Pop Up Culture Hub Launched in Coffs City Centre Coffs Coast Coffs Coast News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - October 29, 2020 A mockup of the new Culture Hub Exhibition space where you can currently see local children’s artwork as a response to the bushfires last year. CULTURE Hub, a vibrant pop up exhibitions and events in the Coffs Coast region, has been officially launched. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au It is a temporary, inner-city, arts and cultural extravaganza. A partnership of Coffs Central and Coffs Harbour City Council’s Library, Museum and Gallery (LMG) section, the Culture Hub will bring a fascinating range of arts and cultural activities right into the heart of the city centre. “The pop-up exhibitions and events that Coffs Central has previously hosted on Level One have proved to be hugely popular – and the new Hub is going to offer even more cultural happenings for people of all ages to enjoy,” said Coffs Harbour Mayor, Councillor Denise Knight. “Being able to pop in and soak up an amazing cultural experience while you’re out and about in the City Centre makes it so much more accessible for so many more people. “It’s going to be a fantastic attraction for both the arts and local businesses.” The first exhibition is one close to everyone’s hearts, one year on from the Liberation Trail bushfire. The Creative Recovery Projects: The Bushfires features the works and words of local primary school students who were affected. “It is an exhibition of works by students from Coramba Primary, Nana Glen Primary and Ulong Public Schools in the Orara Valley and showcases their artistic responses to the terrible bushfires of 2019 that they went through,” said Ashleigh Frost, LMG Programs Coordinator. “The works are the result of an outreach program – the Creative Recovery Project – spearheaded by Council’s Regional Gallery and Museum as part of our ongoing bushfire recovery initiatives. “The Project included creative workshops and activities for students with Gumbaynggirr Elder Uncle Mark Flanders and Art Therapist Emma Gentle to help them work through their experiences of the November bushfires. “Each school became a vital way for children and families to connect with each other and maintain familiar routines after such a terrifying time. So we worked with the children in their school communities to help them reflect, process and recover – and the artworks clearly reveal how raw and vivid an experience it was. They’re also fascinating because they show a very different view of what’s important to a child during a time like that, as opposed to an adult,” said Ms Gentle. The exhibition runs until 14 November. By Sandra MOON Some of the artwork from grades 5 and 6 at Nana Glen Primary School feature in The Creative Recovery Project: Bushfires showing now at the Culture Hub at Coffs Central. Photos: supplied by Fire & Fly Media.