Great work guys! Glad to see it come to fruition. On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 3:30 PM, Ryan Price <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'm very happy to be writing this email to the list right now. Also posted > to my blog http://ryanpricemedia.com > > One year ago, I was approached by Julia Young, the President of a local > nonprofit organization called the Urban Think! Foundation. She was charged > with transforming a soon-to-be out of business local bookstore into a > Coworking space, event space, and a program to support local creatives. > There were hazy thoughts about having a cafe, putting in a loft, and > creating a versatile space. She found me because of my numerous blogs posts > about Coworking, and my involvement in the local community. > > I brought in a good friend of mine, Darren McDaniel, who had experience > working at a similar space here in Orlando that was eventually strangled by > bureaucracy. He had a business plan, several years of experience, and a PhD > thesis paper about creating structure for freelancers and other creatives. > Darren would be tapped as the Founding Director of the project, code named > Urban ReThink. > > We put out a survey to the old mailing list from the bookstore, and as many > other communities as we could get in touch with. This concept is a bit > bigger than Coworking space alone, but it shares values and lots of the > superficial things many spaces have. To say this is ambitious would be an > understatement. We do have some great things going for us. > > The landlord is one of the original founders of the old bookstore, and he > had other offers for the space - this is a passion project for him. A few > months into this adventure, we found out he will be developing an area of > downtown Orlando called the Creative Village - Craig and the rest of the > nonprofit board are really committed to making our city better, and they > have been invaluable throughout this process. From the big things like the > space itself and the renovation, to smaller things like the PR and marketing > strategy, and making connections with other organizations and businesses. > > Starting in November, we started hosting events - film screenings, a book > signing, an interactive art installation, and several holiday parties. These > were a great learning experience, as our space is at street level, and on a > major walking path to the rest of Downtown Orlando - the weekends are very > colorful here. > > On January 17th, our cafe partner opened their doors to a torrential > downpour - but lunch time still brought in about a dozen people, eager to > see their new neighbors. Last week, some furniture was delivered - donated > from a local interior design shop - and we invited a few potential community > members to start working here. Today was the final straw as the cable > company connected the internet and we fired up our wi-fi - no more stealing > from the neighbors! > > We were lucky enough to be featured in the local daily newspaper a few > weeks ago, and now I am told a business journal article related to > independent workers will be landing this week - they even took my picture > for it. > > We still have so far to go - I'm pretty sure we're doing it backwards - the > "if you build it, they will come" plan. I am feverishly trying to finish the > website (just got the design on Friday) so I can stop answering all my > questions via Facebook, Twitter and Email. At the same time, we know we have > lots of interest - people wanting to (and already are) holding meetings > here, people ready to sign up for memberships, mentors ready to give sage > wisdom, and many and more things ready to happen. > > In 2 weeks we'll have the start of our grand opening festivities, and who > knows what will happen from there? > > Photos: http://www.flickr.com/groups/urbanrethink/ > News: http://facebook.com/UrbanReThink > Updates: http://twitter.com/urbanrethink > Website (coming soon): http://urbanrethink.com > > Peace, > Ryan Price > [email protected] > UrbanReThink.com > @urbanrethink > 625 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801 > Creative. Collaborative. Transformative. > > Fragmentation + other stories Book Release Feb 16 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking-Orlando" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<coworking-orlando%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking-orlando?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
