Creative Groups Sydney

Sydney Daily Sketching: Creative Connection Circle

Our Sydney Daily Sketching group is getting together for an informal afternoon of drawing and conversation. This is a space to step away from the screen, put pencil to paper, and share some quiet creative time with others who value a daily practice. Whether you have been sketching for years or are just trying to build the habit, this is an opportunity to connect with fellow members of our network in a relaxed, pressure-free environment. We will spend the session sketching in our own notebooks while chatting about our process, finding inspiration, and supporting each other's progress. There is no formal instruction or critique planned, just a simple gathering of people interested in making art a consistent part of their lives. If you have been looking for some local company to help keep your creative momentum going, please pull up a chair and join us. If you think you can make it, please let us know by clicking the button to RSVP so we can keep an eye on numbers. We look forward to seeing your sketches and hearing about what you have been working on lately.

Shorts Off - Video Creators Play Session

**IF RAIN!!!** **We meet at Haymarket HQ.** **2/63 Dixon St. Haymarket 🤗** **Monthly play session for content creators! Come mingle with your fellow creatives, team up, and having a blast making short videos.** **Event rundown:** **3:00pm Creatives mingle (light refreshments)** **3:30pm Session begins! A theme is introduced.** **Guests pitch ideas, vote, and form teams.** **4:00pm Teams write, shoot & edit an under-1-minute video.** **6:30pm Screening, prize! And more mingling.** **Whether you're a pro or just love creating, come join the fun. Bring your gear (optional), meet new people, and make something awesome.** **Check out www.shortsoff.com for more info.** **You read this full description, here is a $5 off promo code as thank you!** **Promo: HIGHFIVE** **https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/shorts-off-video-creators-play-session-tickets-2003557979852** ******************************* **Questions? hello@shortsoff.com**

Creative Coffee Club

​**A relaxed morning coffee for Sydney creatives who want to meet good people, swap ideas and get inspired. ☕️** ​No awkward networking. No pitches. Just great coffee, interesting conversations and a room full of creative people. ​Get around some great people, encourage each other, get inspired, and get back out there to keep creating! **​Spaces are limited, so RSVP to secure** your spot! https://luma.com/pzyt56n5

Painting Creative Art Experience

**Painting Creative Art Experience** Join us for a fun and relaxing in-person workshop where you'll explore the power of painting to unlock your creativity and promote healing. No experience needed—just bring your open mind and let your imagination flow! Step into a calm, welcoming space where you can slow down, breathe, and reconnect with yourself through colour and creative expression. This is a gentle, guided painting experience designed to support emotional release, relaxation, and creative flow—no art experience needed. You don’t need to be “good at art.” You just need to come as you are. Through intuitive painting and reflective creative exercises, you’ll be invited to explore your inner world in a safe and supportive environment. This is a space to let go of pressure, quiet the mind, and reconnect with your natural creativity. Whether you’re feeling overwhelmed, creatively blocked, or simply needing time to rest and reset, this workshop offers a pause from everyday life and a return to yourself. You’ll be gently guided by **Louisa Chan**, an artist and art therapist who integrates creativity, emotional wellbeing, and healing practices into her work. Expect a relaxed, nurturing atmosphere, soft guidance, and a sense of freedom to express what words often cannot. **In this workshop you will:** * Explore painting as a tool for emotional expression and release * Experience a calm, supportive creative space * Reconnect with your imagination and inner world * Let go of perfection and create freely * Leave feeling more grounded, lighter, and creatively refreshed No experience needed. All materials are provided. Come as you are—leave with colour, calm, and something meaningful you created from within.

Networking Drinks #33

Christmas is just around the corner! Come join us once again at **The Art Syndicate**, a unique wine bar and gallery nestled in Surry Hills for a relaxed evening blending local drinks and meaningful conversations. **Event info:** ✅ Discover amazing NSW wine, beer and spirits. ✅ Expand your network of designers & make connections that last. ✅ No formal talks or speeches *Check out my reviews on this page to see what others are saying!* **Venue information:**
 You'll find us at this art gallery & wine bar in Surry Hills. They exclusively offer a curated selection of NSW-based wine, beer and spirits! There is even art for sale! **Check them out on socials:** https://www.instagram.com/theartsyndicate.com.au/ **How to find us:**
 We are on Bourke Street, a short walk from Oxford Street or Central Station. **Join our What'sApp group:**
 You'll find this link in the "Event Chat" section of this page :D Cheers, Josh

Data Driven or Data Distracted!

