On hearing that I had the opportunity to gain work experience with 3Space I was immediately excited by the prospect of getting to work for a charity, and in a new and somewhat unfamiliar environment.  As a recent Politics graduate, I have spent the past few years learning about the world around me, finding out how it works, what issues we face, and what we could all do better.  On graduating I found myself with one real aim when job hunting – to do something that made a difference.

The approach 3Space takes, and the ways in which it achieves its aims as a charity is really refreshing, particularly for a graduate looking to work in the charities sector.  The corporate model of the major UK and international charities is absent, and what matters are the people.  What I enjoy most about 3space is how social it is, and the way it utilises connections in person and through social media to give other charities the support they need by something as simple as finding them the space to do what they want.  A friendly mention on Twitter and within weeks there can be a user in a space!

While I am working at 3Space, I hope to support and contribute to a fun, vibrant and inspiring environment, helping to expand our online presence and find new, interesting and exciting ways to transform temporary spaces.  The potential of established online channels like Facebook and Twitter, and emerging platforms like Pinterest, to help charities, non-profits and community groups find the space they need is great, and is already being utilised.  But these avenues are also great ways to help spread ideas, inspiration and knowledge too.

It’s not necessarily about raising funds or advocating for any particular group, but about doing something tangible that makes an immediate difference to individuals and communities.

By Rozi
rozi@3space.org

Hello!

I’m Ella, a Postgraduate Research student, and I’m excited to say that I’m going to be working alongside 3Space over the next few months whilst conducting research into pop-up places. I research in the field of Cultural Geography at Royal Holloway and my work focuses on the politics of temporary spaces. I’m really excited to be working alongside 3Space while conducting my research, and to be able to visit and investigate their pop-up projects.

My work looks to understand how pop-up places, such as those supported by 3Space, can develop political action. Asked to think about politics most people will imagine the houses of parliament, the ballot box or news-night debates, but this project places the ‘political’ in more everyday spaces, like pop-ups.

Political actions, I think, are those which seek to change how society is organised. Or, in the words of Jacques Rancière – actions are political when they place one world within another, showing how things could be otherwise. Pop-up projects do exactly this. By putting charitable and social projects in the empty spaces of Britain’s high streets pop-ups are using urban spaces to demonstrate new paths for action and new ways of thinking about society. I’m looking to find out how by being theatrical, exciting and aesthetic, these spaces can engage people in rethinking public space.

I’m looking forward to exploring pop-up places and getting involved in the projects going on. I’ve already had a peak at the exciting Petit Miracle’s Design Bank Project and last week I went along to visit the huge new space in Colchester, which has heaps of potential.

If you’d like to find out more about my research or have any questions, just drop me an email to ella@3Space.org.

By Ella 

I was down at 3Space’s unit in Cardiff on Queen Street to check out the excellent exhibition being run by Cardiff Met in conjunction with Grassroots, (you can see me above posing with Dan Wilson from Grassroots next to Diego Zelaya’s giant self portrait). The space has been transformed in a very professional manner to showcase the second year students’ work and much of the work wouldn’t look out of space in a more permanent collection! The opportunity to use the space has allowed the students to work on a scale that they would not otherwise have had and the results were very impressive. Over 500 people had visited the exhibition before the weekend with still a couple of days to go before it closes. Alongside Grassroots ongoing program the Alzheimer’s Society are going to be using the space from 20^th – 26^th May for Dementia Awareness Week which should hopefully help to raise awareness around the issue.

By Harry

Colchester’s High Street is home to one of 3Space’s newest properties and we’re looking for bright ideas from local third sector organisations about how they they’d like to see the space used.

We’ve got the massive space that is the old JJB Shop on St Nicholas Street opposite The Learning Shop. It’s a great location for public engagement and recruitment projects, but it’s size means it is also a perfect space for fund raising, exhibitions and other large-scale activities. Have a look at the rest of our website for some inspiration but feel free to get creative with your ideas as well!

All of the property details as well as some photos can be seen on the Colchester property page of our website.

If your a charity or social enterprise with a great idea for how you’d like to use the space send us an email at ben@3space.org to arrange a viewing

By Ben

Well, it’s certainly been a busy few weeks for 3Space! We’ve had circus acts in Manchester, art exhibitions in Sheffield, Roller Derby action in Bristol, rehearsals and a very successful run of 39 Steps in Norwich, the RSA meeting in our Oxford Street space and all manner of offices, projects and meetings being put on, used and enjoyed in our 3Space properties. We’ve only just had time to catch our breath!

