Wagga Ambo Gallery is set to come alive once more with the launch of The Station Creative Workspace. Photo: Supplied.
The former Wagga Wagga District Ambulance Station is set to come to life once more with the official launch of The Station Creative Workspace.
Having lain dormant for decades, the former ambulance station failed to utilise its heritage-listed space, having little to no interaction with the Wagga Wagga community.
This all changed in 2023. Seeking a new base of operations, Eastern Riverina Arts moved in and has since turned the space into a creative hub for local artists and performers. Now two years on, ERA will officially open the space up to the public, launching The Station Creative Workspace on Friday (16 May).
“Next weekend, from the 16th to the 18th, is going to be our official launch,” Eastern Riverina Arts executive director Ashleigh Baxter said.
“So on the 16th, Friday night, we’ve got a really exciting evening. We’ve got live music happening outside, live projection art happening, and we’ll have food trucks and an outdoor bar as well.
“The gallery space will be open, so the exhibition that’s in there will be open at the same time, and the whole purpose is just to open the whole space up and invite the community to come down and check it out and enjoy the creative industries hub that we’ve been building over the past couple of years.”
Ms Baxter said the Riverina’s creative community continued to expand, and the new space would allow its members to show off their work and network with others.
“It’s got a lot of different functions,” she said.
“It’s got an excellent gallery space that has already been used by a bunch of great local artists, but it will also serve as a workshop space.
“People have done, they’ve done dinners down there. They’ve done events, artist talks and presentations. So it’s a really versatile space.
“We have also got an upstairs meeting room that doubles as a bookable photography studio space, which people can book for a really reasonable rate. So, it’s about providing those opportunities for artists.”
Ms Baxter said she was excited for people to check out the space during its launch this weekend.
“We moved in in April of 2023, so once we moved in, we started to slowly make improvements to the site, just small things like having it painted and putting in carpet, things like that,” she said.
“It was an underutilised building. It was vacant for a very long time, so it definitely needed some love.
“I think that the fantastic thing about the launch weekend as a whole is that it really captures a whole variety of different art forms. We’ve got the music happening outside. We’ve got the live projection art, which will be fantastic. We’ve got a pottery workshop. We’ve got a market that’s showcasing all of our amazing local creative artists, which is wonderful.
“I’m really looking forward to people being able to come in and enjoy the space and see what the potential is for this site and what we can achieve here.”
The official launch night will take place on Friday from 6:30 to 8:30, followed by a weekend of workshops, markets, music and exhibitions on Saturday and Sunday.
To learn more, visit the Eastern Riverina Arts website here.
