September 29th, 2025Festival heralds Woodend’s new Creative Hub

It’s been a huge year for Shaun Evans, and it’s not even October, which is when his first iteration of a new creative festival takes place.
The Spring Youth Festival is the first of many events coming out of the new not-for-profit Creative Ranges Foundation, which Shaun has co-founded with his past student Oscar Lenain and musician Amethyst Parlanti, to nurture, develop and promote the abundantly diverse creativity of Macedon Ranges’ inhabitants.

“Imitate, then you emulate, and then you innovate” is Shaun’s motto. He imitated great jazz pioneers as a young lad on his saxophone, then built on that in his first job as music director on cruise ships.
Now Shaun innovates with his own ideas in collaboration with other creative minds to bring new ways of learning to Macedon Ranges Shire, which has benefitted from his inspiring presence for over a decade.
Many Shire residents know Shaun via his extensive work in Ranges Music Network which he started in 2020 after seven years at Braemar as their music director. RMN aimed to bring music education through connection and creative learning to regional schools where this may not otherwise be possible.
Young performers
Shaun has also focused on the continued growth of young performers in the ranges through the Macedon Ranges Festival Youth Stage which evolved to become Macedon Ranges Youth in Music with a monthly performance.
Now the innovation continues. Through his work, Shaun saw a gap between cost and accessibility and a need to promote lifelong learning and creative connection, both at individual and community level – and no longer only through music.
Following a generous bequest from the now-defunct Macedon Ranges Music Collective, Shaun sat down in late 2024 with Oscar and Amethyst who work for Shaun as educators in RMN, with a new, broadened iteration on this model, to “create a cost-effective vehicle for everybody to pursue personal or professional growth at different stages of their life” with a “broad range of skills that apply to life and to every industry”.
Through their vast network of connections they set up the Creative Ranges Foundation earlier this year, a NFP encouraging the community, from cradle to grave, to engage in learning in the Creative Arts – Performing, Visual and Literary.
RMN has also been reborn as Creative Ranges Network, to encompass teaching in all areas of the Creative Arts, from photography to stop motion with LEGO.
New Creative Hub
The practical manifestation of the foundation is in its newly established Creative Hub Woodend at 42 Urquhart Street. Open daily from 10am to 6pm, the Hub has a burgeoning team on site to support, mentor and inspire.
Hub Facilitator Kelly Miller leads the visual arts arm, providing support and creating a sense of belonging to those who would like to flex their creativity utilising the Hub’s laser cutter, 3D printer, Cricut, and other creative tools in the maker section of the Hub.
Anyone can try their hand at making t-shirts, stickers and much more for a one-off cost, or at a discounted member price. Sunday Livingston and Talon Gostelow work at the Hub driving the foundation’s Youth Program (to 26 years) activities. Local recording artist Paul Fox is jam facilitator, running mentored jam sessions.
The Hub is a learning space for all ages, stages and abilities. Home-schooled children, primary, secondary, university students, parents, elderly. There is a music room for jamming, a podcast, video and film room.
All details can be found at www.creativeranges.org.
Spring Youth Festival
Shaun has great expectations for the Spring Youth Festival on Saturday, October 4 from 10am to 5pm, which is being sponsored by both Greater Western Water and Macedon Ranges Shire Council.
A busking event expanded to incorporate all young local creatives, performance spaces will be set up all around Woodend, emanating off the High Street and in partnership with some of the local businesses.
Artisan market
The Hub has been cleverly incorporated through the use of their outdoor space for an artisan market for makers to promote their wares, many created on site. Tokens will also be generated in the Hub, for purchase as public votes for performers/makers of attendees’ choice, to be placed in an imaginative vessel created by each artist.
These will be counted up at the Hub at the end of festival gathering, for the opportunity for all artists’ efforts to be applauded and some rewarded with prizes. Shaun, his enthusiasm, creative imagination, artistic collaborators and all the performers cannot wait to see everyone there.
“I think back to the people who gave me so much when I was coming up,” says Shaun. “It’s not just giving back or paying forward, it’s really about creating the vehicle that allows not just me, but others, to do the same for the people in our community.”

Above, from left, Kelly Miller, Talon Gostelow and Shaun Evans making music and the laser cut notes – in Woodend’s Creative Hub

Words & image: Caitlin Marks