How can a physical space be used to best support knowledge sharing and creative empowerment in a neighborhood?

How can community living integrate with economic & artistic production, and strengthen the local culture & economy?

How can we create community-driven economic development that empowers and includes the local communities?

For the month of November, we are hosting a free community space at The Canopy to prototype solutions to these questions!

It will be a place to gather, inspire, create, connect and learn. This is an open invitation for workshops, classes, events, DIY projects, music, art openings, youth skills training programs, etc.

We bought this 7,000 sqft mixed use building with the vision of creating a community living space in the top floors and a creative community workshop space in the ground floor commercial space.

The building is being renovated specifically for community living right now, and the commercial space is still a blank canvas. There is an amazing group forming in the coliving space upstairs called The Canopy. We are seeking a long-term partner who is excited to use the space as an answer to the questions above. To get there, we are opening the space up to the community to join us in envisioning how the space can be a thriving, creative space for years to come.

We will be leasing the space to an aligned, long-term tenant after the popup. For more info on the lease details, see here.

How the popup will work:

• Community leaders (aka all of you!) are invited to propose events, workshops, installations, work parties, etc using the form below.

• We will do our best to accommodate everyone on a first-come-first-served basis. Some events may not be possible due to space constraints, schedule and other limiting factors.

• We will host weekly (or hopefully more than weekly!) open houses where people can come for the day, hang out, use the free internet, and work+play+connect together.

• We will announce events and activities through the OpenDoor Facebook page, Twitter account and this blog.

• NOTE: construction will be happening upstairs and on some sides of the building, so there may be “downtimes” where we need to be safe and creative in how we work around the construction process.