As we’ve been growing we’ve felt that we need to start monitoring our space use more formally, and have started to send out quarterly and weekly reporting forms, the first of the results which can be seen here. As you can see, we’re really excited to see the initial positive responses. We can’t wait to see how we can improve on these promising figures! We’d like to say a big thank you to all of our users who have been sending us their reports.

And so onto new ventures! One of the most exciting projects coming up is the exhibition that Gatehouse Arts will be putting on in May. As I reported last month, Gatehouse Arts have been setting up wooden crates in their space that will be turned into art installations that will then be exhibited in the JJB unit next month. Currently the boxes have been installed in the space and have been fireproofed, chopped, painted, re-shaped – generally made the artist’s own. The guys at Gatehouse have been tantalisingly secretive about showing us photos of the work in progress, but are keeping wonderfully meticulous records of this brilliant event, called OutsideIn/InsideOut.

Jane Burnett, one of the artists and a Gatehouse Arts co-co-ordinator, has told me that the artists, all already firm friends, have had the opportunity to really bond and enjoy this time in the JJB unit. Jane said of 3Space: “Never underestimate the appreciation we artists working at JJB have for your support and interest in us. We are having the most amazing time working on the Installation Crates Show and laugh a great deal”, which is lovely to hear.

She also told me about how their ‘painty’ overalls and the rather mysterious boxes have stirred up quite a bit of interest in Harlow’s Harvey Centre: “We now seem to have a little band of followers…passers by have taken to chatting or knocking on the window of JJB to ask what we are doing and who we are etc. The crates can just about be seen from the shop frontage, though not in any detail, and they are prompting curiosity. A great forerunner for the show”.

Jane told me that, as the Outreach Co-ordinator for Gatehouse Arts she hopes to arrange “small visits from local schools of students studying for their GCSE’s in Art so that showing artists can extend their practice by giving informal talks on Installation Art. Many students do not get the opportunity to study large work such as the installations we are building and it seems a great chance to extend their experience in a fun and ‘in ya face’ way. This also gives the showing artists a chance to improve their confidence in promoting their own experiences in art and speaking“. The showing artists are: Jane, Rob D, Kien, Rob J, Sal, Ollie, Amanda, Amy and Hung and now Duncan Smith from ACAVA. All the artists showing are Gatehouse artists and all have a studio with ACAVA at Gatehouse Arts. The show has been funded entirely by ACAVA, the umbrella group who provide Gatehouse Arts with their other studios.

We’re really excited to watch the progress of this fab event and will be first in line for the May launch!

By Nicola

We’re excited to announce that Petit Miracle’s Design Bank project is about to begin! On Saturday 21^st April 2012, Design Bank, a pop-up shop will open its doors in our empty shop in the West12 Shopping Centre in Shepherd’s Bush, offering workshops in up-cycling, interior design and basic do-it-yourself skills. Petit Miracle Interiors, a registered charity teaches vulnerable people the skill of interior design, DIY and upcycling techniques as a means to turn their lives around. Elisicia Moore, founder and CEO of Petit Miracle explains:

“The Design Bank approach is unique and simple, using the principles of regular banking, but with a twist: up-cycled items of furniture and the time people put into the project are the currency. So when people sign up for workshops they learn the art of up-cycling and also build credits towards their time-bank account. Time credits or cash can then be used to buy items from the project. We also want to highlight the use of empty shops, bringing a project, like Design Bank, that engages with local community, offering unique collaborative workshops helps rejuvenate our high streets where so many empty shops blight the area.  In partnership with 3Space.org and the West12 Shopping Centre, we will be using a former JJB Sports shop for our pop-up fundraiser.  Please follow us on twitter #designbank for event and venue details or our blog: http://londondesignbank.wordpress.com/about/.”

If you’d like to find out more about this project and the ways that you can get involved, please email info@petitmiracles.org.uk or alice@3space.org

By Nicola

So, the time had come. The curtains were ready to be raised, the programmes printed and the seats were laid out ready for the audience. But where were the actors? Well, they were holed up in a JJB unit on the Sprowston Retail Estate in Norwich! Great Hall Theatre have been very busy over the past few weeks, beavering away on their most recent production, ‘The 39 Steps’.

