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Union Collaborative Inc.

@unioncollab

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Culture Based
Creative Led
People Centred
Community Driven.
We are Union Collaborative Inc.

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WKNDS x UNION
October 10–11, 2026

Two experiences happening at The UNION this weekend. Come discover, explore, make and play.

———
TANDEM | PART STUDIO, PART STORE
Saturday, October 10 | 10 AM–1 PM

The doors of @tandem_movement Collective and Design Store open again at POD 4, UNION at Beckwith.
featuring the fashion of a DREAMSPACES RESIDENCY Maker @crochetkiing, surrounded by thoughtfully made and discovered objects, each with a story, a purpose and a place in everyday life.

Part studio, part store, part conversation about beauty, function and the things we choose to live with. Come explore. Find something for your body, your walls, your table, your floor, or simply your imagination. We hope you leave with something that inspires you, whether or not you take anything home.
———
HAND + EYE | FLIP IT AND REVERSE IT
Sunday, October 11 | 2–5 PM

What happens when we change the way we look, the way we draw and the way we participate?
This Sunday, Hand + Eye flips the familiar figure drawing session on its head. We begin with longer poses and work our way backwards towards shorter, quicker sketches. For the final ten poses, ten participating artists become the models. The coARTyard becomes our open-air drawing studio, where the human figure shares the stage with architecture, plants, light and a secret life of within The City.

Part observation, part experimentation, part collective play.
Bring your curiosity. Bring your drawing practice.

COME DRAW WITH US.

Register link in our bio.
———
UNION at Beckwith
Corner made by Nile, Hincks & Prince Alfred Streets, Bridgetown

#handandeye #creativeplacemaking #bridgetownbarbados #CommunityDriven #visitbarbados taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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8 days ago

FLIP + REVERSE IT

“Is it worth it? Let me work it.
I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it.”

At our last Hand + Eye, one artist did something unexpected, Instead of concentrating on the model, they drew the landscape around them. The marks gathered in the background until the figure emerged almost in silhouette.

This made us wonder: what else could we reverse?

We usually begin with quick sketches and work our way towards longer poses. This time, we’re starting slow and getting faster.

We usually draw the figure. This time, we’ll experiment with drawing the space around the figure.

And we usually spend the afternoon with one person modelling while everyone else draws. This time, we’re flipping that too. For our final ten quick sketches, 10 attending artists will become our 10 Collaborators, one after another.

Artist becomes Muse
Observer becomes observed.
Foreground becomes background.
Slow becomes fast.

Sometimes changing how we look is as simple as changing where we look from.

HAND + EYE × 10: FLIP + REVERSE IT
Live Figure Drawing | Adults Only
🗓️Sunday, October 11
⏰2–5 PM
📍coARTyard | UNION at Beckwith | Hincks Street | Bridgetown

CONTACT: 246 822 3915 | unioncollaborative@gmail.com

Easel $50 | Table $30 | Drop-in $25

Bring your preferred drawing materials. All experience levels welcome.

Registration link in our bio.

COME DRAW WITHUS.

#livedrawing #drawingpractice #creativehub #visitbarbados #bridgetowndesigndistrict taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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11 days ago

#MotivationMonday This summer, I had the honor and pleasure of visiting @tandem_movement at @unioncollab and meeting with Co-founder and Director Israel Mapp.

This artist incubator is definitely one of those places that has to be experienced in person. Located in the old Beckwith Mall, it feels like a sanctuary away from the hustle and bustle of Bridgetown, while also providing a safe space for artists to express themselves, develop their work and contribute to Barbados’ artistic community.

As someone who is always reflecting on our history and the ways we can bring it forward, I was struck by the beauty of seeing new creative energy emerge among the remnants of a historic property.

The coARTyard is peaceful and filled with lush vegetation, but the space comes alive at night. Through exhibitions, creative gatherings, fashion and other programming, this creative hub is helping bring energy back into historic Bridgetown.

There was something about the juxtaposition of history, nature and contemporary creativity that really stayed with me long after my visit.

#barbadianart #barbadosart #caribbeanart #caribbeanartists taken in Bridgetown, Barbados by @unioncollab

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19 days ago

ONE POSE. TWO COLLABORATORS. A THOUSAND DECISIONS.

