Support Underbank Studios

The Vision

We envision 11 Little Underbank consisting of up to 10 studio spaces for local makers, as well as shared printing facilities available for use by both residents and the community. We will be, in part, a public-facing space, with a print shop displaying both the work of our residents and other local makers. This public space will also feature a dedicated area for arts workshops such as - risograph printing, collage making and other crafts. We picture our space changing and evolving - just as we do. With this in mind, we would like to create a dialogue with other local creatives, students and organisations in order to design / organise events that serve our community well. We want our shared public facing space to be a cultural hub for Underbank, taking whatever form it desires. Little Underbank is the perfect place for us to realise our dream because we were raised in and recognise the potential Stockport has. We enjoy collaboration with creatives of all disciplines as well as bringing art to the community in Stockport, which is why we are so eager to make this dream a reality here and now.

Underbank Studios is a not for profit organisation, we will not be taking any profit out of this project, any money that is made from our residents rent, activities and facilities will be siphoned back into the project to cover our rent, bills, upkeep and the delivery of our facilities and workshops.

What we need funding for:

All of the money we raise from this fundraiser will help us with the following costs of starting out on this project: 

- Initial costs associated with taking on the lease.
- Essential electrical repairs to ensure safety throughout the building, which is a huge part of the funding we need.
- Fire and Health & Safety reports and implementing the recommendations from these. 
- Equipment for the shared Screen Printing room including a drying rack, storage, screens and printing tools. 
- Furniture and display pieces for the shop area.
- Large multi-purpose workshop table. 
- Creating a partition to allow more shared working spaces on the ground floor.
-Ramps and repairs to our accessible toilet, making the ground floor space - wheelchair accessible.
- Exterior and interior paint!
- Dehumidifiers. 
- Added security (Potential shutter, alarm, insurance) 

We are in need of the funds by mid April to pay the Electrician and finance sourcing the materials we need to get the space up and running. It’s a tight timeline but we’re all excited by the challenge! We’ve already had many artists interested in renting a workspace with us, and we’re very confident that we’ll be able to make this space sustainable once our initial costs have been met.

We need your support so we can begin work and transform the building into our vision:



Each of us has a passion for creating art that is accessible and gets the local community involved. Our resident Heather runs Roots Press, a Risograph printing service which will be available to residents and other artists alike at very affordable rates. The screen printing facility will be a DIY set up, available to residents as part of their studio rent as well as members of the public and visiting artists on a very affordable basis. We won’t be offering a screen printing service, but the facility in which people can print small print runs for themselves. These facilities are often expensive and difficult to find, and as freelance artists we simply want to make these facilities available at a price that is as low as possible and only goes towards the upkeep of the space itself - no profit involved. 

We’re excited about the potential for this space to be a safe, supportive environment for creatives to learn, create and bounce off one another. Your support means so much to us as artists who want to support other artists, collaborating and encouraging each other to keep creating and forge our own way.