Artspace Lifespace bring affordable creative desk and studio space to the second floor of Sparks in our Department of Imagination, a place where entrepreneurs, freelancers and creatives can thrive in a supportive and collaborative environment.

Available spaces:

• Second-Floor Creative Desk Space: 18 desk spaces within a coworking space of 56m2 at £70 per person per calendar month (wheelchair accessible)
• Second-Floor Purple Studio (wheelchair accessible)
• Second-Floor White Studio (wheelchair accessible)
• Third-Floor Studio 11 (not wheelchair accessible)

What is Sparks?

Sparks is a unique new sustainability and arts hub in Bristol bringing together organisations and individuals from across the city to pilot new ways to better serve our community and address the climate, ecological and cost of living crisis. We want to explore how the heart of our city could change to help create a greener, fairer future. What makes it unique is the mixture of ethical traders (over 100 represented), artists and educators in the heart of Bristol’s shopping area.

Sparks is co-created by Global Goals Centre and Artspace Lifespace, both charities, with the ground floor retail designed by legendary creatives, Invisible Circus.

The second and third floor form the Department of Imagination ‘Imagineering’ which provides creative desk and studio space for artists. We are interested in supporting the development of talent who work at the intersection of creative arts, technology and sustainability.

What the space looks like:

Opening hours and access:

• Monday to Saturday: 9.30am to 10pm
• Sunday: 10am to 10pm

Imagineering is located on the second floor of Sparks Bristol. The artists’ entrance is via Horsefair. Each desk is a permanent desk and artists get their own locker and access to breakout space on the second floor plus access to the Department of Imagination common area on the first floor. Imagineers can also avail of a 50% discount on space hire in the Department of Imagination.

Is the second floor accessible to wheelchairs? The normal entrance to the artists studios is via stairs only. However we can arrange for access to the 2nd floor via the passenger lift on the ground floor shop or the goods lift which we have brought back into use so that it can carry passengers. Please note however that Duty Manager support will be required to gain entry to the ground floor. We are currently waiting on water to be restored to the accessible toilet. We apologise that due to the fact that we do not have a lease of 10-15 years + we are unable to access capital works funding that would enable to make the building fully accessible. 

How much is desk space:

Desk space is priced from £70 to £120 (beside windows) per calendar month for creatives with a limited number of ‘hot desks’ available at £10 per day. 

Bursary desk space:

We now have 10 free desk spaces available from September-December 2023 for people in the creative industry who otherwise would not be able to afford to join our community. We are particularly interested in supporting talent from excluded or marginalised groups.

Enquiries: 

To enquire about availability of creative desk space please email meg@sparksbristol.co.uk with the subject header Imagineering Desk at Sparks.