Calling all digital nomads, creative home office workers, cafe dwelling coders/designers and freelancers of all kinds. We are moving up in a few days and to celebrate we thought we’d host another JELLY. Come work FREE for a day in the Creative Space. Barrie’s first co-work collaborative! Bring your laptop. We’ll supply the internet, the space, coffee, tea and other assorted goodies.
January 22, 2KX
9-5
89 Dunlop St E
2nd floor!!
RSVP on Facebook and bring a friend.
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ChangeCamp is an event format, an open creative community and a set of tools and ideas designed to give citizens and governments the ability to work collaboratively in new ways to make change and to better address real-world challenges in our communities. The Creative Space is planning to host this event in our new space in ! Stay tuned for more info on the gathering and go to the Changecamp site for all the goods on what it’s all about.
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Hey everyone…we finalized the deal and as of Jan 1, 2010 we’ll be on the 2nd floor of 89 Dunlop St E. Taking on and extra 1000 square feet then what we have now. Going from 1300 to 2300! If you’re interested in joining us, now would be a great time. All rates stay the same and if you’re thinking of coming in in December parking downtown is FREE!
Here’s the list of NEW things to look forward to upstairs:
- full kitchen and eating area with a sink!
- a bathroom for the gents and one for the ladies. Melanie rejoices!!
- A large boardroom/meeting room with doors and walls – and potentially a smaller meeting/phone room – yep, privacy!
- about 600 more s/f of desk space
- a nicer view of the Bay and park
- more security being that we’re off ground level
Thing we hope to add:
- looking into fiber optics
- closed office or semi office options
- video projector for board room for presentation and video conferencing
If you want to come see the new digs, come on in as we have access for viewing now.
Thanks to all who have made the Creative Space such a success!
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The Creative Space, Barrie’s first creative co-work collaborative is now home to 10 companies! Check out the tenants page to see who’s in! If you’re interested in joining the growing community drop us a line. Although we are filling up, we have our sites on more space including room for board rooms, extra meeting space and possibly the beginnings of some creative arts space.
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Designer gets creative with office concept
Stan Howe photo The Creative Spce at 89 Dunlop St. East is the brainchild of Chad Ballantyne. The business brings creative professionals together under one roof.
Necessity may be the mother of invention – but creativity certainly adds to the mix.
And for one Barrie designer, necessity forced him to look for an out-of-Barrie solution. Along with a partner, Rhubarb Media’s Chad Ballantyne rented much of first floor of what once was the Chamber of Commerce building at 89 Dunlop St. E., beside Memorial Square. The partner left for another job opportunitiy - leaving Ballantyne with 1,300 square feet in space.
Ballantyne expanded from creating virtual spaces into creating real estate spaces. He launched The Creative Space, an office where media professionals, artists, graphic designers, writers and the like can rent space.
“It’s easy access. There’s no real barrier to setting up your own business. Typically, you have to find space, then get Internet and phone. We find people have iPhones or Blackberries. We provide everything else – the high-speed and the power to run their computers – and also the community,” he said.
“We relate, collaborate and create. We collaborate on projects and try to grow our companies together.”
Starting on the ground floor, The Creative Space already has 10 members – some who are there full-time, many part-time. Ballantyne envisions one day filling the entire three-storey building with creative professionals, and adding wet and dry studios and other specialized spaces.
Although The Creative Space may be the first of its kind in Barrie, it’s part of a worldwide trend.
“There are well over 300 co-work spaces throughout the world. In Canada, there are a handful,” said Ballantyne. “We are really on the brink of something exciting, something really cool, not only in Canada, but in Barrie.”
One World Brand Management’s Lori Dillon sees an array of benefits for her marketing firm.
“Whether you’re looking for creativity, professionalism and different ideas, you can find them in any market in the world. The clustering we do gives us the ability to work together and bounce ideas off one another. That’s how you foster exceptional work,” she said.
“This gives me the professional, creative environment, but lifestyle flexibility.”
Barrie is home to more than 20,000 creative-industry professionals, noted arts strategic management consultant William Moore – and many of those work for small companies, with four employees or fewer. The Creative Space, he noted, brings them together to collaborate and build something even better.
Dillon added she values that interaction, as well as the role she and others can play in downtown revitalization.
“And from where the city’s going to developing downtown, the creative arts and cultural sector, this certainly fits with that long-term strategic direction,” Dillon added.
Downtown Barrie BIA executive director Craig Stevens said The Creative Space is a perfect fit in downtown, which is already home to architects and marketing professionals.