Fran settles into a Namaste pose. Seated, legs crossed, arms extended, palms open. Across the coARTyard, Gordon opens his sketchbook. A few lines establish the proportions. A circle for the head. A line for the shoulders. Another for the torso. The first marks are almost invisible, but they hold the drawing together.

Then something begins to happen.

Gordon moves between looking and drawing, measuring and interpreting. The weight of a shoulder, the length of an arm, the relationship between the hands and knees.

Fran holds the pose. Gordon searches for its form.

One offers his body as a subject. The other responds through observation and mark-making. And somewhere between them, a drawing emerges.

What began as a living, three-dimensional moment becomes a collection of lines on paper. A record of how one artist saw another person at a particular moment in time.

That is part of what makes drawing from life so fascinating. The muse offers the pose, but the drawing belongs to the encounter. And no two encounters are ever quite the same.

This Sunday, we gather again.

Join us for an afternoon of live figure drawing in the coARTyard. Whether you’re an experienced artist, returning to drawing, or picking up a pencil for the first time, you’re welcome to explore the practice with us.

HAND + EYE × 10
Live Figure Drawing | Adults Only
🗓️ Sunday, September 27, 2026
⏰ 2–5 PM
📍 coARTyard at UNION, Beckwith, Bridgetown

Easel BBD $50 | Table BBD $30 | Drop-in BBD $25

Bring your preferred drawing materials.
COME DRAW WITH US.

Register via the link in our bio.

#livedrawing #drawingpractice #communitydriven #creativehub #bridgetownbarbados taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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25 days ago

A line begins with looking.

Before graphite touches paper, before charcoal leaves its dust, before ink becomes a gesture, something quieter happens.

We look.

At the weight of a body.
The bend of an arm.
Where one form disappears behind another.
The spaces in between.
The line we think we see and the one that is actually there.

In a world that asks us to move quickly, sustained attention has become a practice in itself. Hand + Eye × 10 creates space for that practice. For three hours, we gather around the human figure and draw from life. Some arrive with years of experience. Others haven’t drawn since school. Some work carefully. Others chase the gesture before it disappears.

There is no single way to see the figure and therefore no single way to draw it. That is part of what continues to fascinate us about these sessions. Ten people can sit around the same muse, share the same afternoon, and leave with ten completely different records of what they saw.

Perhaps drawing isn’t only about learning to make better marks. Perhaps it is also about learning to notice more.

HAND + EYE × 10
Live Figure Drawing | Adults Only
🗓 Sunday, September 6
⏰ 2–5 PM
📍 UNION at Beckwith
Easel — $50 | Table — $30 | Drop-in — $25

Bring your preferred drawing materials. Come practised, rusty, curious, or completely new.

Come draw with us. Registration in bio taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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a month ago

There are few opportunities in our lives to simply stop and look. To notice how afternoon light moves through a garden. How a body occupies space. How architecture frames a moment. How one pose can become ten completely different drawings. Hand + Eye is about learning to pay attention.

Every fortnight, people from different walks of life, including curious beginners gather at The UNION to slow down, observe and make marks. The figure is our point of departure, but the garden, the buildings, the breeze, the changing light and the conversations that follow all become part of the experience.

There is no single way to draw here. Work quickly or slowly. Use charcoal, graphite, ink or paint. Fill a page with gestures or spend twenty minutes following the curve of a shoulder.

Just come willing to look. Whether this is your first life drawing session or your fiftieth, there is a place waiting for you.

COME DRAW OUTSIDE.

🗓️Sunday, July 26
⏰2:00–5:00 PM
📍 coARTyard, UNION at Beckwith, Prince Alfred Street, Bridgetown

ADULTS ONLY

Register with the links in our bio or contact us for more details.

#lifedrawingsession #comedrawoutside #handandeye #communitydriven #bridgetownbarbados taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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3 months ago

In 2025, UNION welcomed Nykeba Oni into our DREAMSPACES Residency. DREAMSPACES was developed to give creative practitioners something many ideas never receive: space to grow. Space to experiment. Space to make. Space to fail. Space to begin again.

