There were many other issues raised during the meeting which I discuss here:
Fundraising
Matthews
Yard is an interesting project providing flexible workshop with other
facilities. Its owner Saif Bonar explained the approach he was seeking to raise
£5,000 a small amount of money to buy equipment for a space at the Yard which
will become a theatre and events venue, mainly for amateur groups and as a
rehearsal space. This method is called crowd funding and it enables lots of
people who back a n idea to donate a small amount of money. There is a Cloud
Funding organisation: Cloudfunding.co.uk. Its website says
that it will help start-up companies
look into funding for their new business ventures offline/online. It also has sections where investors can search
for new creative business ideas. Another funding platform is the international Kickstarter.com
for creative projects: films, games, and
music to art, design, and technology. In its approach the full amount has to be
raised for anyone to actually have to pay their money over. Saif is using
Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com/projects/1372652126/the-studio-matthews-yard).
He is to be congratulated for the way in which he explains that his initiative
comes ‘against a backdrop of cuts to funding for arts, youth and community
projects across the UK which have been felt across the borough’ with specific
reference to the loss of the DavidLean
Cinema. ClockTower Arts Complex and Warehouse Theatre. ‘These recent closures have left London's
most populous borough with a vacuum in terms of space available for grass
roots, community based arts and cultural activity in the town centre. Theatre
groups rehearse in pubs and leave the borough to perform at venues outside the
town, as no suitable space is available here. ‘
There are other
funding mechanisms as well. One of those attending the meeting works for Help My Cause based at
Croydon Voluntary Action: www.helpmycause.net. It is
supported among others by the Croydon BME Forum, SME Consortium (also based at
CVA) and the Croydon based social enterprise care service PJ’s Community
Service.
Crowd
funding can be used for small businesses and community and voluntary
groups. In the case of small businesses
this does help owners to expand their services and products and any profits
that are generated will be ploughed back into their businesses or enable them
to draw money to cover their own costs of living. Small venues such as is proposed are very
important part of the infrastructure for cultural activities. The Alford House
Youth Club in Vauxhall part funds itself by day time hiring of its large halls
as rehearsal space. The White Bear Theatre on Kennington Park Rd is a small pub
based theatre. I asked Saif whether the
administrator of the Warehouse Theatre (which had been shafted by the Council)
had been approached as to the possibility of buying its equipment. He explained
that he had had being having discussions and there might be a possibility of
that happening, along with the possibility of equipment donations from other
courses. Another attendee suggested that
the Croydon Youth Theatre be approached because it was going to have to leave
the former school building it uses so that it can be converted back into a
school. This suggestion does raise the
question of what is going to happen to the equipment owned by major community
and voluntary groups that will collapse over the next 2/3 years as a result of
Central and Local Government cuts and
the increased problems of raising money from other sources. Given the
Couincil’s intention to reduce its role as a supporter of cultural activities,
and its wish to develop Fairfield Halls as a monopoly facility (incorporating
the names of the David Lean Cinema and the Warehouse Theatre, the development
of small business supported cultural venues and activities is to be welcomed,
while recognising their potential fragility if the businesses can be sustained
profitably.
Crowdfunding in History
Crowdfunding
is of course nothing new; just a new piece
of jargon. The member run trade unions, the co-operatives, building societies, friendly insurance societies,
non-Anglican churches, etc were all
built up on the pennies donated by their members, to which more wealthy people
added larger sums of money. The Morning
Star newspaper, linked to the Communist Party which is based in Croydon, exists
on crowdfunding through its Fighting Fund. Croydon Surrey Opera used a form of
crowd funding to buy Clyde Hall as its premises. However, the internet based
nature of crowd funding platforms does depend on people with small sums of
money to give away/invest knowing about them. Being web based does not solve
the problems of people’s lack of information, and the fact that most people do
not re-visit sites on a regular basis.
Websites need to be backed by the provision of other sources of information,
such as emails updates and newsletters, helping to spread the word. In a very
small way this is the function of my EDiary & News and British Black
History Digest.
The Problem
of Space
In the
presentation by Simon of dotmailer (www.dotmailer.co.uk) perhaps the most important issue to emerge
was the problem of the type of workspace available for rent. He and his
partners had been able to start because there was one complex of office space
where the small units were let on a
monthly basis. However as it has grown it has become more and more difficult to
find expansion space, which the absence of a great deal of such units in
Croydon makes it difficult for start up companies as they grow. This is not a
new issue. Years ago in Lambeth a young team developed the early architectural
drawing programme. As they expanded they could not find appropriate
accommodation in the Borough and moved out of London.