“This fits with what we want downtown to be, and it will be a catalyst for future creative growth,” he said.
“We’ve had a brainstorming session for Memorial Square, and (one day) it will be the meeting spot, the creative and social gathering place for the downtown, the nucleus for the area. Having a creative facility beside that is ideal.”
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Downtown digs offer a creative environment
Creative entrepreneurs looking for an innovative workplace environment have a new option.The Creative Space (TCS), located on Dunlop Street East at Memorial Square in the city’s downtown, gives them an affordable office space in a unique atmosphere, according to founder Chad Ballantyne.
“TCS takes away the isolation of home-based businesses and offers a workspace to connect with other business owners with a breadth of new ideas, experiences and best practices,” he said. “Tenants benefit from the synergy produced by talented people working in the same space to create, relate, and collaborate.”
Ballantyne said he’s inviting anyone — new media creators, artists, non-profit professionals and photographers — who can’t afford their own office to consider The Creative Space.
“This is a growing trend around the world, and we’re doing our part to foster the creative economy locally,” he said.
Creative designer Thain Lurk has been a part of The Creative Place since its inception about six months ago.
“It’s a new way of thinking,” he said, sitting at his work space with a view of Memorial Square and Kempenfelt Bay.
“I’m excited to be a part of it. We love helping each other. Rather than being competitors, we work together to get the job done,” Lurk said, adding that he was working out of a more conventional storefront operation in the city’s south end before joining the TCS team.
“It was an expensive way to start a business. This is a better way, without having to utilize a bank with all the financing, loans or paying for signage. You don’t have to go through all that,” Lurk said. “All you need is a desk and a computer and the world is your oyster.”
Chad Ballantyne said TCS offers various options for its partners: one hour for $8, one day for $20 or $250 a month for a desk.
“It’s a close-knit group of companies. They’re not just coming to work, they’re coming to live,” he said.
The future will bring some other activities at the organization.
“We’d like to offer classes and clinics to help businesses grow, as well as low to no-cost clinics to help those people who are marginalized in society. We’d like to reach out to non-profit groups,” Ballantyne said.
Coun. Jeff Lehman, who represents the downtown area, said TCS is a good fit for the downtown area.
“Building on our homegrown talent in the city is an important philosophy. We want to encourage that kind of growth downtown,” he said.
For more information about TCS, call Ballantyne at 252- 2423, or visit www.thecreativespace.ca.
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News Release
Barrie, ON — Local entrepreneurs looking to get out of the house, out of the cafe, or out of their daily commute, and into a collaborative, community work environment have a new home in Barrie.
The Creative Space (TCS) www.thecreativespace.ca is a new generation of co-work environment that gives the creative class of workers the opportunity to face-to-face camaraderie of an office setting, in an affordable, creative atmosphere.
“This is a growing trend around the world and we’re doing our part to foster the creative economy locally,” said Chad Ballantyne, founder of The Creative Space. “This is just the start, we would like to see an entire building dedicated to helping small businesses, artists and professionals launch and grow.”
TCS takes away the isolation of home-based businesses and offers a workspace to connect with other business owners with a breadth of new ideas, experiences and best practices. Tenants benefit from the synergy produced by talented people working in the same space to create, relate, and collaborate.
“We’re here for each other as creative sounding-boards and for brainstorming. We love offering advice to each other and referring clients to each other,” said Ballantyne. “We’re inviting anyone, new media creators, artists, non-profit professionals, photographers, or anyone who is home-based, either by choice or circumstance, and can’t afford their own office,”
TCS offers flexible membership rates by month, three times a week, daily and hourly. Tenants get an open workspace and full use of amenities such as wireless internet. However, unlike other centres where tenants simply share cubicles and a kitchen, TCS unites people for a rare blend of collaboration and independence.
“Barrie’s first Creative Space is a really wonderful idea, and I know that it’s going to be a catalyst for some of the great conglomerations of creative minds that will take place in the City of Barrie,” said Quammie Williams, Director for the Department of Culture for the City of Barrie.
TCS is already home to more than 10 companies from new media design and marketing, to copy-writing and translation services to being home to non-profits like the Barrie Arts Advisor Committee and host to other landmark cultural meetings.
The Creative Space is located at 89 Dunlop St E Suite 101. Rates and information can be found on the website www.thecreativespace.ca
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Looks like Parliament is in session on the 19th so we won’t see our MPP or MP at the Grand Opening – but they send their regards!
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