Inspire Buttermarket … a little oasis of learning

Current and upcoming courses at the Buttermarket include Art for Beginners, Nottinghamshire’s History, Book Making, Word Processing, Bobbin Lace, Drawing for Beginners in Pen, Conversational French, AI (ChatGPT) for Meal Planning, Handsewn Felt Projects, Machine Sewing for Beginners, Computer and Internet Basics and Map Reading Made Easy, to name just a few.

Learners come to us for all sorts of reasons - to reduce anxiety and make new friends, to learn a new skill, to improve their maths and English or to build up their knowledge and confidence to get back out into the jobs market. 

Originally catering for adults aged 19+, the Buttermarket has expanded its offer to include a lively music hub for children, young people and adults. On Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings our Inspire Music team offer a full range of creative opportunities. Inspirations Junior Choir is for children from Nottinghamshire Schools who are 8 to 13 years of age and is an inclusive, mixed group choir where all are made welcome with no auditions necessary. Speaking to Martha, Millie, Imogen and Evie they were incredibly enthusiastic and philosophical about the opportunity saying “When you’re singing at Inspirations, everyone has a chance to fly, and the stars are just a song away”.

Our choir offer also extends to adults with Rediscovered Voices who meet to enjoy singing with others and an opportunity to make new friends, with the added bonus of some wonderful recital opportunities, including performing at the prestigious Inspire Christmas Concert at Nottingham Concert Hall.

Young People can take part in our Musicians Collective, which currently boasts a 5- piece band with Izzie, Zoe, Elliott, Seth and Theo aged from 13 to 15 years who were keen to say how this session “creates lots of opportunities for young musicians” as well as being, “great fun”. Lydia and Bethan, also from Musicians Collective “enjoyed the challenge of playing different music that you normally wouldn’t consider” and honing their skills as performing artists. On Saturday morning the team welcome children and young people to our Inspirational Music school for wind and brass players and on Tuesday evenings we host guitar lessons for adults.

Alongside our Adult Learning and Music courses we host a range of organisations who use our venue for workshops, regular classes, training and performances as well as hosting our own events for all ages and abilities, designed to contribute to and enhance the cultural offer in Newark. Look out for our popular FREE events for Newark Book Festival, Newark Festival, Festival of Creativity and other festive offerings. You can also find regular events at Inspire Newark Library.