New arts café for families opens in Newbury town centre

TWO women with a passion for art and art education have opened a new arts café in Newbury town centre – LoLA Creative Space and Café for Families.

Behind the initiative at 50B Northbrook Street – near the clocktower – are Alara Hindle and Selina Swayne “both mamas and sisters-in-law too”.

As they explain: “We want to reach as many children as possible in the belief that process-based, artist-inspired experiences are an important way for children to develop problem-solving skills, analytical thinking, self-confidence and to have fun.

“Art matters. We are enriched not only by appreciating the work of others, but also by creating art for ourselves. By painting, writing, playing music…!

“We want to enable as many children as possible to have the opportunity to explore and experiment with lots of different creative materials.

“Unfortunately two-thirds of primary schools in England receive less art education now than they did a decade ago. GCSE arts entries have declined by 47 per cent since 2010. And there are 15,000 fewer art teachers in state secondaries than in 2011.

“Yet we all understand the power and importance of the arts for ourselves and our children.

“Every child deserves the chance to study creative subjects that widen their horizons” said Keir Starmer at the Labour 2024 conference…”

Over the past five years Alara and Selina have built up LoLA (Lots of Lovely Art) into a successful company that creates magical educational art boxes, sketchbooks and art-activity booklets to support children of all ages in being creative at home.

LoLA boxes and sketchbooks sell in a variety of retail spaces such as Harrods, Molly Meg, Conscious Craft, the Science Museum and online.

Wanting to create a space in which they can also engage children in hands-on art classes, they have now developed the LoLA Creative Space and Café.

As well as a warm welcoming café, the workshop space offers a wide variety of art classes to support creativity for the whole family.

All ages are welcome, from explorative art sessions for Little Ones aged two to four, after-school classes and home-education options for school-aged children, art workshops for young adults and sessions for the whole family on the weekend.

And Alana and Selina are keen to welcome anyone interested in visiting the space: “Pop in and come see what we do.”

https://www.lotsoflovelyart.org

Alara and Selina

Alara studied Islamic Art and Archaeology at Worcester College, Oxford. From there she went on to work in museums and on art books before she started teaching art privately and in schools. In 2005 she opened an art studio space in Istanbul (the first LoLA) which influenced the creative lives of hundreds of children. In 2017 she moved with her family back to the UK.

Selina studied first at Central Saint Martins and then The Royal College of Art. She has been a successful graphic designer, both in studios and freelance, for the past 12 years from creating books for artists and photographers to campaigns for advertising agencies