Since meeting in Newhaven in 2021, Lizzie Lower and Ellie Johnson-Bullock have launched Hospitable Environment, a community organisation which runs creative events and workshops in our town and has spawned all sorts of projects – from exhibitions to a DJ school.
We caught up with Lizzie and Ellie to find out more about Hospitable Environment and what’s in store for 2025.
Tell us about Hospitable Environment – what is it and what do you do?
Ellie: Hospitable Environment is a socially engaged Community Interest Company proudly based in Newhaven. We bring people together to explore what it takes to build more connected, resilient and sustainable communities.
Hospitable Environment CIC is run by myself – I’m an artist and therapeutic practitioner – alongside Lizzie Lower, a creative producer and maker. We hold regular creative workshops and events throughout the year, most of which are free to attend and open to all.
How did Hospitable Environment begin? What made you choose this name and can you tell us about the significance of the pineapple logo?
Ellie: Hospitable Environment was established in September 2021 as an artists’ collective creating installations for the Tide Mills Project at the abandoned coastal village. Pineapples were grown there by the mill owner William Catt. Pineapples are a symbol of hospitality and represent our mission, which is to explore: how do we create hospitable environments for everyone in our community?
At Tide Mills, I was running creative bread-making workshops at our cob-built, wood-fired oven with artist Sam Ford, and Lizzie was part of the Tide Mills Choir. We were blown away by the intergenerational and community spirit we experienced at the breadmaking workshops, so Lizzie and I decided to self-fund a shared meal to see if we could keep that spirit going. We held our first Soup & Social at the Hillcrest Centre in February 2022, gathering the community to consider ways we can build hospitable environments together.
So we both feel that the name ‘Hospitable Environment’ is still relevant to our work today.
Tell us about your Soup & Social events.
Lizzie: Soup & Social, our free shared meal and community conversation event, is held every six to eight weeks at the Hillcrest Centre and other venues around Sussex, with an open invitation to attend. We regularly host 70+ people of all ages and backgrounds.
We partner with organisations to co-create a space for sharing news and ideas, offering a free meal and creative activities. Soup & Social has reached beyond our community and our expectations, gaining a reputation as an innovative and inspirational space, benefiting the people of Newhaven and seeding new creative projects and alliances. We are always seeking to build on the creative reputation of Newhaven, to advocate for local people and to celebrate its diverse and talented community.
What kind of ideas have you heard from locals about what they’d like to see in Newhaven?
Ellie: At the first Soup & Socials we explored what could make Newhaven more hospitable. Children wanted more play areas and parkour areas, and people wanted better access to public rights of way and cycle paths. People are also very concerned about the local environment and would like to see improvements in air and water quality.
In one of our creative workshops, a Newhaven resident had an idea for a DJ school, and this was something we brought to life in an exhibition last September at the Marine Workshops called Newhaven: The People’s Plan.
How has Newhaven Enterprise Zone supported you?
Lizzie: We are members of Creative Newhaven, which is funded by Newhaven Enterprise Zone, and we work closely with Nick Stockman, creative producer. Through this collaboration we have used Soup & Social sessions as a forum to help evaluate the impact of the BN9 Arts Growth Fund. We also received a growth grant in 2023 for organisational development. It’s great to have an organisation which is working to attract investment into the town and reinvesting some of that money in new creative and cultural experiences for local people.
How would you describe Newhaven? Tell us what you love about the town.
Ellie: Newhaven is a lovely place to live with a friendly and vibrant community. We all have ambitious dreams for the future of our town and want to ensure that areas are protected for their diverse and beautiful wildlife, alongside having more facilities for people to use.
Lizzie: It’s a vibrant river town with a proud working port, set against a stunning backdrop of rolling downland and wild beaches. There is a great mix of people here, many of whom are amazingly talented and creative and always up for collaborations. It feels like an exciting time to be in Newhaven.
What’s your favourite place in Newhaven?
Ellie: West beach and Tide Mills – I love to have my dinner on the beach and watch the light change after an evening swim.
