We used the national Empty Shop project as a way to pilot our pop-up Tea&Cake Cafe! It’s quite simple really – we put on free Tea and Cake for a day converting an empty shop in Egremont and an empty shop in Whitehaven into inviting spaces where the public could drop by on a whim.
But this wasn’t just free cake – it was free cake decorating! The artist’s cafe where everyone is an artist. After the cakes were decorated we took some lovely pictures of everyone’s creations which we printed off and hung in the window of the shop making the shop window a colourful gallery of local art.
We wanted to develop a way we could chat to anyone, everyone and anywhere. Tea&Cake has been developed as an effective community consultation tool. During our pop up days we filled in quick and colourful questionnaires with everyone who came in and were pleasantly suprised by the demographic we were reaching – Every age, both genders equally, groups, families and lone people, and many people who did not normally participate in creative workshops.
This project was funded through the Arts officer at Copeland Borough Council.