Using the JJB unit they have been able to accommodate the cast, the crew members, various set pieces and many, many pots of paint. Among the strange artefacts I found ready to be used onstage were a Victorian style lamppost, a mobile window with curtains, a sign to Edinburgh, various (stage) weapons and what looked like a cheese sandwich next to a bottle of whiskey. I wasn’t sure if they were rehearsing for a frenetic play or planning a great escape! But Vic, the company’s Chairman, kindly took the time to talk to me all about the fantastic use that the theatre company have been getting out of the space, frequently rehearsing both of their current productions at once.

Great Hall Theatre perform their productions in the Assembly House in Norwich, which I was also given the grand tour around days before opening night. Elvie, one of the members of the company, told me that they had a total of 782 audience members who came to see the play over their week long run. Not ones to pause for breath, rehearsals for the next production, Holmes and the Ripper, are well underway in the JJB unit, a space that the company have rather nicely described as ‘invaluable’. Brilliant stuff from a brilliant charity.

This year one of the things we are trying to get better at is collecting data from our users so that we can monitor how our spaces are being used, as well as our own performance quarter on quarter. Firstly a big thank you to (almost!) everyone for filling in the form we sent out. We have had 29 charities, community groups and non-profit organisations use our units since the start of the year. Our portfolio currently stands at 22 properties and we’re hopeful that this will continue to grow throughout 2012 so watch this space for new opportunities coming to your area of the UK!

So what interesting info can we share with you so far? Well, social organisations had 1,109 days of use in our properties between the start of January and the end of March and the number of people who have used a 3Space property in that period was 5,385.

3Space was set up with the specific aim of helping social organisations to achieve their charitable objectives so we are very pleased to be able to demonstrate that we’re making progress. In fact when our users were asked if “the use of a 3Space property had helped us towards fulfilling our charitable objectives,” (5 being strongly agree and 1 being strongly disagree), the average response was 4.69 which was very heartening. Over the course of the year we will continue to map our progress and in January 2013 we will be publishing the results. We hope they’ll show that we are growing our portfolio of units, increasing the number of organisations and individuals who are using our properties and that we are providing a good level of service that is helping charities and other social organisations to achieve their goals.

If you’ve used one of our properties and would like to give some more in-depth feedback, then please feel free to fill out our online feedback form.

Many thanks to Food Cycle and Lauren Mclean for the use of the photo in this blog.

By Harry

At our space in Sheffield’s Crystal Peaks Shopping Centre we’ve got another exciting Bank Street Art’s project coming up. Cirqular are a physical theatre company who aim to make the audience very much an important part of their interactive shows. Next week on March 26th they’ll be launching their new show ‘The Flight Project’, which “is centred around capturing the sensory experience of a human being caught in flight.” Each performance will require audience participation in key parts of the show and is another great example of  how public spaces can be used in a positive way for not-for-profit activities. With empty properties at an all time high and the future of the high street in question, creative uses of empty properties like ‘The Flight Project’ are helping us to understand what social role retail spaces might take in the future.

If you’re in Sheffield between the 26th March – 7th April you can find Circular’s show in the old JJB store near the library. Check out their website for more details.

By Ben

Space2Watford is an artists’ collective with the aim of creating a high quality, non commercial, inclusive cultural centre in Watford. An initiative run by the Watford Borough Council Arts team, who are dedicated to developing the arts scene in the area, bringing creativity and vibrancy to Watford town centre.

Space2Watford have recently begun using our empty shop on Watford High Street, a medium-sized ex-JJB Sports store, which is split over 2 levels. Part of the space will also be used by local healthcare charity The Crescent, who are currently working hard to prepare the space for their project.

The Space2Watford artists collective have completely transformed the ground floor space of the shop, creating a bright and inviting gallery and workshop space which tempts in shoppers from the high street.

This is the seventh pop up gallery Watford Borough Council has created in the town, and is part of the work going on to improve the overall look and vitality of Watford’s shopping areas. This supports existing local retailers by encouraging more visitors to the area and significantly improves the chances of letting the empty unit for the longer term.

The shop is currently being used for their ‘Space’ exhibition, which will run until 21st April 2012. Open from Thursday-Saturday, from 1-6pm, the exhibition is managed by the artists themselves, who use parts of the unit as studio space. When these artists in residence are given a studio area, they also sign up to help run the exhibition and deliver a number of workshops to member of the public, further engaging the local community and highlighting this fantastic use of space. See below for details of the next Space2Watford exhibition: