Your investment ~ your call

Three ways to run
the Mothership.

Hi MJ ~ before we get going, the only thing left to decide on is your investment.

Building out the Mothership into a place of instruction ~ classes, workshops, mentorships and passes. There's no wrong way to run it: one way means we do everything, one puts you in the driver's seat for free, and one turns the Shop into a real little online store. Have a read, click around, and pick what fits your life.

See what's new ↓

Learn at the Mothership

Now a place of instruction.

Mothership isn't just where art gets made ~ it's where it gets taught. Resident artists open their practice through hands-on workshops, classes and one-on-one mentorships ~ around eight to ten from each artist. Come paint, print, build, sew, or simply learn to see differently, in a real working studio surrounded by real working makers.

The ways to belong

Residency

A studio home base in the building, for working artists ready to put down roots.

Enquire to join

Friend of the Mothership Pass

For orbiting & guest artists who run nights and lead sessions ~ your own page, your own audience.

Enquire to join

Art Mentorship

Ongoing one-on-one guidance from a resident artist, shaped around your own practice.

Enquire to join

Community Pass

For the wider community ~ member rates on classes, first dibs on workshops, open-studio access.

Enquire to join

Want to take bookings & payments online?

For now, people enquire to join or book a class ~ simple and personal. Whenever you're ready, we can switch on online booking and card payments for workshops and passes. It's built to grow with you, and works with any of the options below.

Add it whenever ↗

Pick your orbit.

Same beautiful site under all three ~ the difference is who's at the controls and what it costs to keep it flying.

Hands-off

We fly it for you.

You message us when something changes ~ a new workshop, a new artist, a sold piece ~ and we make it happen. You never touch the site.

What you do
Send us a WhatsApp or email. That's it.
What we do
Update the site, design your posters, add workshops & artists, keep it online.
Feels like
Having a studio assistant for the website.
R4,400
once-off to build & launch
R1,500 /month
updates + fresh graphics every month
Best if you'd genuinely rather never log in and just want it handled.
Our pick for you Yours to run

You take the controls.

Your own private login. Add a workshop, update an artist, swap a photo ~ fill in a simple form, hit publish, and it's live in under a minute. With 80-odd workshops across your artists, this keeps it all in your hands. You can't break the design.

What you do
Log in, fill in the boxes, hit publish. Done.
What we do
Build it, set up your login, show you how in a quick video. Then it's yours.
Feels like
Posting to Instagram, but it's your own site.
R9,500
once-off ~ then it's yours to run
R0 /month
optional R1,500/mo if you'd like us to keep it fresh + make your graphics
Best if you want it to truly be yours ~ and to spend almost nothing keeping it running.
Sell & book

Open the shop.

A proper online store on top of everything. Originals, prints and commissions ~ plus class seats and passes ~ paid for by card, with the order landing in your inbox. Stock, prices and sales all in one tidy dashboard.

What you do
Add products & workshops, set prices ~ all yourself.
What we do
Build the store, set up card payments, brand it like Mothership, train you up.
Feels like
Running your own little gallery & class shop, online.
R15,500
once-off to build the store
~R470 /month
the shop platform's own fee + a small fee per sale
Best if selling work and booking classes online is the real goal.

What "you take the controls" looks like.

This is the real editing screen for options two and three. Go on ~ click a section on the left, then click anything to see how you'd change it.

No code. No tech. Just forms ~ like filling in a contact sheet.

M
Mothership dashboard
Signed in as MJ
Everything's live
Your site
● Events
● Workshops
● Artists
● Shop
● Passes
● Home page

The first year, in rands.

Everything you'd pay in the first twelve months. Your domain isn't here ~ you already own that. No surprises.

We fly it for you

Option one
Build & launch (once)R4,400
Updates + graphicsR1,500/mo
Platform feesNone
First year, all in
~R22,400

You take the controls

Option two ~ our pick
Build & setup (once)R9,500
Monthly to run itR0
Optional supportR1,500/mo
First year, all in
R9,500

Open the shop

Option three
Store build (once)R15,500
Shop platform~R470/mo
Per salesmall %
First year, all in
~R21,100

A note on the numbers ~

These are a Mothership rate, shaped for an artist-run, community-first space rather than a standard agency build. Think of it as a shared investment in getting this place online ~ we're backing the studio too. This excludes your domain and website hosting ~ assuming you have those under control.

The shop platform bills in US dollars, so that ~R470 wobbles a little with the exchange rate. The "small % per sale" only happens when something actually sells ~ no sales, no fee.

If I'm being straight with you ~

All three are good. It really comes down to one question: do you want to run it, or have it run for you?

If you never want to think about it, option one is the easy life ~ you message, we move. If selling and booking online is the goal, option three is the one. But for how Mothership actually works ~ a growing wall of workshops, new artists, events most months ~ option two is the sweet spot. It costs the least to keep going, it puts the catalogue in your hands, and the site genuinely becomes yours. That's the one I'd choose in your shoes.

And you're never locked in ~ start on one, move to another whenever it makes sense, and switch on online booking the day you want it.

What happens next.

  1. You tell me which one feels right.
  2. I send a one-page yes, and we lock it in.
  3. You're live, your way, within the week.
Beam us up ↗