Community, Business, Arts Centre

[Odilia Mabrouk]

I'm Odilia Mabrouk, and along with a few others, I am 'mulling' and idea for a local centre that incorporates small business, arts activities/exhibitions and community space.

What I see so far:
A place that when you walk into
a)inspires you to connect with others and the space
2)gets you thinking you can do the impossible (or that which you always dreamed of but never dared),
3)stimulates your entrepreneurial spirit, practical abilities, learning and networking skills

I guess my next step is to change those points into questions and do a little research in the local area (west of birmingham, uk).

Do let me know your thoughts of if you are interested in co-thinking/doing.

[Odilia Mabrouk]

further thoughts - it could link in with local history - chainmakers and nailmakers, perhaps a good name would be 'the forge'. other purposes: a centrally located box-office for the arts centre that is out of town, a space for practical training in responsible business/project management esp. for non-academic young people who may have a lot of energy and drive but not many qualifications.

[Odilia Mabrouk]

hmm, passed this by a colleague who felt it might be a bit alienating as a name...well, more people are liking the idea of the centre, so i shall continue to link/meet/brainstorm with them and myself/you via this thread.

[Anders Abrahamsson]

Hi, sorry for the late reply,

You really operate in a space of ideas here where I really have something quite far gone in ideas template to realize!

I happen to be involved in quite the similar idea in a small village in Northern Småland. "Micro Sustainopreneurial Zone" as an empowerment playground, yes.

Actually, it is included as a facilitation means mentioned in my book chapter to put sustainopreneurship into play in the local and regional context.

If we could come up with an open innovation/open source franchise, with a shared brand name for these kinds of hubs, would be great, right? Of course, we have the Hub, but that is more for the urban context, or?

What about branding it "Creafé"? :) - a name I have played around with some time...

Peace,
Anders

[Odilia Mabrouk]

thanks anders, yes, your point about it being different from a hub is something we talked about in our first meeting, so we're planning to look at different models and gain ideas, as well as look at what our area is calling for.

generally in the small business world, i think there is a need for 3 kinds of hub like stuctures/networks:

1) the one that already exists in big cities,

2) one that serves small towns (such as ours) and

3)another that links rural small businesses (this would be more of a network or virtual hub i guess.

There's a study on this last point that you might be interested in reading called: 'Under the radar, tracking and supporting rural home based businesses' you can find it here:
http://www.liveworknet.com/uploads/radar.pdf

it is based on research in the uk but may be relevant to your area as well.

our little team has only just started its conversations, so i guess we'll need time before we decide on models/names etc but as a feedback, i'm not sure 'creafe' fits so well as it doesn't conjure up anything specific in my mind, but that's only my humble opinion.

v.grateful for your thoughts, many thanks.

[Anders Abrahamsson]

Agreed on 'creafé', ditch that. Too fancy for the ruralities, yes. Needs something more down-to-earth. The association we founded has the name "Skaparbanken i Ekenässjön", "Creator's Bank in Ekenässjön = Oak Cape Lake literally translated".


View Larger Map http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eken%C3%A4ssj%C3%B6n [use google translate - the local community actually has a little stub article on nl.wikipedia as well, Odilia! Cool, huh?
Peace,
Anders

[David Braden]

You may be interested in how the Casa worked in Brazil.

[Odilia Mabrouk]

thanks david, as you can see from my comments to anders this is perfect timing as we are looking at collecting ideas/experiences from a variety of different projects - many thanks for that!

[Anders Abrahamsson]

Hey, this interconnection is a dormant volcano! In Skype now to get tangible with all the hot air and words so far exchanged in our todo list, now to be enacted this spring!

@Odilia: Status?
@David Braden: Is your project into something similar here?

Peace,
Anders

[Odilia Mabrouk]

update:

we're moving on to a feasibility study and business plan, also linking with local partners, so it's getting exciting!

i've also got an online group: Sustainable Business West Midlands for people in that area of the UK, it's at: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Sustainablebusiness-wm/