TL;DR We want [ freespace ] to stay open in July so that we can more effectively spread the message to other communities. Contribute to our crowd-funding campaign  and we will love you forever.

Back in mid-May, I stumbled into my roommate Morgan’s room and joined in a proto-meeting for some space, unnamed, that MIGHT happen if my other roommate, Zuckerman, could secure a building in downtown SF for free.  Sounded unlikely but I am always one to support the improbable efforts of activated friends so I threw my two cents in.

Over the next week or so a few key pieces fell into place, including the FREE building. We hosted a more official unofficial planning meeting which was attended by many of the core team of what was to become [ freespace ].  We also spent 80% of the meeting talking about a one day event that never actually happened…so I guess you could say that when we opened the doors to [ freespace ] on June 1, we hadn’t planned for much and had no idea what was going to happen.

But something DID happen!

What began as a few friends coming together to host an experiment grew into a slow rumble of growing energy and excitement. The murals began. The website was live. The event requests began rolling in and [ freespace ] was sparked. That slow rumble turned into an avalanche of smiles, shared moments, interesting conversations, learning, and one hell of huge group of people interested in having a little more [ freespace ]  in their community.

WOW! Yay. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and awe of what has happened in this space over the last three weeks. Amazing! Chaotic. Beautiful.

The response to  [ freespace ]  in me has been multi- faceted. I know that the idea of [ fs ] wasn’t new. There are other similar groups and spaces around here and there. However; [ freespace ] is an emergent phenomena that people are ready to receive NOW.  I believe that’s why this project has captured the interest of so many individuals and organizations. This space fosters meaningful spontaneous connections in a play environment, exactly what technology over-saturated young urbanites are lacking and exactly the type of environment that encourages lateral thinking, creativity, and full engagement.

When an individuals are engaged and challenged by a project and supported in their expression by their peers, they do their best work. Corporate organizations of all sizes and shapes are trying to figure out this very idea. I have a feeling that is why so many orgs have contacted us at  [ freespace ] interested in gleaning some knowledge about the “magic” here — and how to put it to work in their office space.  We tell those people to come on down and play with us, and then they will understand.

[ Freespace ] is an idea more than a space. We would like to spread the idea as far and wide as we possibly can because [ fs ]  makes people feel loved. It makes people feel giddy and excited. Like they belong…because they do and they are loved. In the last week we have had many individuals contact us expressing that they want a [ freespace ] in their city. And you know what? I would fucking love to bring it to their city, and your city…all cities! Some others of the core team here think that is a good idea as well.

SO, we decided to make a push to try and keep [fs] open through July.  We need more time to put together information that would allow others to activate unused space in their city or town. We would LOVE to visit other [ freespaces ]  and create a network of like minded community builders across the globe. We would like to create a white paper “How-To” style document to distribute to anyone interested in building a [fs] in their neighborhood….for FREE. We would like to make a series of video clips in the space while it is still in operation that we can send out to the world … free too. And, we would like to bring in representatives from local government, and businesses to show them [ fs ] in operation so they understand what we are doing and why it’s important to provide space like this in communities and why its so powerful to provide space like this in businesses.
We need your help to do this.

1. We need you to come down to  [ freespace ]  and check it out! Hang out with us and play.

2. We need you to tell your friends about us. Tell them to go to freespace.io and plug in.

3. We need you to tap into and fully activate your inner creative passion monster and unleash it here.

4. We need you to help us stay open in July by gathering some dollars and contributing to our Indiegogo campaign. We cannot do it without you and we really really want [ freespace ] to be the beginning of a larger movement across the globe. We need more time. We need to show people what is happening here while in operation.

It’s not about money, it’s about something so much larger and more meaningful than all that.

It’s about hugs. It’s about art that makes you think. It’s about collaborative innovation. It’s about laughter. It’s about feeling like YOU really belong. It’s about a hopeful future. It’s about dancing. It’s about gratitude. It’s about expression. It’s about weird things. It’s about unexpected things. It’s about feeling like a kid again. It’s about leading with love. It’s about community.

[ freespace ] is already a wild success of proportions none of us in Morgan’s bedroom five weeks ago could have imagined.  We get over 1000 hits on our three week old website daily. Two thousand Facebook “likes.” Almost a dozen articles written about us from SF to the Netherlands. Over two thousand individuals have passed through our doors in three weeks…many of them returning day after day to contribute their voice to this chorus.  Organizations are approaching us to re-create this in the workplace. By all measures of success I know…we are off the charts.  Srsly amazing.

Please contribute at freespace.io/support

Please contribute at freespace.io/support

Please contribute at freespace.io/support

Please contribute at freespace.io/support

Please contribute at freespace.io/support