When I
undertook the review of community buildings in its area for Stockwell
Partnership in 2009/10 I looked at this issue of whether there was scope for community buildings to
provide business units. Organisations registered as charities, companies
limited by guarantee and industrial and provident societies are themselves
businesses, showing social entrepreneurship. Several community buildings already contained space which was let to other businesses as their operational
bases, while others were exploring he
possibilities.
There were already a wide range of small office, business
and industrial premises available for renting in and around the Stockwell area,
and plans and ideas for the creation of more. Any business units created by the community and voluntary sector would need to take into account the existence of
private sector provision in relation to setting their rental and service
charges and conditions, and whether they can provide common support services. There
were several sites with potential to create small business units, including the
upper floors of public houses. From time to time private sector owned properties came onto the market which
may be suitable for conversion into business units. The possibility of
not-for-profit property ownership organisations investing in business units
could be explored. There might also be scope for the development of business units
if any Church buildings became redundant in the future.
I drew attention to the need for a lot more knowledge
about what the needs and aspiration of businesses were in the Stockwell area to
ensure that the development of business units was relevant to help build and
sustain local businesses. An important step towards helping to build a support
system would be the creation of a database of local businesses. I suggested
that this might be a role for Stockwell Park High School as part of its business
studies specialism. I
recommended that the Partnership discuss with the Ethical Property Company whether it could
develop a role in the area to create and manage business units for charities, voluntary groups and social change
organisations.
Specialist Office Space Companies
While the Company
concentrates on the non-for-profit sector, and may have a role in Croydon there
will be a need to identify property companies that will buy up traditional
office blocks and convert them into smaller more flexible spaces. In the arts world
there are organisations such as Artistic Spaces. Flexible workshop provision is
one of the functions of some Development Trusts which are now co-ordinated by
their national umbrella group Locality, which takes a lead role in the
provision of advice to help the transfer of building assets from local
authorities to Trusts. It might also be possible to see if there is scope to
find a private wealthy individual who will invest in the creation of specialist
accommodation, such as Damien Hirst is doing in Newport St in Kennington with a
complex of workspaces, galleries and restaurant.
Adult Education Activities
Another person at the
meeting asked whether the Yard could be used as a venue for low cost adult
education activities, such as teaching foreign languages. The case was cited of
the woman who wanted to offer Italian finding the price of hiring venues
prohibitive. Said responded that such activity was a possibility. However, to
develop the Yard as an adult education hub will require some effort being put
into, for example, discussing with Croydon U3A using the venue for some of its
activities, and finding out whether classes could be developed with the
Workers’ Educational Association. The WEA is a member controlled organisation
set up in 1903 in by people involved in the co-operative and trade union
movements in Battersea and is still the largest non-state provider of adult
education. Said regretted the absence of
a University in Croydon, but given the massive funding crisis facing
Universities, this may not be a bad thing. What could be developed instead is a ‘People’s
University’ meeting the real educational needs of those who have been failed by
the school system, by those needing English language skills, and adults who
want to develop their interests which the formal adult education providers do
not provide for or at a price people cannot afford.
Where Next for Tech City?
TechCity is not an
organisation, it is a network of people interested in developing Croydon as a
tech hub. It is developing itself as a potential ‘community’ of interest. There
are a number of challenges it faces. How can it develop through 2013 as more
than a talking shop, a facilitator of advice giving, and a gathering of like minded
people at pleasurable events. It will need to recognise that developing as a
specialist sector does not make it part of the wider communities of Croydon;
businesses can still decide to move away. As I suggested at the end of the
meeting it needs to consider how it can contribute to the reduction of the
digital divide in Croydon to help people who cannot afford it to have IT access
other than in their homes. Further how can it develop a platform which helps
non-tech businesses and community and voluntary organisations to promote their
products, services and activities to each other, so as to build inter-trading
and support that mutual strengthens each other and the money staying in the local
economy. Such a platform would have helped with publicising the Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor Festival and promoting the sale of the pamphlet about him
which I published under my History & Social Action imprint.
Generating Ideas and Networking
It was very clear, as is so
often the case at such events, that ideas quickly gel which could help to
create joint opportunities for people. In Croydon the anti-knife campaign goes
into schools. The Stop and Search app designers would like to see it promoted
in schools. Perhaps there is scope for joint approaches to schools around a
package linking crime, personal responsibility, finances and civil liberties as
part of citizenship. Schools might find this easier to incorporate into their
timetables than separate organisations each seeking a slot of time.
Networking at these
TechCity meetings is important, but there are also other networks. Nobody can
go to every meeting. It is beneficial if there are cross-links between
different networks to encourage lateral thinking across them, otherwise they can
easily become silos of knowledge and activity unrelated to anything else that
is going on.
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