On any given fortnight, one of Sydney’s inner-west pubs transforms into something unexpected. The beers are still flowing, but it’s glue sticks, patterned paper and bursts of laughter that take centre stage as strangers gather around to create, chat and switch off from the week.
For Natasha McAnuff, founder of Newtown’s Scrap and Yap Craft Club, the scrapbooking is only half the story.
The real drawcard is connection.
The fortnightly meet-up has become a welcoming space for people looking to rediscover their creativity, meet new faces and spend a few hours away from the pressures of work and everyday life.
Around the table you’ll find university students, office workers, academics, recent migrants and locals who might never have crossed paths otherwise.
It’s a simple idea with a powerful outcome: making something with your hands while building genuine community.
Across Sydney, similar grassroots clubs are emerging as people search for more meaningful ways to connect.
Subtitles Film Club is one example. Founded by Gina Lee and three friends, the roaming cinema club screens carefully selected international films to audiences eager to experience stories beyond the mainstream.
Accessibility sits at the heart of the concept, with every screening featuring captions to welcome multilingual audiences, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, and anyone who simply prefers subtitles.
For Lee, the club was inspired by her own circle of friends, many of whom migrated to Australia and found building community more difficult than expected. Watching a film together at the pub became an easy way to break down barriers.
Well-known Sydney underground cultural icons Jay Katz and Miss Death have been screening fringe films for decades and currently screen in an inner west pub – but to a wildly different audience than Subtitles Film Club.
The duo has shown what can happen when communities are built from a shared passion. Over the years they created a social hub for artists of all persuasions, fostering creativity alongside lifelong friendships. They have seen, developed and encouraged the rise of musicians, film makers, drag artists, visual artists, comedians and more, making space for the weird and marginalised.
As loneliness continues to rise among young Australians, with experts from the NSW Mental Health Commission estimating around one in seven experience persistent loneliness lasting two years or more, grassroots clubs and shared-interest gatherings are becoming an increasingly important antidote to social isolation.
Experts say it’s this kind of low-pressure, interest-led gathering that many young people have been craving.
With affordable social spaces becoming increasingly scarce, hobby-based communities are filling an important gap, offering somewhere to belong without the expectations or costs that often come with traditional social activities.
For organisers like McAnuff, keeping these spaces accessible is essential. Her craft club relies on a donation jar to help replenish materials, ensuring cost never becomes a barrier to participation.
Because at the end of the day, none of these groups are really about scrapbooking or cinema.
They’re about creating places where people feel welcome, where conversations happen naturally, and where community is built one shared experience at a time.
