Join us for an exclusive songwriting workshop with Bryce Cain, a seasoned songwriter and producer whose credits span multiple genres. Whether you're attending in-person at The 402 or virtually via Zoom, this workshop offers a rare opportunity to learn from a music industry professional.

With songwriting and production credits on Sam Hunt’s #1 album Southside, as well as collaborations with CB30, Issues, and more, Bryce brings deep industry knowledge and hands-on experience. His work has also landed sync placements with Bridgestone, MTV, and HCA, making him a valuable mentor for aspiring songwriters.

What You’ll Learn:

• Techniques for writing compelling lyrics & melodies

• Developing your unique songwriting style

• Insights into production & collaboration

• Breaking into sync licensing & the music industry

Bryce’s side project, Kid Elliot, has gained recognition across major platforms, including the billboard-featured NFT music site, Sound.XYZ—offering attendees a look into the evolving landscape of music.

Register now to secure your place.

Don't miss this chance to elevate your songwriting skills and connect with fellow creatives!

You’re invited to network with local actors to receive insight into the world of acting through participation in a monthly feedback session where each participant can share a 5 minute monologue/presentation and then receive feedback from peers and some of the 402 Acting Academy's Instructors!

All actors welcome! All skill-levels welcome. Guidance for the journey can only begin with starting or restarting the journey. Join other actors exploring the same or similar passions!

The Winter Artist Showcase is upon us! We’re teaming up with the PACE artist community to offer a networking and creative experience like never before.

We’ll kick the night off with Happy Hour which includes appetizers and desserts from local food vendors.

Aftwards, our Artist Showcase will feature various artist and the process and time for group table discussion.

This event is free but we do ask that you RSVP below.

The Artist’s Way Creative Group (West)

Looking for community and a way to jump-start your creative journey? Then, you’re invited to join our weekly creative groups that will read, discuss, and work through Julia Cameron’s bestselling book The Artist’s Way.

This group meets at our west location.

Please sign-up through the link below and bring along your copy of the book and a journal and pen to the first meeting.

The Artist’s Way Creative Group (Benson)

Looking for community and a way to jump-start your creative journey? Then, you’re invited to join our weekly creative groups that will read, discuss, and work through Julia Cameron’s bestselling book The Artist’s Way.

This group meets at our Benson location.

Please sign-up through the link below and bring along your copy of the book and a journal and pen to the first meeting.

Come hang out with local songwriters and enjoy a special evening with special guest speaker Jeni Grouws, who will share key insights into how to get started writing a song and overcoming writer’s block.

This workshop will also include a feedback session at the end where you can share an original song and allow others to share their input.

This workshop can be attended in-person or virtually.

Please sign up above to reserve your spot!

More About our Guest Speaker

Jeni Grouws is an accomplished singer-songwriter and musician, known for her work as both a solo artist and co-founder of the roots rock band Avey Grouws Band (AGB). She started songwriting in 2008 after a suggestion from her therapist, leading to the release of her solo EP Scenic Route. Since then, Jeni has made significant strides in her career, with AGB earning notable success, including two top ten Billboard Blues charting albums, The Devil May Care (#10) and Tell Tale Heart (#7).

The band also triumphed as two time winners of the Iowa Blues Challenge and two time semifinalists at the International Blues Challenge. Sharing the marquee, and sometimes the stage with names like Keb’ Mo’, Buddy Guy, Beth Hart, Walter Trout, Fantastic Negrito, Shemekia Copeland, and more has marked Avey Grouws Band as exciting newcomers in the roots rock and blues scenes.

Jeni's songwriting has garnered recognition as well, winning top honors in both the 2020 Unsigned Only Songwriting Competition and the 2021 International Songwriting Competition. Throughout her career, she has continued to write prolifically, working on a range of projects while maintaining a busy touring schedule. In September 2024, she relocated to Omaha for a residency with Playing with Fire, where she will focus on songwriting until May 2025.

Whether performing solo, with the Jeni Grouws Band, or in Avey Grouws Band, Jeni uses lyrics, melody and her ability to connect with her audiences to create a lasting impression. “It’s been a while since a vocalist gave me the chills. Grouws digs deep and you can’t turn away. She’s a belter with deep rooted soul.”  (Martine Ehrenclou/ Rock and Blues Muse) “Jeni Grouws is a remarkably demonstrative vocalist, fully capable of delivering sturdy rockers, blustery blues, or...a tender heartfelt ballad.” (Lee Zimmerman/Goldmine Magazine)

Calling all writers! Bring your laptop, notebooks, and creativity to join a supportive community of fellow writers. This event offers dedicated time and space for focused writing on your current projects, plus opportunities to share your work and receive valuable feedback. Best of all, it's free and open to everyone! Space is limited, so sign up now to secure your spot and get ready to ignite your inspiration.

This month we’re hosting a creative hang-out where we’ll express ourselves through a painting project facilitated by Monica Eby.

