Aloha Oe: A Creative Workshop With Stacy Makishi

On Saturday, 18 April, the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts in Brighton is hosting a day-long workshop titled Aloha Oe, led by the Hawaiian artist Stacy Makishi. Running from 11:30 to 16:30, the session is co-presented by Marlborough Productions as part of Makishi’s annual participatory project, Walking Each Other Home. The day is built around the concept of "creative nostalgia," using rituals to explore how art can be used for healing and transformation. Stacy has spent forty years working across live art, theatre, comedy, and visual arts, and she uses that background to lead participants through various playful tasks, including writing and image-making.

The workshop is specifically aimed at creatives who might feel a bit stuck or disconnected from their usual process. It isn't necessarily about learning a specific technical skill, but rather about finding a supportive environment to refocus and build connections with others. The atmosphere is intended to be relaxed, and the venue itself is fully wheelchair accessible, which fits with the overall goal of creating a space where everyone feels welcome to explore their creative path. Stacy’s approach is rooted in the idea of sharing her own process to foster a sense of community, or what she describes as putting more "aloha" into the world through the power of art.

In terms of getting a spot, the event uses a "Pay What You Decide" system, with a suggested price range between £5 and £20. This model helps keep the workshop open to more people, though it is a popular session; currently, tickets are marked as sold out, and there is a waiting list available for those interested in joining. For those who manage to attend the five-hour session, it offers a chance to engage with a long-standing artistic practice that prioritises the transformative power of the creative process. It’s a chance to see how forty years of experience in the arts can be distilled into a single day of collaborative work and reflection in a local Brighton setting.