We didn’t get to publish the beautiful photos that Kalimna took from our fun community weekend last week because we had a technical computer hitch … but we’re back up and running now.

So thank you to the Alphington Open Studios artists who we worked with for the Open Studios weekends. It was fabulous to have a shared opening night that everyone could come along to and just super to have works by all the artists in our space. Yarra Council provided us with some funding to activate our inside hanging space which supported this project.

And then thanks to our stallholders who made wonderful produce and goods for the Christmas Makers Market on the Saturday. And thanks to all the community who came along to shop and enjoy our lovely neighbourhood. I know I made a good start to my Christmas present shopping … and I am sure lots of others did too.

A special thanks to Ivanhoe Rotary who personned our BBQ. It makes such a difference to our centre to have these sorts of community partnerships and we value them so much. And my mum Cheryl who ran the kids activity - she’s a gem and the trees were very cute. And finally, finally Elaine who volunteered on our craft stall. She’s an amazing knitter and community giver as well.

Thanks to everyone who came along for Christmas lunch. It was a funny old day - sunny ☀️ one minute and cloudy ⛅️ the next - but we shared a lovely meal together - cold meats and salads, including lettuce from Sandra and Jim’s garden, nasturtium flowers from ours, pickles made by our preserves group and a delicious Gusto passion fruit sponge kindly donated by Anne.

Manu came along early to help us set up - thanks Manu! Jim won the lucky door prize and shared his chocolate winnings.

Don’t forget to come along to the Alphington Bowls Club at 7pm on the 19th of December to enjoy some Christmas Carols with your neighbours.

We’ve been delighted to contribute to expanding the artists involved in the Alphington Open Studios weekends this year with our salon exhibition featuring works by all the open studios artists along with a wonderful mix of works by other local artists both established and emerging.

At ACC (with help from Yarra Arts) we’ve been exploring ways to engage with local artists and activate our hanging space and this exhibition has enabled us to demonstrate the potential of our building and has also opened up conversations about exhibiting in our space.

As a result, in 2022 we’ll be looking to hold more regular community art exhibitions that enable a unique mix of artists to exhibit together.

It is just wonderful to be able to celebrate the creativity in our community.

We had a steady stream of visitors over the two weekends. If you enjoyed this exhibition, or are an artist who would like to join in next time, keep an eye out for future dates and details in our program (out before Christmas).

Win. Our longstanding friend Win (who also purchased a ticket for Bev) was the lucky winner of our raffle.

We dropped off the prize to her on Tuesday … and forgot to take a photo. But she was pretty chuffed!

Thanks Nelson Alexander for your long-standing support of our neighbourhood house with advertising boards for our events and raffle prizes etc. along the way.