On 10th November 2016, Clear Village played host to a dynamic mix of community members, social entrepreneurs, housing providers and local government representatives. After kicking off the event with a “market” at Small Works Kings Cross, where attendees could get to know the social enterprises working from our Small Works spaces, we all headed to Peabody’s Hugh Cubitt Centre for a lively conversation about the value of social enterprise within communities.
The Small Works model with its two successful operations, one near Kings Cross and the other just steps from Victoria station, provides a unique approach to co-working and creative resource sharing. The founder of the idea behind Small Works and a key pioneer of social enterprise since the 1970s, Michael Norton, spoke during the evening about the economic trends which spurred him to bring together partners in support of social enterprise.
“We’re facing an economy where there’s going to be more cuts and more cuts, and more cuts; it’s no good sitting back and saying, it won’t happen here—it WILL happen here”
– Michael Norton, Honorary Director, CIVA
Clear Village founder Thomas Ermacora shared his view on the creation of “new commons”, places that bring together different groups and generate community well-being and resilience.
“There is a macro-trend right now toward open-source urbanism in which resource-sharing is a key component. Public-private spaces like Small Works are a good demonstration of this”.
— Thomas Ermacora, Founder, Creative & Strategic Director, Clear Village
Other guests included Martin O’Donnell and Ashley Elliot of Peabody, who are a key partner in Small Works. They spoke about the role that Small Works has played at Vauxhall Bridge and Priory Green Estates.
“We’ve got another 14 buildings with partners like Small Works and other organisations that provide this kind of hot-desking, co-working space, but they’re not as successful, not as coherent. I’m looking forward to continuing work with Clear Village—there are lots of other ones—but with Small Works there’s a lot of joy for us and a great deal of value in it for us”
—Martin O’Donnell, Community Development Manager, Peabody
“We have 14 community spaces managed by partner organisations like Clear Village.The benefit to our neighbourhoods from working with Clear Village is coherent and obvious. That is why we work with them in Kings Cross and Victoria and why we are keen to explore other sites with them to develop the model. There is a genuineness and flexibility about their approach that is both appealing and creative.”
—Ashley Elliot, Community Development Worker, Peabody
The event concluded with a panel discussion including Small Works Kings Cross member Nick Gardner, the founder of Project Dirt and Islington resident Jean Wilson, Chair of the charity Centre 404. They shared their personal stories on how they came to benefit from Small Works Kings Cross.
“…in the future we’re going to have a different sort of economy, I think we’ll be looking at well-being and engagement as much as employment, this will be entrepreneurship, earning by working for others, and doing things like allotment gardening and volunteering.”
–Michael Norton CBE, Honourary Director, CIVA
Photography by Mark Earthy – www.earthyphotography.co.uk – protected by copyright.