On Coworking and Culture
I have been infatuated with the idea of the ideas of coworking/cohousing and crowd sourcing for well over a decade. The power that a unified group of people, whether they be motivated by profit or standard of living, can gain by joining forces and working together is infinite.
No, I am not talking about hippy-dippy, free-lovin’, clothing-optional communes here, folks. I’m also not degrading the impact those relationships have on their participants quality of life. What I am talking about is urban revitalization through grassroots participation.
One of my favourite blogs (it’s set as my home page) is CoolTown Studios. Founder Neil Takemoto has been committed to the development of places with significant economic, environmental and social benefit for the last 14 years, and has broken new ground in the development of co-working and crowdsourced spaces. And he is not the only one…
This past weekend myself and Andrew Foot had the pleasure of spending time at The Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) in downtown 
Toronto. Windsor ex-pat Shawn Micallef, who just happens to be an associate editor of the fantabulous Spacing Magazine (and also a member of CSI) introduced us to this coworking space as well as the Spacing oganization. Over one hundred full and part-time members make up this hive of creative activities. Boasting a membership that consists of such groundbreaking organizations such as Rabble, Carbon Zero, Corporate Knights, the David Suzuki Foundation, and Idea Nation, it is no surprise to me that the creative energy in this place makes it glow halfway across the world. I don’t know whether to love him or hate Shawn for tour, as I am sure that my workload for the next few years is going to skyrocket because of it. This powerful notion of cooperation and working together could have grand implications for the City of Windsor.
Of course, Shawn would have nothing of our talk about heading home to Windsor right after our tour. Not with Toronto’s version of Nuit Blanche happening that night. With the idea of a boring four hours of 401 in our immediate future and the promise of a “magical” evening in front of us if we stayed, it wasn’t difficult to twist our arms into delaying our departure.
Holy crap. I never expected what we experienced that night. Just a few numbers for you; 155 “contemporary art thing“ installations stretched across the downtown for one night - dusk ’til dawn, 750 artists and curators, 450 docents and volunteers, 92 galleries, museums, cultral and educational institutions and neigbourhoods, and 24 corporate sponsors and media partners. About two million REALLY tired feet! Magical it was. Between Shawn’s tour of some of Toronto’s more secret and special spots in the afternoon, to Nuit Blanche all night until 4:30 in the morning,
we had walked more than 20 KM’s through the streets of downtown.
Think about the financial impact of an event like Nuit Blanche. Last year, with around 800,000 attendees, Nuit Blanche brought around $5 million dollars into the coffers of local businesses. Increase that by 25% and you can see that this is no paltry chump change we’re talking about. For the couple of hundred thousand dollars it cost the city to host, the return on investment was obviousy in the black.
“What a wonderful experience Scotiabank Nuit Blanche was for me and my friends. I’ve never seen this city so engaged and so vibrant!”
- Bernard, Toronto resident
“We had a great time and loved the spontaneity and diversity of the venues. It made us love our city and its people in a deep and special way.”
- Victoria, Toronto resident
“I had a great time, saw art that I never would have gone near, and just felt my city was the best darn place in the world.”
- Linda, Toroto resident
When was the last time you’ve heard Windsor residents give testimonials like this about The Autmotive Capital of Canada? And our leaders question the value of arts and culture…
Planning is already underway for the next Nuit Blanche, slated to take place on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009. I know I’ll be there again.
Tags: artist, arts funding, arts incubator, community building, Creative Class, crowd sourcing, culture, festivals, local economic development, pedestrian, travel and trourism
Post Feedback
The only time I have heard that in Windsor was the Red Bull Air Races. How can we have so many artists in Windsor who have great talent and not have nights such as this? One of the biggest reasons? “THE FREE RIDE IS OVER” mentality that is why.
When elected officials play that card the taxpaying residents start to think it is a waste of money and since they are already cash-strapped they believe that the money should be spent elsehwhere. What they don’t know is that this generates new business and advertising for the city which brings in dollars…lots of dollars. It also adds to the quality of life in this city and diversifies the economy.
Why wouldn’t the city promote this type of work? it benefits so many with so few dollars. But I guess it isn’t thinking big enough or if the mentality is that a city needs to spend big bucks in order receive big dividends is rampant in those halls of Windsor then we know why the reason.
Heck, if we can spend $60 million on 20ft wide canals then surely we can spend $1 million per year on artists for the next 30 years! Talk about a boost in the economy!
One thing I still have not understood is that we have no artists on the riverfront. If we are trying to bring the water to the people or people to the water what better way to do it than that?
Why not have Art by the River in spring and fall and then throughout the warm months we could have artists or small shops (peace beacons) that sell a beverage or sandwiches where paths and gardens meander in, around and between them! What a truly wonderful park it would be!
Hey! The Centre for Social Innovation sends its thanks for the nod to our space… we just love what we do here and would be ecstatic to see a network of social innovation co-working spaces emerge around the world… can’t wait for Windsor to join into the fun… the systems change is happening… you are always welcome!
Tonya
Be careful what you ask for, Tonya. I may just show up at CSI and never leave.
Seriously, what your organization provides is a cure for much of what ails Windsor. You will be seeing us again soon. Whether it’s a satellite offshoot of CSI or a homegrown approach, there will be development in this area in Windsor soon. Thank you so much for the inspiration!