You can take your painting home or if you’d like we can hang these collective pieces in our Weset gallery for the public to purchase and support the Student Scholarship fund through Valentine’s Day.

Sign Up to reserve your spot and help us be sure we have enough supplies for each attendee.

Come hang out and work on songwriting exercises that will help you deepen your creative language and move past your creative blocks. We will practice these exercises in a group setting so that we can learn from each other and hone our songwriting skills with others. Please sign-up below to reserve your spot!

Come hang out with local songwriters and enjoy a special evening with Nashville music industry special guest speaker Emily Falvey, who will share key insights into how to get started and thrive in today’s music industry.

This workshop will also include a feedback session at the end where you can share an original song and allow others to share their input.

This workshop can be attended in-person or virtually.

Please sign up below to reserve your spot!

More About our Guest Speaker

Emily Falvey is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter & alumna of Belmont University's Curb College, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2018 with a B.A. in Songwriting & a B.B.A. in Music Business. Falvey signed a co-publishing agreement with SMACKSongs & Warner/Chappell Music in April 2023.

Falvey was recently named “Nashville’s Top New Songwriter” by Forbes Magazine, & the single she penned for Big Loud artist MacKenzie Porter, “Seeing Other People,” reached #1 on the Canadian country airplay chart in 2020.

Falvey has amassed over 100 cuts as a songwriter & has other recent & upcoming releases with artists such as Cody Johnson, Astrid S, Walker Hayes, Sam Fischer, and more. Falvey is a member of the AIMP Songwriter Series class of 2019, was voted "Favorite Songwriter" by Young Entertainment Professionals (YEP), & was named to the inaugural Nashville Briefing 30 Under 30 List.

In addition to her day-to-day work as a professional songwriter, she served for 6 years as Young Alumni Regent on Belmont University's Board of Trust, & serves as a board member for the Academy of Country Music (ACM), Mental Health Initiative & Porter’s Call’s Creative Council. Most recently, Falvey has developed a course for Belmont University entitled “The Art of Songwriting” which is available for learners of all ages via Belmont Online. 

Bring your sketchbooks, and watercolors and create with us at Stories Coffee Company!

Come hang out with local songwriters and enjoy a special evening with guest speaker/singer-songwriter Jesse Hunter, who will share key insights into how to increase streams through Spotify.

This workshop will also include a feedback session where you can share an original song and allow others to share their input.

Please sign up below to reserve your spot!

Calling ALL artists and creatives! Join us for our annual Color Walk on Tues. Nov. 12th, at 8 am at the Benson 402 Arts.

“What is a Color Walk” you ask? A color walk is where artists of various mediums gather together and adventure out in small groups to walk the Benson neighborhood and find inspiration right outside our doors based on a color chosen by the group.

Bring your camera, your phone, sketchbook, notebook, and pen and whatever you’d like to capture all the Fall colors in Benson.

We’ll have coffee and donuts and will come back to share and discuss all the discoveries and beauty we found. This is a great way to start your day by slowing down from the typical hustle and bustle of our days to become more aware of our surroundings and let our senses come alive. Only a few more days of Fall weather with leaves. Would love to see you there!

Please RSVP for this event if you plan on attending so we can get a final head count on how many donuts to purchase. 

Special Guest:

We are launching our first feedback event for creative writers! Join us for an evening of discussion about all things writing and receive feedback on recent work you’ve written.

Special guest Felicity White will share specific insights on the writing world and join us for a Q&A session.

More on Felicity White:

Felicity (MFA) is a writer and teacher living in Omaha, Nebraska.

Most recently, her poem “God, Like Me, a Mother” was published in the January issue of Sojourners magazine. “Fika on Marstrand Island, Sweden” and “StarDate: August 27, Moon and Aldebaran” are available online at The Sunlight Press.

The Inktober Drawing Challenge is a 31-day deep dive into sharpening your drawing skills by committing to draw or sketch every day in October.

We’ll meet every Monday night for weekly tips and feedback so that you can gain insight, inspiration, and encouragement with other local artists that will help make this creative journey a success.

You can sign up today for the full month package or weekly drop-ins, as it fits your schedule. You won’t want to miss this incredible experience to grow as an artist in community.

The Inktober Drawing Challenge is a 31-day deep dive into sharpening your drawing skills by committing to draw or sketch every day in October.

We’ll meet every Monday night for weekly tips and feedback so that you can gain insight, inspiration, and encouragement with other local artists that will help make this creative journey a success.

You can sign up today for the full month package or weekly drop-ins, as it fits your schedule. You won’t want to miss this incredible experience to grow as an artist in community.

The Inktober Drawing Challenge is a 31-day deep dive into sharpening your drawing skills by committing to draw or sketch every day in October.

We’ll meet every Monday night for weekly tips and feedback so that you can gain insight, inspiration, and encouragement with other local artists that will help make this creative journey a success.

You can sign up today for the full month package or weekly drop-ins, as it fits your schedule. You won’t want to miss this incredible experience to grow as an artist in community.

