Imogen Ross is a local event and live performance designer, visual art educator and the owner of Thirroul’s Go Create Art studio.

What is Go Create Art?

Go Create Art is an art school for young people, offering regular after-school classes during term time, and a series of age-specific workshops during most school holidays.

The classes attract young people aged 7-14 years to come along, make new friends, learn new skills, build on existing ones and explore the diversity of what art can be. It is not focused on the end result so much as the process of making art.

Why did you start the business?

I started Go Create Arts as a creative response to the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020. As a professional theatre designer, I was hit hard by the sudden loss of a year's worth of contracts back in March 2020. I had been teaching art classes for several years beforehand, and knew that this was an area I loved.

My mother ran a successful drama school in the regional town I grew up in, and I learnt a lot watching her build a small creative business from the ground up.

I hired Coledale Community Hall and Thirroul Community Centre a couple of days a week and began offering after-school art classes to primary aged students. Using only word of mouth, local community Facebook pages and hand-designed posters, I started Go Create Arts with 18 students.

Less than a year in, the second lockdown meant that I had to learn to adapt my art classes to online delivery, and then began presenting creative workshops online for other performing arts organisations, connecting with young people stuck at home, with scarce resources.

Two years on, Go Create Art is thriving, with over 50 students attending classes on a weekly basis, and many more students signing up in the school holidays.

Why is it important for kids to explore art skills?

Art communicates so much more than what an object looks like in a photograph, yet many young people feel that they are 'bad' at art because they cannot draw an object to look like that object.

I want kids to explore the possibilities, to push themselves to discover what they love about being creative and to realise that art is unique and expressive and doesn't need to look like anyone else's work. School often reduces their confidence in their creative ability. I want to maximise it.

What is next for Go Create Art?

This year, Go Create Art has grown to a team of four talented art teachers delivering a range of fun after-school classes, as I have recently started working part-time at NIDA as their new Sustainability Manager.

Local artists Gabrielle Freer and Samantha Arnull have joined the Go Create Art team on Mondays and Wednesdays respectively, and ex-Keira High School art teacher Allison Lawrence returns from Europe in Term 3 to start an exciting new textiles and sewing class for young and old. There are also talented guest teachers like collage artist Angie Cass and Leonor Guedes that often join in the holiday program.

Watch this space!

To find out more, check out the Go Create Art website or Facebook page