We are developing a network of creative spaces which creates new opportunities for the creative sector in Dundee to thrive.
Our goal is to 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.
Creative practitioners & businesses
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.
Advisers
Support us with skills
We are looking for people or organisations that can support us as part of an advisory group with expertise in:
If you can offer your skills please get in touch.
Landlords, funders & investors
Work with us
Financial investment and property is required to develop and realise our vision. Do you want to:
We would love to work with you, please get in touch.
We are working in partnership with Dundee City Council to occupy and animate a vacant space in Dundee City Centre for 3 months in early 2024.
We will use this space to pilot an adaptable creative space which offers creative coworking alongside an events programme which showcases and supports the creative sector. This will be a platform to share our vision for a permanent creative space and launch the next stage of the project.
More information on the space, programme and how to get involved will be shared soon.
Sign up to receive email updates about the development of Hapworks.
The need
Creative practitioners and businesses need access to long term space to establish, sustain and grow their practice or business in Dundee.
The need for creative space is also referenced in policy work including Scottish Government’s City Centre Recovery Task Force Report, 2022 (see Priority 4).
The opportunity
17%
of Dundee’s city centre units are vacant.
Higher than the Scottish average of 15.6%.
62%
of UK adults agree that cultural experiences on the high street give them a sense of pride about their local area and 50% would like to see more.
The scale
“Scotland’s creative industries employed 90,000 people in 2019 contributing £4.2 billion to the economy that year.”
Over 500 students graduate each year from creative industries courses at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Abertay University and Dundee & Angus College.
The potential
“Jobs in the creative industries are growing at
4 times the rate of the UK average.”
CREATIVE INDUSTRIES FEDERATION
“For every £1 of GVA generated by the arts and culture industry, an additional £1.14 of GVA is supported in the wider UK economy and for every 1 job in the arts and culture industry, an additional 1.65 jobs are supported in the wider UK economy.”
Hapworks is made up of creative practitioners, businesses and organisations based in the city who are working collaboratively to advocate and negotiate for better access to space for creativity. Since February 2023 Creative Dundee has actively engaged over 280 people through a programme of public events and workshops to better understand their needs and develop this collective vision.
We want to develop a network of spaces managed by the creative community which facilitates collaborations across disciplines and sectors, creates new opportunities and makes creativity visible and valued. Providing the security of long term space, will allow the creative sector to grow, take risks and reach its potential.
These spaces will enhance and maintain Dundee’s reputation as a vibrant and creative city, encouraging people to stay as well as attracting new talent. They will provide new opportunities for local people, beyond those working in the creative sector; creating places for anyone to experience creativity and access the space and tools they need to make creative projects happen, demonstrating community wealth building in action.
Our Priorities
Strategic Outcomes
Whilst there are vital creative spaces in the city, over the last decade we have seen a significant loss of others, many of which were catalysts for innovation and Dundee’s current cultural identity.
In Dundee’s Creative Industries Strategy 2017 - 2021, lack of creative space was identified as a key challenge and with fewer spaces now available, creative practitioners are leaving the city to find opportunities elsewhere. In order to maintain our reputation as a vibrant and creative city we must make space for creative practitioners, collaborations and experimentation to happen.
Testimonials
How to
get involved
Creative practitioners & businesses
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.
Advisers
Support us with skills
We are looking for people or organisations that can support us as part of an advisory group with expertise in:
If you can offer your skills please get in touch.
Landlords, funders & investors
Work with us
Financial investment and property is required to develop and realise our vision. Do you want to:
We would love to work with you, please get in touch.
Hapworks aims to create welcoming and sociable creative spaces which create the conditions for new connections to be made and as a result new collaborations and new work.
hap - chance, luck and fortune.
works - references Dundee’s industrial heritage, physical spaces for process and production.
The Haparanda - “The Hap” opened in 1957 and was located on Arbroath Rd, Dundee. A confectionary shop and cafe by day, transforming into a trendy, happening hang out in the evenings with music and performances.
Hapworks has been enabled by Creative Dundee with support from Creative Scotland’s Recovery Fund for Cultural Organisations and Dundee City Council’s Vacant to Vibrant initiative.
© Hapworks 2023