Make/Shift Spaces fills Nelson’s empty retail spaces with vibrant installations by artists, community and special interest groups.

Make/Shift Spaces is part of a global movement to re-use, re-invigorate and re-present un-used spaces in our city’s places.  We revitalise Nelson’s empty retail spaces by generating opportunities for artists, creatives, community and special interest groups who can fill a space with vibrant installations and activity.  We also use some of the spaces to tell stories about our community, with window displays and images.

Because all the spaces are temporary, Make/Shift Spaces is about short-term solutions with long-term effects.  Make/Shift Spaces works directly with property owners and real estate agents, who are super keen to be involved in bringing life and creativity to our smart little city.

We’re not aiming to fill every empty space at once, but rather work on a progressive roll-out, and being really clever about matching the right project with the right space.

Make/Shift Spaces wants to make Nelson an incubator for new thinking, ideas and actions, and to challenge and inform what constitutes a civic environment in the 21st century.