PROSERPINE now has an art gallery in Main St.

But it was so much more than that, said Belinda Curry, who manages the Indigo Red shop.

"We think of it more as a creative space. It's to run ideas by each other and to paint,” she said.

Ms Curry is part of a Proserpine group of visual artists called the Heartists.

Last November the Heartists got together and leased an empty shop at 66 Main St to allow them to exhibit their work and create a meeting place that also doubles as a venue to run workshops and a place to paint and draw.

"If customers come in they serve them as well. It's their creative space.”

On Thursday morning from 10am-12pm the men have the run of the space.

"It gives men a space to relate as they don't have anywhere to meet either, especially elderly men or men who have disabilities.”

A scrap-booking workshop will run once a month from Indigo Red and on Tuesday the space is for the Heartists to work and meet.

Belinda said the Indigo Red shop has so far been a success.

"We have been getting a lot of tourists and people who have got visitors,” she said.

"The other day they had not much to do and they came to Proserpine because they heard there was a gallery here.

"Proserpine people too, because they are looking for something different and there has been nothing in this shop for three years.

"It has had good sales but it has been a success as a welcoming space for people to just drop in and have a chat or a coffee.

"And it has pulled the community together.”

The Heartists also formed a link with Art Whitsunday since their gallery burnt in a fire last year.

Artists pay $5 to exhibit their work weekly and once their work is sold no commission is payable to the gallery.