Over the past year, that relationship has grown far beyond the residency itself. Together we've continued supporting Nykeba's creative practice while collaborating with two organisations she founded OYE Kids Charity and Lend A Hand Community Band.

Today, Lend A Hand has made its satellite band house at UNION. And that is perhaps the most exciting part of this story. Because cultural infrastructure isn't simply about providing a room. It includes creating the conditions for people, projects and communities to take root.

For Kiddies Kadooment 2026, Lend A Hand presents "Don't Dis My Ability," a celebration of children and an invitation to see ability before disability. Through costumes inspired by the Awareness of Autism, Down Syndrome and Cystic Fibrosis, the band reminds us that every child deserves to be seen, celebrated and welcomed onto the road.

At UNION, we often say we provide space, tools, equipment, programming and community. This carousel is what that looks like.
Sometimes it begins with one artist and it becomes an entire community.

View costumes and Register today with the links in our bio.

DON’T DIS MY ABILITY.

#cropver #carnival #bridgetownbarbados #costumedesign #creativeplacemaking taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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3 months ago

I met Raphael Scotland, better known as Cross, in 2025. He didn't arrive with a portfolio or a proposal. He noticed a pottery wheel inside my studio at UNION, gathered the courage to walk in, and quietly laid a few drawings on my table. Faces, masks. symbols. A visual language entirely his own.

Over the following months, Raphael became a regular visitor. Sometimes he sat beside me for hours drawing. Sometimes he experimented with clay. Sometimes we simply spoke about art. He once told me he felt most content when he was painting. When I offered him a stack of old hurricane shutters, warped by rain, softened by rot and inhabited by insects, I apologised for their condition.
He smiled. "They're perfect." He loved painting damaged materials. That moment has stayed with me ever since.

At UNION, we've always believed that places, people and materials don't have to be perfect before they're worthy of care. Raphael already knew that.

As the weeks passed, I noticed the same eyes, masks and symbols appearing again and again. First on reclaimed plywood in our coARTyard, then on abandoned buildings along Nelson Street, trees in Dunlow Lane, walls in Cats Castle and the boardwalk overlooking The Wharf.
Different places. The same language.

One day Raphael invited me to see one of his murals. That's when I realised something important. His studio was inside UNION, and it was Bridgetown. Forgotten walls, weathered timber, cracked plaster and living trees all became collaborators. Rain, sunlight and time were all part of it.

Looking back through our photographs, I realise we were documenting an artist and witnessing a visual language finding its way through a city.

The UNION became one of the places where that language was welcomed and allowed to grow.

B'TOWN was already Cross' CANVAS.

We are grateful to have witnessed part of the journey.

#publicart #murals #bridgetownbarbados #urbanrenewal taken in Bridgetown, Barbados by @unioncollab

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3 months ago

THE SESSIONS CONTINUE.

Six weeks ago, Hand + Eye paused unexpectedly.
Its facilitator quite literally broke. An Achilles rupture meant no easels to set up, no music to cue, no room to prepare. For a moment, the ritual stopped.

Or so we thought...

What became clear during the pause is that Hand + Eye was never held together by one person. It is held together by a community. One person offered to collect the easels. Another volunteered to set up the room. Others checked in, asked when we’d be back, and reminded us that this gathering mattered.

Creative communities don’t become resilient because nothing goes wrong. They become resilient because people show up for one another when it does.

This week, Hand + Eye returns. Not because the facilitator is fully healed, far from it! But because UNION has been slowly building something bigger than any one individual. A scaffold of people willing to lend their hands so others can keep using theirs.

If you’ve been meaning to join us, perhaps this is the session.

🗓️ Sunday June 28
⏰ 2PM -5PM
📍 POD5, UNION at Beckwith , Prince Alfred Street, Bridgetown

Bring your curiosity. Bring your charcoal. Bring your willingness to look a little longer. We’ll take care of the rest. Because sometimes the strongest thing we can build isn’t a building. It’s a community capable of carrying the work together.

ADULTS ONLY

Register with the link in our bio.

