The Safe Space Pop Up is a place to get creative, have fun and enjoy shared experiences via community arts performances, workshops and events
We specialise in bringing our work to hidden and marginalised groups. It could be people living with dementia and their carers, Rainbow families or folx with learning disabilities and additional needs. Whoever you are and wherever you are if you feel unseen or unheard you can
join us under the Safe Space Umbrella
We believe in the positive power of performance, play and togetherness to strengthen and connect communities
Created and led by neurodivergent artist and community activist Miss Annabel Sings (MAS). MAS is proudly LGBTQIA+ and through this work strives to bring the concept of Queer joy to everyone. There is no room for hate in The Safe Space Pop up. There is only room for joy and celebrating our differences together.
Read a bit more about the birth of The Safe Space Pop Up plus come ponderings on what it all means below
The Safe Space Pop Up was born in December 2021 when Miss Annabel Sings moved into a studio offered by Outer Spaces, a new charity placing artists in disused commercial spaces. The name came from the first space they were placed in : an empty gold shop in a shopping centre in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh.
In the back room were the old safes that used to house treasure. The echo of its recent past felt present and powerful. As MAS worked in the shop window she quickly realised what this space meant to people. People would knock on the window asking if they could bring their precious items in to turn into something meaningful. Money.
MAS got to thinking. If you replace the concept of precious metal hidden away with precious people who are marginalised and instead of turning the gold into money you transform it into joy, shared experiences, making new memories and the healing power of togetherness then maybe you are creating a fabulous alchemy. One that is long lasting felt by the individual and the community.
Miss Annabel Sings and The Safe Space Pop Up is now part of a community occupying the striking Ocean Point building next to the historic docks in Leith, Edinburgh.
Safe spaces for hidden and marginalised communities have been disappearing rapidly for decades. As time marches funding community arts funding is slashed more dramatically each year.
We are becoming more separated and displaced and it is a matter of urgency that we think about how we make, take up and use space. We need to act now. Safe spaces, whether they be personal, online, physical, permanent or transitionary are more valuable than any gold. For some, it is vital to survival.
So, what if safe space travels and creates meaning by developing curiosity and acceptance of the self and others via meaningful activity? Is it still transitionary or does it become permanent because of the lasting impact it might have?
We talk about spaces that we remember fondly , those places where we felt a sense of belonging or discovered meaning. We think of them long after they are gone. Dancehalls, clubs, shops, pubs, houses, rooms in houses, streets. What about spaces within? Spaces when watching treasured films and shows or listening to songs, stories or looking at and feeling precious objects. The list goes on and on and on. It is within us. We create them together.
Why have they have left their residual mark on us? Does the memory of space and its impact create a new space within us that means we can access it in our darkest moments?
What have we been up to?
SQUIDZ!
YOU CAN SIGN UP TO THE SQUIDZ MAILING LIST HERE
Since 2021 we been creating safe spaces for people to get creative and feel fantastic. Rainbow families and LGBTQIA+ ally families are invited to get together at our puppetry and performance events called SQUIDZ. We are proud to have been funded by Creative Scotland for a year to develop this vital work for a truly hidden community at the amazing Wee Hub Play Space in Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh. SQUIDZ will be back the hub from September - November for a series of events
MAS works closely with the Dementia community providing vibrant sessions aimed to improve wellbeing and tackle loneliness and social isolation for those living with dementia and their carers.
Throughout the year she visits care homes and day centres leading her funny and interactive 'singing and reminiscing' sessions.
She will be visiting The Living Memory Association in September and October 2025 with these sessions. Using songs from the movies, the musicals and dancehall days she will get the conversations and memories flowing. You can also find MAS prividing weekly singing/dancing for fun and wellbeing sessions for the dementia community at The Eric Liddell Community in Morningside, Edinburgh.
Last year Miss Annabel Sings took a break from working. She was diagnosed with Autism and needed some time to process and take space to get well. She decided to train in seated movement as after she was diagnosed she came to realise how much creative movement, dance and exercise had kept her well for 40+ years. She is now sharing that discovery by providing joyful seated exercise and dance sessions for older people in various community settings. She hopes to bring Movers and Shakers to everyone who wants to access movement in a fun and accessible way soon
Follow us on instagram and please do get in touch if you want to hear more , would like to work with The Safe Space Pop Up, book a workshop or session or fancy a cuppa and a chat at the studio aabout what joy, art, space and community means to you.
OUR NEW DEDICATED WEBSITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
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