The Inktober Drawing Challenge is a 31-day deep dive into sharpening your drawing skills by committing to draw or sketch every day in October.

We’ll meet every Monday night for weekly tips and feedback so that you can gain insight, inspiration, and encouragement with other local artists that will help make this creative journey a success.

You can sign up today for the full month package or weekly drop-ins, as it fits your schedule. You won’t want to miss this incredible experience to grow as an artist in community.

Skye Peterson is a singer-songwriter based in Nashville, TN who writes hymns for Getty Music and the local church and is also performing her own concerts.

Join us in September for this special concert series with Skye Peterson at Stories Coffee Company.

Venue: Stories Coffee House

Come hang out with local songwriters and enjoy a special evening with guest speaker/singer-songwriter Brad Hoshaw who will share key insights from his recent years working in the music industry from Omaha to California to Nashville.

We’ll also work on a group songwriting exercise and include time for people to share original songs for feedback.

Please sign-up below to reserve your spot!

Join us Thursday night on September, 5th for our first online Artist Member Check-In Meeting! You will meet new artist members, hear details about upcoming events, and have the ability to brainstorm future events you’d like to see in 2025. Plus, there will be some special GIVEAWAYS that will happen live during the event, but you must be present to win!

RSVP today!

We are excited to announce that we will be partnering with Art House Dallas again to go through another spiritual formation reader — this time on the theme of On Embodiment!

They explain this series as one that “explores the implications of embodiment as it relates to being a human with a body created in the image of God. We want to explore the necessary tension and the interaction between the corporeal and incorporeal, or matter and immateriality. The reality of our bodies is core to what it truly means to be human. Central to the reality of the gospel of Christ is the Incarnate Word of God, who took on human flesh so that we could, in turn, be reconciled to God in relationship.

Amidst the material presence of other gods carved in stone, it is St. Paul himself who introduces the God of the universe to those at the Areopagus as the one in whom “we live and move and have our being.” With certainty, the Apostle is not simply offering a poetic utterance of vague direction. Rather, a sacred connection is made of both origination and belonging in God as the Creator and Source of all things.

The incarnation calls us to know ourselves as embodied beings with the full faculties of emotion, reason, intellect, and imagination, all of which work themselves out in our bodies as we live, work, create, and communicate with each other. We image God as we body forth ideas, beliefs, and values into this material world.”

Andre Vander Velde, Artist Community Leader at 402 Arts Collective, will lead an online group to go through a four week series that will meet every other week on Sundays starting June 9th.

Sign-up information is available below

ORDER YOUR ORIGIN READER: ON EMBODIMENT

There are so many talented people in our Collective community and Saturday June 22nd we’ll celebrate and enjoy many of the new things they’ve produced and released.

We’ll feature the EP release of Leslie Palensky, and new paintings from visual artists Monica Eby and Ciara Fortun. Raj Lulla will be signing copies of his latest novel The Caring House, and many local singer-songwriters like Jordan Opere, Andy Butler, and Andre Vander Velde will be sharing new songs and material.

This night will be jam-packed with art you won’t want to miss! Tickets are $10 which may be purchased in advance or at the door.

Facing a creative block and looking for new inspiration? Then check out our Newspaper Poetry night where we’ll learn and practice the creative exercises from Austin Kleon’s book, Newspaper Blackout, which will teach you how to make art from the daily news column.

$8 Non-Members / $5 Members

Looking to try out that new lens and curious to find creative inspiration in some of the least likely places? Join us for our Photography Club meet-up where you can network with local photographers and practice camera techniques together in the Old Market.

This event is free! Please RSVP below to confirm your spot.

Bring your sketchbook, pencils, brushes, and paints as we venture outdoors to create art from the world around us.

This event is free but we would encourage you to RSVP so we have an idea of how many people will be attending and so we can send you details on the specific location our group will meet at Memorial Park.

ON MORTALITY - DISCUSSION GROUP

We are launching a creative discussion group, in partnership with Art House Dallas, that explores a meditative reader curated by their artists which includes essays, paintings, poetry and psalms that aim to help artists reflect on how we create art in light of our mortality.

This group will meet four consecutive weeks starting on April 3rd and meet Wednesday nights at 7 pm at Stories Coffee Company (Davenport location).

This event is sponsored by our Collective Membership Community and the first 10 RSVPs will receive a free copy of the On Mortality meditative reader, but spots are limited so please RSVP below to reserve your spot.

LOCATION:

We are kicking off one of our creative house groups this Spring!

This group is led by Patrick and Nichole Peringer, who are artists that are passionate about what you create and desire to bring into this world, whether that’s paining, a wooden bench, music, flower arrangements, a short story or a knitted quilt, these are all expressions that matters and they want to help you cultivate and grow these gifts and desires.

This group meets weekly on Tuesdays at 6 pm where they will share a meal, stories, the challenges and truimphs of life and lots of discussion about being creatives made in the image of God.

SIGN-UP below to join this group!