinking about why physical spaces are so important for supporting community arts-based projects and why they are essential to add value. Buildings are more than bricks and mortar; they serve a multitude of purposes to a plethora of groups…
By Ione Vaughan, 11th November 2025
Hockley Hustle – the one-day music and art festival transforming the streets of Nottingham each October – is featured in every fresher’s ‘Best Night Out in Notts’ rankings and every instagram’s ‘Not To Miss’ list. Young Hustlers, occurring on the same day in October, is a child’s introduction into all things dance, music, street art, and more. Green Hustle rolls round in May and celebrates prioritising our planet by bringing together businesses, organisations and communities with the same ethos at heart…
By Emrys Green, 3rd October 2025
Emrys answers a few questions about being self employed. There’s answers to several questions. So if you’re starting out in the world of work or becoming self employed for the first time – this article is to help you get going and working legally.
Being self-employed is easier than some think. It’s often referred to as being a freelancer too. It offers excellent flexibility to choose what work you do and saves you doing all the registration paper work with every new employer. This guide gives you some top tips and should help get you through your first tax return…
By Ione Vaughan, 20th November 2025
Back at the end of 2022 whilst I was still living in York after graduating Uni I attended my first PechaKucha evening, which started me down a path which would change the way I approach creatives and community events forever…
By Fred Baker, 17th October 2025
For many years, organisation was the thing I never could get right – half a lifetime of middling school reports are evidence enough for that. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to get organised – had I woken up one morning to find my life fully alphabetised, I’d surely have been happier for it. But I never did. When my disorganisation got on top of me, a panic-stricken evening left me rooting through half-crumpled paperwork, establishing a system that I would pursue until the consequences seemed just distant enough to be safe…
By Blaze Lydon, 25th March 2025
On the 8th of March, 2025, The Connecting Notts Board hosted the “Connecting Notts: Creative Networking” event, a gathering that brought together over 30 young creatives eager to glean insights from some experienced freelancer creative’s in the Midlands creative scene. The event offered a platform for aspiring creatives to learn firsthand about navigating the challenges and seizing the opportunities of freelance life in the creative field…
By Jess Driver, 19th June 2025
As humans, we fixate more on the negatives than the positives. Within the arts industry, we as a collective aim to promote freedom, creativity, to escape the negatives. However, sometimes the negativities and doubts sneak up on you, making you question your abilities, feel isolated and fear exposure of being a “fraud”…