Nestled in the back room of Wanaka’s Rhyme and Reason brewery stood the cosy makeshift stage for the Creative Juices open mic event on Wednesday night (June 9).

The fourth event hosted by Zoe Hawkins and Georgia Merton saw a space packed full of smiling faces, listening attentively to each of the ten acts who braved the stage.

The women’s vision for the events came about from conversations at a writing group they attended.

“We talked about it all the time and then chatted to Rhyme and Reason, who were awesome, and went from there,” Georgia said.

The rules set in place to create a safe space for performers to showcase their spoken words and original songs were: “Be nice to and don’t say offensive things to each other”.

The evening was filled with witty, vibrant and thought-provoking performances.

Liz Breslin kicked off the night as the guest poet, reading a selection of poems from her new anthology In bed with the Feminists.

Inspired, many members of the audience bought the book at the event.

“Anyone who came here thinking poetry was lame and naff definitely don’t think that anymore,” Georgia said after the event.

“The aim is to share the arts in a safe space. It was a really beautiful thing, I felt like I was going to cry. Everyone was cheering so loudly.”

The open mic event will take place every second Wednesday of the month in the Malt Room at the brewery.

To anyone thinking about sharing their work, Georgia said: “just do it”. 

“Firstly it’s the risk versus reward, the more scared you are the better you feel after and it really is a liberating feeling.”

PHOTO: Supplied