Make/Shift Spaces is part of a global movement to re-use, re-invigorate and re-present unused spaces in our city’s places. We revitalise Nelson’s empty retail spaces by generating opportunities for artists, creatives, community and special interest groups who can fill a space with vibrant installations and activity.

Make/Shift began in 2018 as a way of transforming empty retail spaces, quickly convincing property owners of the value of having activity and vitality in their empty spaces, making their properties a more desirable prospect to potential tenants.

Make/Shift Spaces conceived and worked in partnership with the Suter Art Gallery - Te Aratoi o Whakatū to deliver to the Suter ArtWalk. The project presents supersized artworks from the Suter Collection that have a regional story to twenty-six walls around the city centre. This project has been so successful that it is presently being extended to Richmond, Motueka, Takaka, and Mapua in Tasman District.

Make/Shift Spaces' initiatives transform empty spaces into something that has colour and life, has engagement with a variety of people and communities and creates a better atmosphere in our city.

Because our team of creatives have the skills and know-how to the many ways a space can be transformed we are well equipped to act in an advisory and intermediary capacity for a much broader range of projects.

Make/Shift Spaces is making Nelson an incubator for new thinking, ideas and actions that challenge and inform our civic environment in the 21st Century.

MakeShift Spaces Incorporated are a not-for-profit organisation.