Lizzie: West Quay & Riverside Park – I love to watch the fishing community at work, and the walk from the industrial edgelands of Robinson Road up to Piddinghoe is a quintessentially Newhaven experience.
What’s coming up for Hospitable Environment – have you got any exciting events or news you can share?
Ellie: We are working on a publication about our way of working and we’ll be making a podcast and film launching later in 2025. We hope to animate parts of the map from our exhibition on Newhaven: The People’s Plan and bring some of people’s dreams to life.
Lizzie: In February we will be celebrating Soup & Social’s third birthday and we are looking forward to hosting a talk from Shirley Collins at our eighth Sussex Women Supper Club in March.We’re excited to be continuing our work with Co-Lab at the University of Sussex, and we’ll be hosting another event for Brighton Festival this year with fellow Newhaven resident Dr Alice Eldrige. We’ve also got plans for more community events at the Marine Workshops during Artwave festival, too. Come and join us – you are always invited!
What’s your favourite place for lunch in Newhaven and what do you buy?
Ellie: It’s a toss-up between the Hillcrest and Mamoosh! We love to be by the river and since Mamoosh Riverside has opened we hold lots of meetings there. When we are working in our studio at the Hillcrest we like to pop in to see the café manager Julia at the Havens Connections Café. She makes a delicious and great value lunch.
Lizzie: Becky at the Fort Road Café makes a mean sausage sandwich. It’s a brilliant place to watch all the boats coming and going in the marina.
Do you live in Newhaven? If so, what makes Newhaven a great place to live?
Ellie: Yes, I have lived here for eight years. I love the Newhaven landscape and the community. The transport links are great and in the summer we spend lots of time gathering for walks around the town, on the Downs and having BBQs on the beach.
Lizzie: I moved to Newhaven from Brighton four years ago so I could have more space for a studio. My grandparents lived here and my dad was an engineer on the ferry, so it felt a bit like coming home. I love living by the river and watching huge ships drift silently past my window, and being close to stunning countryside and beaches, but the people are the best bit about Newhaven.
What would you like Newhaven’s future to look like in 10 years’ time?
Ellie: Better air quality and more green investment. I hope for footpaths and cycle paths to be a priority in future developments with better wayfinding and good safe access. Each year it’s great to see the BN9 Trees group planting more trees and bulbs, so I hope for lots more planting to support the biodiversity of our town. It would be fantastic for Newhaven to be a creative hub of Sussex, with spaces for artist studios and a creative health programme, whilst still being affordable to local people.
Lizzie: I’d like to see the town continue to develop as a thriving and connected community, with a vibrant, multi-use arts, community and enterprise space at its centre (that we’d love to run!) Newhaven will look very different in 10 years’ time, but I hope developments will be exemplary, with high-quality, low-density housing and shared cultural spaces, protection for our wildlife and stunning natural habitats and the proud preservation of our maritime heritage and historical buildings.
What would you like Newhaven Enterprise Zone to spend its funding on in the town? Creating more commercial space in the town, more cultural events which make Newhaven a better place to live and work in, support for businesses to help them grow or something else entirely?
Ellie: The culture of creativity in Newhaven should be celebrated alongside the strong community that has always existed here. I’d like to see more support for some of the existing groups that have been working hard to create an engaging programme over the past 10 years. There is a need for more accessible spaces in the town for us to gather and to work in.
We believe the people who live and interact in a place are its experts, so we must listen to Newhaven residents’ ideas and not forget to listen to the children. We advocate for using our creative methodology and we are exploring ways this can feed into strategy, consultation and planning for future developments.
Lizzie: It has been transformative to have the NEZ invest in the creative and cultural life of Newhaven and I’d love to see this continue. There are some brilliantly talented people here working in the arts, education, community and in business. Listening to their ideas and supporting them to flourish will have a lasting impact on the town. I’d also like to see investment in protecting our existing community spaces – or developing new ones – so that we can continue to have places to meet and interact as the town grows.
To find out more about Hospitable Environment CIC, visit their website here or email: hello@hospitable-environment.com
Read more of our Q&As here.