Our CCX Sydney October event features a very lively and topical panel discussion entitled Data Driven or Data Distracted We will be applying a $10.00 cover charge to cover Food and drinks and on this occasion will be kindly hosted by the ONSET https://theonset.com.au The Onset is a specialist recruitment business deeply connected to Australia’s design and technology ecosystem. They work with ambitious companies, brilliant industry experts and a wider group of specialists across data, AI, design and transformation through The Omnia Collective. About the session **How Product, Design & Engineering actually use evidence to make decisions** How much data do we really need to make better product decisions? And when does being “data-driven” start getting in the way of good product thinking? For this CCX Sydney session, we’re bringing together four practitioners from different corners of the product ecosystem — analytics, strategy and service design, UX/CX, and engineering — to explore the role data and evidence actually play in product development and delivery. Each speaker will have **15 minutes to make their own case** for — or against — being **DATA-DRIVEN OR DATA-DISTRACTED**. Rather than presenting a single view, they’ll challenge us to look at how research, analytics, customer insight, AI, product requirements engineering and data can influence the decisions we make — from defining the problem and creating the PRD through to designing, building and releasing the product. Our speakers bring four very different perspectives: **Olga Pasikova\, Senior Analytics Director; Rob Tot\, Strategy & Service Design Lead; Thomas Shillingford\, UX \| CX \| Strategy \| AI and Author; and David Berigny\, Forward Deployed Engineer\.** Each panel member will bring their own experience, provocations and examples to the question: **when does data help us make better decisions — and when does it simply give us more information to react to?** Then we turn up the heat. Following the four presentations, **Sophie Greenfield, Senior Product & AI Designer at CBA**, will lead a lively panel discussion, bringing the speakers together to challenge each other's perspectives and explore the tensions between data, evidence, intuition, customer understanding and design judgement. Because being data-driven sounds simple. **Knowing what data to trust, what it actually means, and when to ignore it is where things get interesting.** **About our Panel:** ### Olga Pasikova **Senior Analytics Director** Olga Pasikova is a Senior Analytics Director and experienced digital analytics specialist with more than a decade working across data, analytics and digital measurement. She brings a strong ability to translate complex analytics challenges into clear strategic direction, helping teams use data to understand behaviour, measure outcomes and make better-informed decisions. Olga is also an active member of Sydney’s data and analytics community. ### Rob Tot **Strategy & Service Design Lead** Rob Tot is a Strategy and Service Design Lead who works at the intersection of customer needs, business strategy and service innovation. His work brings together strategic thinking and human-centred design to help organisations navigate complex problems, uncover opportunities and turn insight into meaningful product and service outcomes. ### Thomas Shillingford **UX \| CX \| Strategy \| AI \| Author** Thomas Shillingford is a UX and CX strategist, designer, author and speaker with extensive experience across digital products and customer experiences. His career has included work spanning research, customer journeys, interaction design, usability, design strategy and large-scale digital transformation. More recently, Thomas has been exploring the impact of AI on design practice, including how AI is changing design systems, strategy and the role of human judgement. ### David Berigny **Forward Deployed Engineer** David Berigny is a Forward Deployed Engineer working at the intersection of technology, product development and real-world customer problems. His role brings engineering directly into the product development process — translating customer and business needs into practical technical solutions, testing ideas in the field and using evidence from real-world implementation to inform what gets built and how it evolves. ### Sophie Greenfield FACILITATOR **Senior Product Designer & Facilitator** Sophie Greenfield is a Senior Product Designer at Commonwealth Bank with more than 20 years’ experience across UX, product design, research and digital strategy. Her career has spanned product strategy, customer research and experience design across organisations including CommBank, Westpac and ING Direct. Sophie has a particular interest in the intersection of **data, customer insight, product strategy and AI-enabled design**. She has been exploring and teaching AI-enabled design practices, from research synthesis and hypothesis validation to rapid prototyping and new ways of working for designers. For **DATA-DRIVEN OR DATA-DISTRACTED?**, Sophie will facilitate the conversation between our four speakers, challenging their perspectives and helping unpack the bigger question: **when does evidence genuinely improve product decisions — and when can data become a distraction from understanding the customer?** We are so excited to be wrapping up the year with this awesome panel discussion hosted by new friends of CCX Sydney, the ONSET. [https://theonset.com.au/](https://theonset.com.au/) Lastly make sure you Join us for sponsored drinks from Amplitude post the event at a nearby bar: Amplitude is the AI analytics platform built for data analysts, PMs, and growth teams. It doesn't just report on what happened; it shows you why and what to do next, all self-serve and in real time. And we're buying drinks. Join us after the meetup at the Strawberry hills hotel Regards Kevin, Lydia, Sylvia, James and Carolina.

