“Sometimes, you have to look back in order to understand the things that lie ahead.” 
― Yvonne Woon, Dead Beautiful

First – thank you all for a truly amazing 2 months of [freespace]!! Together, we demonstrated the power of creative community.

61 days. 185 Events. Thousands of Visitors. And those are just a few of the amazing numbers. But numbers only tell part of the story.

What started with the National Day of Civic Hacking has turned into a powerful and meaningful movement, showing what people can create when given the space to do so.

So – what did we do with this awesome space in just two months?

We created amazing art, built one of the most fun indoor slides, shared bikes, held countless free yoga classes, brought smiles to peoples’ faces by giving them flowers each week, cooked delicious communal meals, celebrated The Summer Solstice, threw an amazing Digital Detox event, and went to The White House to get Washington excited about what we are doing too.

Lasting Change

One of our primary goals, though, was to create lasting change. We decided that we would incubate several projects within freespace, providng them community, space, and volunteer help.

The resident projects included a community garden, The Learning Shelter (mobile classrooms in shipping containers), homefrontFan (empowering women veterans), SF Yellow Bikes (community bike sharing program), local community engagement, and artsSpace (which helped bring art murlas into freespace). To learn more about these projects and get involved, check our projects page.

Community Building

Beyond that, we mobilized an incredible community. A community so strong that together we raised over $25,000 from over 250 contributors to keep the space open for July!

We cannot thank every one of you enough for making [freespace] what is. You’ve made it a mind blowing success! A very special thanks to our partners. They helped us keep the lights on.

While we are closing our doors at 1131 Mission for August, our project doesn’t end there. Throughout the past two months, people have asked us “What will [freespace] look like in the future?” The beauty of this project is that answer lies in you. As we reflect on the great fun we’ve had the past two months, we’ll keep working to create [freespace] everywhere.

We would love to hear your thoughts on the past two months. Leave your comments below. Or post your thoughts on our Facebook page. Let us know what you loved and what you’d like to see going forward. Help us decide what [freespace] will look in the future.

Thanks!

[<3]

– Marisa, Brittany, Jaki, and the whole [freespace] crew

Just a few minutes ago, we hit our crowdfunding goal on Indiegogo.

In just 4 weeks, we have the following numbers for you :

$25k+ raised.
109,000 People reached through FB.
26000 Visitors to our website.
6000 Smiles, Laughs, and Individuals in the space in June.
2124 “Likes” on Facebook.
1500 Daily hits on our website.
659 Moments captured.
109 Events hosted.
30 Piece a capella Leonard Cohen chorus — all bearded.
27+ Blog Posts.
20 Kindergartners painting sunshines on the floor.
18 Murals.
16 Yoga classes.
12 Articles in the press.
7 Silent discos.
4 Civic Hacking Salons.
3 [ freespace ] spin off spaces sparked.
1 Visit by Gavin Newsom.
1 Invite to the White House to present our idea on a national stage.
1 Giant slide

NONE of it possible without you.

Thank you!

We’ve got lots of great events happening today.

Tonight, we’ll be hosting a very special screening of Style Wars – an iconic film about street art, graffiti, and counter-culture. We’ll be starting the screening around 8:30pm (Sundown) – please do come by before hand, check out all the art we’ve got at [freespace], and setup your picnic blanket before the sun goes down.

We’re looking forward to seeing you!

RSVP’s are available here but not necessary.

To celebrate the first day of Summer (the Summer Solstice), we took the Park Cycle out.

(watch on YouTube)

The Park Cycle was donated to [freespace] and is a project of Rebar – one of the main folks responsible for all the parklets in San Francisco. We hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed giving out all those flowers!

Ilana gives out flowers

When we started this initiative, we knew we were in for a magical ride. But we had no idea how magical it would be. Or what form it would take. The community that has emerged in the past 20 days has been nothing if not inspirational. Below are some photos of our SF community (click through for the full set).

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Yes – we’ve had great press. Yesterday’s article in FastCo did a great job of describing our entire initiative. But it didn’t really capture the fact that other [freespace] type initiatives are already popping up. Miami, for example, is being led by Alexandra Saba. She’s got a crowdfunding campaign to get [freespace] in Miami going. We’ve also seen emails and blog posts from Delaware, Brazil, the Netherlands, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and – well – you get the point.

What we’re building is more than a space. When you’re contributing to the crowdfunding campaign, you’re contributing to more than just another month in our current space. You’re contributing to the [freespace] initiative : a new way of organizing and supporting local communities.

Take a moment and support the Indiegogo campaign. Spread the word, contribute, come and visit us, participate. You’ll help launch more initiatives like this. This is not just for “1 more month” – it’s for a new vision of getting things done.