#lifedrawingsession #drawingaspractice #communitydriven #bridgetownbarbados taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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4 months ago

Some projects never really leave.

They wait.

For the right space.
The right people.
The right moment.

Years ago, TANDEM was a small experiment in Bridgetown. Part design store. Part studio. Part meeting place. A space where artists, designers and makers could meet clients, share ideas and imagine different futures for creative work in Barbados.

In many ways, TANDEM was a precursor to UNION.

But TANDEM was never confined to a single address.

Over the years it appeared wherever creative opportunity emerged; in shops, galleries, markets, festivals and public spaces across Barbados and beyond. It travelled with the artists, designers and makers who gave it life.

Now it returns.

Rooted in POD 4 at UNION at Beckwith, corner of Hincks & Prince Alfred, TANDEM is becoming a platform for things designed, made and imagined in Barbados.

Fashion.
Art.
Objects.
Books.
Homewares.
Ideas.

But more importantly, it is a place that asks a simple question:

How do creative people make a living while making culture?

Every item on a shelf represents a maker.
Every purchase supports creative practice.
Every sale helps sustain the wider ecosystem of spaces, tools, workshops, residencies and public programmes that make cultural life possible.

Because culture needs more than audiences.

It needs infrastructure.

Welcome to the next chapter of TANDEM.

Designed. Made. Imagined in Barbados.

#designstore #conceptstore #handmade #bridgetownbarbados #collective taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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4 months ago

For one night, the coARTyard becomes a sanctuary of dance.

In celebration of Pride Month, The UNION joins forces with EQUALS246 and RAVE IN THE CAVE to host RAVE PRIDE: an evening of music, movement, and community beneath the stars.

On the eve of the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year and the official beginning of summer, we gather in the heart of our City to welcome a new season the best way we know how: Together!

Expect an eclectic journey through house, techno, dancehall, afro-house, amapiano and beyond, guided by the stylings of Carma , Francesco and Mirian.

Whether you arrive to dance until sunrise, connect with old friends, make new ones, or simply experience the coARTyard in a different light, this space is for you.

For the gay, the queer, the allies and the merry.

Bring your own drinks if you wish. A bar will also be available throughout the night.

🗓 Saturday, June 20
⏰ 9PM until Summer
📍UNION coARTyard, Prince Alfred Street, Bridgetown

Suggested donation: $20

Come as you are!
Dance til sunrise!
Leave a little lighter!

#pridemonth #summersolstice #bridgetownbarbados #rave taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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4 months ago

For one evening, an artist opened a studio and a neighbourhood appeared.

We often think of open studios as opportunities to see artwork. But perhaps their deeper purpose is something else. Perhaps they are rituals. For most of the year, creative work happens behind closed doors. Artists make quietly. Writers write. Gardens grow. Conversations wait to happen. Then, for a few hours, the doors open. The hidden becomes visible. The private becomes shared. The individual becomes collective.

Earlier this year, Dreamspaces Resident Kesean Abrams opened his studio at UNION at Beckwith. People arrived to experience the work. Instead, they found themselves moving through an ecosystem. From the studio onto the sidewalks of Prince Alfred and Hincks Streets. From the streets to Dreamspaces resident Amanda Haynes’ Writing Studio. From there to The Constellations Common Room. Into the coARTyard.

Artwork sparked a chain reaction of conversations, connections and community. For a few hours, a different version of Bridgetown emerged. One where artists, neighbours, friends, and strangers occupied the same spaces. One where courtyards became commons, sidewalks became gathering places, and creativity became a reason to linger.

The exhibition eventually came down. The lights were extinguished. People returned home. But something remained. Not only these images, but A reminder that cities are not built solely through construction and investment. They are also built through repeated acts of gathering, sharing, and care.

Perhaps this is the true power of the open studio. Not simply to reveal the work. But to reveal the relationships that already exist beneath the surface of a city.

For one evening, an artist opened a studio and a neighbourhood appeared.

Union Collaborative: Culture base, Creative lead. People centred and Community driven.
#dreamspacesresidency #creativeplacemaking #bridgetownbarbados #urbanrenewal #creativecity taken in UNION at Beckwith by @unioncollab

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4 months ago