Our Origin
The Art Bunker Collective was born from a radical belief: that art and music should be woven into the fabric of everyday life, not kept behind velvet ropes. Heavily influenced by the founder's parents—who champions of community-led growth and creative expression—the Collective was designed to merge the raw energy of underground creativity with the stability of social enterprise. We exist to prove that when you combine enterprise with empathy, you create a sanctuary where both art and people can truly thrive.
Creative Everyday
We believe that making art and music should be a vital part of everyday life, not a luxury. Our mission is to dismantle barriers to entry, ensuring that every individual in our community has the tools, space, and encouragement to express themselves creatively every single day.
Ethical Enterprise
We operate as a social enterprise, reinvesting our profits directly into community programmes. We are committed to ethical pay with a maximum 3:1 ratio between the highest and lowest earners, proving that a sustainable business model can prioritize people over disproportionate gain.
A Hub to Rebound
The Burnley venue is just the beginning. Our vision is to build a replicable, robust model for community-led creative hubs that can inspire and take root in other regions, empowering local artists and residents to reclaim their spaces and rebuild through collective enterprise.
The Art Bunker Collective – Origin Story
“The Art Bunker”
Founded by Michelle Sinclair, taken place in a room in Burnley UCLAN university. The origins of The Art Bunker dream was the belief system in my Mother that all artists deserve a space to have access to art, community and support in their entrepreneurial expression.
She invested all of her money, alongside a £5,000 grant and so created a space many artists could gather, have access to free art supplies and create their projects & dreams. Michelle bought supplies from her own money, whilst raising two kids and being a single mother and a youth development leader. Her ambition to give, give, and give cost too much to continue the charitable act. Michelle, my mother, created a lasting impression on everyone she supported through her journey and whose passion has been deeply inherited.
“The Art Bunker Collective”
Founded by Elliott Sinclair, taking place at The Cross Keys Hotel in Burnley. This chapter of The Art Bunker will be designed as a creative business ecosystem that creates opportunities and support systems which have lasting positive change. What does this mean?
Imagine a world where all businesses embody giving back, businesses are NOT designed to specifically make the owners rich, instead, businesses have principles and community value that create positive ripples throughout their communities, supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs and leaders to become leaders instead of wilfully restricting employees potential so that they remain employees.
This all might sound very hopeful indeed. However, our plan at The Art Bunker Collective is to do exactly that.
Instead of a cafe just being a cafe, we will become an art and music movement. A space where a coffee purchase becomes entitlement to daytime entertainment. A space designed so that each meal you eat whilst dining out pays towards mental health support workers and support groups hosted from The Art Bunker Collective. A space made so intentionally that if you attend our events, workshops or one of our speciality cafe activities, you are showing support by investing into a business that will reinvest into more creative entrepreneurship and community development. An art and music label that supports grassroots beginnings, allowing advanced creatives to support beginners. A network. A hub. A home away from home supporting the best version of who you want to be.
A harsh reality to face together.
A reality humankind currently faces, is humans are not kind anymore unless it serves them. Community is lacking in towns and cities. People judge before listening. Fear makes people act in a manner that is self-destructive. Self-love has been lost to the alcohol industry. This current world is designed to work perfectly for those in charge of the very people who financially benefit from all of this chaos. And, with so much devastation happening in the world, people desperately want an off button. People are becoming more addicted to bad habits; phone addiction, food addiction, alcohol addiction, drug addictions, sex addictions, almost anything that creates dopamine and supports outright blanking real world situations to relieve themselves from the duty of care they have in their hearts. We believe it’s time for a change. And, a drop in £800 Billion pounds in alcohol sales worldwide supports this vision.
Here at The Art Bunker Collective, we have learned to understand business reinforced by a moral compass can change the world, for one person at a time. We are not here to say any of those off buttons are ‘wrong’. We are holding a space and stating that if you eat out and have a coffee with The Art Bunker Collective when you are out on a town centre adventure; you’re supporting an art and music lead movement that will create more sanctuaries, more choices for entertainment, more experiences available so the days feel more fulfilled, and all of this without a hangover, in a family friendly environment. Our dream is to have an Art Bunker Collective in every town and city in the world. Creating a humankind support point that anyone may join regardless of age, disability, race, sexual identity, creed, religion, or atheism.
We want to embody an ‘All for one, and one for all’ ethos. Please come and enjoy a coffee, enjoy some music and artistic creativity, and, in doing so know you have invested in an art and music movement that wants to support people without relying on governments or politics.