Camp Creative is a Bellingen success story, culturally, socially and financially. Beyond its exuberant promotion of creative arts learning, and the profile-raising boost it confers on the shire, there’s the simple fact that it brings a massive influx of people and tourism dollars to the town every January.
And it’s been doing that for decades…
An adman with a passion for music founded Camp Creative.
After a highly successful career that saw him running his own agency, Bill Lockley retired to Bellingen, gathered a small band of helpers from across the region, and used his business acumen and extensive network of contacts to develop a week-long creative arts event for adults that blended fun and learning.
The executive committee assembled in 1986 included Chairman Geoff Edwards (Dorrigo), Registrar Bill Lockley (Bellingen), Secretary Marcia Douglas (Nambucca), Treasurer Chris Fahey (Bellingen) and Publicity Paul York (Nambucca).
PART 1 - The Wandering Years
They had no experience staging an event like this, so they paid a visit to the state’s biggest music camp, “Tamusca” in Tamworth, to get advice on how to do it.
Bellingen was chosen as the location because of its idyllic environment and its convenience for key organisers. On the registration brochure, the event was billed as “a multi-art-form camp for talented people”.
The first Camp Creative was held January 16–26, 1987
It offered courses in acting, movement (related to acting), painting, music (strings, woodwinds, brass, choral) and weaving.
It cost $15 a day and 168 people came along.
The acting course started five days before the others. Its first week coincided with a run of 40-degree, high humidity days, so the thespians moved to the RSL Club, the only large air-conditioned building in Bellingen at the time.
Unlike modern Camp Creative courses, which generally cater for all ability levels, in 1987 participants for each course except weaving were expected to have at least two to three years of experience in their chosen field.
The tutors were top calibre.
Actor and director Hayes Gordon, founder of the Ensemble Theatre and its training school, was recruited to run the drama segment.
Archibald Prize winner Guy Warren took the painters. Musicians handpicked by the Sydney Conservatorium taught the singers and instrumentalists. Bellingen resident Diana Conroy, one of Australia’s top tapestry artists, taught the weaving.
Familiar components like the welcome dinner, the tutors’ concert, the arts and crafts exhibition, the have-a-go bash and the grand finale performance were all part of it from the beginning.
In his detailed account of the 1987 camp, Bill Lockley conservatively estimated that the 200 visitors would have pumped $10,000 into Bellingen’s economy via their spending on accommodation, food and other items. These days, the annual boost Camp Creative gives to Gross Regional Product is estimated to be $1.12 million, given 1200 attendees, with 80 per cent of them coming from outside the local area.
But despite the success of the first Camp Creative, it didn’t stay in Bellingen.
It moved around the North Coast for the next 13 years, popping up in Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Nambucca Heads, Taree. It even spawned a sister Camp Creative in the Blue Mountains. The idea was to spread the cultural and economic benefits around.
The 1988 camp was 30 per cent bigger than the first. There were 16 tutors covering 13 disciplines. Pottery, quilting and creative writing had been added.
By 1990, the range of courses had ballooned. The brochure lists photography, music, dance, embroidery, poetry, writing, big band, leather work, choral, woodwork, stained glass, wood sculpture, communication, cooking, painting, clowning, weaving & dying, acting, theatre design and pottery.
The tenth camp in 1996 had bestselling author Bryce Courtney as Patron, and Gillian Helfgott, the wife of famous pianist David Helfgott, as President. Bill Lockley was Vice-President, Irene Glassop was Secretary and Christine Fahey was Treasurer. Kerry Child was Camp Coordinator.
The peripatetic nature of the camp was becoming problematic…
The ambition to spread the benefits around the region was admirable but not practical, said Rob Stockton, who joined the committee in 1999. “It was clearly losing ground as it moved from town to town,” Rob said.
In 2001, Camp Creative returned to Bellingen and has been there ever since. The story of the modern era Camp Creative will be told in Part 2.
PART 2 - From Peripatetic to Permanent
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PART 2 - From Peripatetic to Permanent ~~~
In Part 1, we looked at how Camp Creative was founded by retired adman Bill Lockley in 1987 and immediately became a fixture on this region’s arts calendar.
The first camp brought 168 students to Bellingen for courses in theatre, painting, music and weaving. But then the party moved on. For the next 13 years, Camp Creative was peripatetic, scattering its cultural and financial benefits across the North Coast.
Moving from town to town eventually became too difficult, so the committee decided to make Bellingen its permanent home.
The Bellingen Courier-Sun of 30 August 2000 announced: “Camp Creative celebrates its 15th birthday in 2001 and what better place than its founding town of Bellingen.”
There had been some doubt about whether the camp would fold or continue, as patrons Bryce Courtenay and Gillian Helfgott were said to be “thrilled that the Camp will be running in 2001 as there had been some uncertainty”.
What clinched the matter was the fact that Bellingen High principal Rob Stockton was willing to offer his school as the main venue for no charge. He wanted to improve its reputation.
“Bellingen High was very much on the nose at the time,” Rob said. “A lot of controversial things had happened to it, including an Ombudsman’s inquiry. The idea was to associate it with people like the Helfgotts, Bryce Courtenay, George Negus.”
The 2001 Camp Creative brochure listed the committee as President Peter Nance, Vice-President Gillian Helfgott, Secretary Irene Glassop and Treasurer Kerry Child. Robbie Spence was coordinator. Bill Lockley, by then aged 80, was credited as founder but had agreed to step back from active supervision.
Although previous camps had catered for up to 600 students, the first one back in Bellingen was considerably scaled down. “The committee is planning a more intimate Camp Creative for 2001, with numbers limited to 250,” the Courier-Sun said.
Numbers quickly climbed. By 2006, the Coffs Coast Advocate reported there were “1000 creative spirits” attending 54 courses in Bellingen.
Over Camp Creative’s first decade, the range of courses had expanded well beyond its initial focus on advancing talent in the fine arts of music, theatre and painting. It also moved away from targeting experienced adults and older teens and began including courses for beginners and children.
This more egalitarian approach accelerated from 2001 under Peter Nance, alongside a firm commitment to having a solid business case for new offerings.
“He had the business acumen to look at all the parts together,” Rob Stockton said. “He’d never describe himself as creative, but he had a great empathy and really got the importance of people trying creative things without necessarily excelling in their choice.”
The school didn’t charge for being the venue, but it did receive benefits. By 2008, Camp Creative had paid for every room to be airconditioned, including the huge hall. This was a decade before the NSW Department of Education began rolling out its Cooler Classrooms Program.
Camp Creative also paid for the school to have things like shade sails, photographic equipment and musical instruments, including a grand piano.
Rob and Michelle Stockton became coordinators from 2013, after he retired. They received the lofty salary of $10,000 jointly for what was basically a year’s work, because as soon as one camp ended, the planning for the next one began.
Camp Creative has been held in Bellingen every January for almost a quarter of a century now, except for 2021 and 2022 due to Covid-19. It brings at least 1000 visitors to town, because 80 per cent of the 1200 attendees are from outside the local area.
A recent assessment calculated the direct financial impact of each camp as $843,300 and the boost to Gross Regional Product as $1.12 million.
There’s also been the reputational boost that Rob initially envisaged.
“People have relocated here after being at Camp Creative,” he said. “They’ve brought their kids to go to school here.”
Nicole Ruigrok is the current coordinator. Rob and Michelle are president and secretary but plan to step away after the 40th anniversary celebrations in 2026.
This article was written by Janene Carey, in collaboration with Rob and Michelle Stockton.
It has been featured here in full, with permission from the author.
Originally published in the Bellinger Valley Herald 15 May 2024.