Vibrant Colours and Man Made Structures

Improving Your Business with AI Agents (with Georges River Council)

**A free evening with Georges River Council, part of NSW Small Business Month** Join Georges River Council and Western Sydney Tech Innovators (WSTI) to see how AI agents can take on everyday tasks in your business. **You must reserve your spot** at https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/improving-your-business-with-ai-agents-tickets-2002685750992 **On the night** * A panel on AI trends and how local businesses are using AI. * A live demonstration of AI agents and generative AI tools handling real business tasks. * Examples you can apply in your own business * Q&A with the panel * Time to meet other local business owners * Food and refreshments throughout the evening **Who it is for** Business owners and operators: whether you’ve been in business for years, are just getting started, or simply want to become better connected with the local business community, you’re welcome to join us. This session will help equip you with practical insights and real-world examples to help your business innovate and grow. **Getting there** See the details at the Eventbrite registration page. **Registration** Registration is through Georges River Council's Eventbrite page. More details and RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/improving-your-business-with-ai-agents-tickets-2002685750992

Red Light, Incarceration & Jacaranda Blooms

GREAT AUSSIE BIRD COUNT MANLY

Open Mic Night @ Soultrap Surry Hills

✨ Open Mic Night @ Soul Trap – Surry Hills ✨ We’ve locked in a venue — and it’s a good one. Join us at Soul Trap, Surry Hills, a small, classy, intimate spot that’s perfect for a relaxed nighttime open mic and social hang. 🎤 Want to get on the mic? Share music, poetry, acting, or anything you feel like trying out. 🍷 Mostly want to hang out and meet people? Absolutely welcome. Come watch, chat, connect, and enjoy the vibe — you don’t need to perform to be part of the night. 🎟 Free entry 🤝 Friendly, social atmosphere ✨ Come solo or bring a friend This is about community as much as creativity. Low pressure, supportive energy, good conversations, and a room full of interesting people. Sign up from 630PM Performances start at 7PM

Speed Friending at Nauti Studios

Speed Friending in Sydney
Make Real Friends (Without the Awkward Small Talk!) **Purchase your ticket here:** **[TICKETS](https://nautistudios.com.au/nauti-studios-event-sydney-glebe/p/sydney-speed-friending-glebe)** Looking to meet new people in Sydney and make real, lasting friendships without awkward bar chats, dating apps, or spending a fortune? Welcome to Speed Friending, a fun, friendly social event for adults in Sydney who want genuine connection in a relaxed, creative setting. **What Happens on the Night?** You’ll arrive at our massive creative artists’ warehouse in Glebe, one of Sydney’s best hidden venues, and then throughout the evening: * You’ll be matched with people who share similar interests. * You’ll rotate through fun games and creative activities. * Some activities are one-on-one, others are small-group based. * And the focus is on doing something together, not awkward chatting. Even if you don’t instantly click with everyone, the activities keep things easy, playful, and enjoyable — and you will meet a few kindred spirits. We wrap up with an open social hang, so you can continue chatting with the people you connected with most. **What Do You Need to Bring?** Just yourself and an open mind.
No pressure. No expectations. No performance.
BYO drinks and snacks if you’d like to. **How to Join** Purchase your ticket here: **[TICKETS](https://nautistudios.com.au/nauti-studios-event-sydney-glebe/p/sydney-speed-friending-glebe)** Then fill out our short questionnaire so we can get a bit of an idea about you and match you with people you’re most likely to vibe with! **When & Where** **Nauti Studios in Glebe, Sydney** [(here)](https://maps.app.goo.gl/13rkg1pvdPXeS7Xb9) Last Tuesday of every month
**6:30 – 8:00 pm** Come once, or make it your monthly ritual! You’re welcome as often as you like. **Why People Love Speed Friending!** * One of the most unique things to do in Sydney for adults * Affordable, alcohol-optional, and welcoming * Designed for real connection, not surface-level mingling * Held in a creative, unique and inspiring space