At ACC our organisation is underpinned by kindness, generosity and community at all levels, from our committee of governance, to our staff and our programs.

As you know, we focus on encouraging everyone in our neighbourhood to live healthy, sustainable, active and creative lives. And we run a range of friendly activities that particularly create opportunities for people who are isolated and feeling lonely (for whatever reason and at whatever life stage) to build neighbourhood/community connections. We also prioritise inclusive programming to enable people of all abilities to do the things they most love.

So … if you are kind-hearted and community minded yourself and would be interested in contributing strategically to our organisation … we’d love you to join our committee. Ideally we’re looking for two people - to replace Andy and Amaya who left at the end of last (we’re sorry to see you both leave but we’d also like thank you sincerely for your wonderful contributions over the last few years).

Our committee meets 6-8 times a year on the 4th Monday of the month at 8pm … excluding school holidays (when ACC is closed).

If you are interested please call Leanne.

Locals Annie and Silvana have booked a stall at our upcoming market featuring plants and seedlings … to raise awareness of Kinfolk. All off their own bat.

Which is fabulous … because we actually have a partnership with this organisation and have Kinfolk meals 🥘 in our freezer for anyone needing food support.

Here’s the pitch Annie asked us to share about their stall …. Wonderful!

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Walk away with a fabulous FREE plant from the Makers Market on Saturday 27th. We have plants that are perfect for the balcony, plants that withstand the harshest conditions - the salvias, the succulents and simple daisies. We have plants that flower - button daisies, bush daisies and more. We have herbs.

Every single plant has been grown with love to raise awareness of Kinfolk’s Food Relief Program.

As we emerge from lockdown, we're feeling grateful but not completely unscathed, and we know we're not alone. For many businesses in Melbourne, the impact of necessary but commercially damaging lockdowns has been serious, and the profits few and far between.

Kinfolk are a Melbourne social enterprise, providing in-house capacity building to people from all walks of life, and essential food relief to people in hardship or escaping family violence. Like many in the hospitality industry they are struggling, and need our help to bounce back.

So that’s why at the Alphington Christmas Makers Market, we're inviting you to #PlantForKinfolk🌱!

Pick up a new plant for your post-lockdown garden and check out the pantry re-stocks, staples, and dinners that this wonderful social enterprise and its volunteers keep coming to women in need.

Look forward to seeing you on the day! And look out on Instagram for #plantforkinfolk🌱

We’ve got a big weekend coming up at ACC with the Christmas Makers Market on Saturday from 10am-1pm, and the Alphington Open Studios event also on.

If you’d like to pop past on Friday night between 5-7pm you can help us celebrate the opening of the salon exhibition at ACC that is part of the Alphington Open Studios weekends. Our salon exhibition includes works from all the artists with their studios open over the next two weekends plus works by other local artists. It should give you a lovely snapshot of what’s on offer … Share a drink with us, admire the art, collect a map (if you haven’t got one in your letterbox already) and then plan to take a neighbourhood walk and visit local artists in their studios over the next two weekends. Find out more here.

Then come back on Saturday morning for our Christmas Makers Market. We have 25 stallholders who have been busy making lovely things. This is a great opportunity for you to buy local and support your neighbours creative endeavours this year for Christmas presents.

We hope you can make it!

It has been lovely to have people back at ACC … here’s some pictures from our preserve makers. So … put some medlar jelly, cucumber 🥒 pickles and tomato 🍅 relish on your must buy list this Christmas! Our makers market is coming up next Saturday 27th November. Pop past from 10am-1pm for a sausage sizzle kindly run by the Ivanhoe Rotary, some family friendly Christmas craft … and local shopping. We’ll have 25 stalls all run by people from the neighbourhood selling locally made things … how lovely (and a GREAT way for you to have a more sustainable Christmas by reducing your ‘shopping miles’ through locally made gifts). Hooray!

We are delighted to feature the whimsical drawings of Marianna Marx on the fence at ACC as part of the Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery.

Marianna runs Gloworm Studios down in Fairfield (on the south side of Fairfield train station) and it is wonderful to be able to showcase and support her artistic endeavours in our local community.

You can find further information about her and the works in the ANG exhibition here. And then … take a walk past ACC and check them out on our fence!