WHY THIS MATTERS

We believe that great (unexpected) things can happen when people are in an enabling environment that allows for individual productivity, efficient group collaboration, rapid prototyping and cross-pollination. When these activities are rooted in shared values and community, they can have a positive, empowering social and economic impact on individuals, families, communities, and regions.

Our assumption is that by increasing the quality and depth of relationships between community members and enhancing their skills, we are helping to create a robust and resilient community and a thriving, creative, innovative, inclusive economy. 

Simply put, by bringing people together in a place that creates consistent, creative overlap, individual and group purpose blossoms and endures.

If this resonates with you, get in touch, come meet with us in person, and explore how being a part of this community might help enable and embolden you.

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The co.lab is a great example of a project that is organizing to nurture our community! The co.lab and its partners are building a space where artists, activists, writers and others who are in need of a working space can have a productive and affordable option. It offers a place where members can work independently while still being part of a community, an opportunity to share ideas and feedback, and room to work on projects collaboratively when needed. This space is a great option for people who are looking for a home base but can’t afford a private office and desire to be part of an action-oriented, creative community.

Easthampton Matters

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By 2013, according to data from Emergent Research, more than 160,000 people were using several thousand coworking spaces in the United States and Europe. The organization forecasts that in five years more than one million people will be using 12,000 coworking spaces globally. Another survey showed that by 2014, 72% of participants were forecasting an increase in their income.

Workspaces that Move People | HBR 10/2014

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By attracting a variety of members from myriad backgrounds and industries, the looser connections of these constantly churning spaces also appear to have innovation advantages. Martin Ruef, a sociologist at Princeton who’s studied entrepreneurs, found that those who broadened their universe of contacts from small groups of familiar acquaintances to larger, more loosely-connected networks of people were far more innovative.

Anne Kreamer

A GLOBAL MOVEMENT

We’re thrilled to be part of the global coworking movement and will actively document and share our learnings across a wide variety of platforms. Rather than reinventing the wheel, we’ve researched what’s been done, what’s worked, what hasn’t—we’re connecting with individuals all over the world to learn directly from people’s experiences, stories, and wisdom. We’re already starting to contribute to the global coworking wiki and have connected directly with local individuals and organizations interested in coworking, as well as with coworking spaces in the Pioneer Valley.

We support and promote the core values of the coworking movement: Collaboration, Openness, Community, Accessibility, Sustainability. Come explore our shared values and vision for our space and help us put them into practice.

THE DATA

A 2011 Deskmag survey of more than 1500 coworkers in 52 countries found the following data

75
Reported an increase in productivity since joining

80
Reported an increase in the size of their business network

92
Reported an increase in the size of their social circle

86
Reported a decrease in their sense of isolation

83
Reported they trusted others in their co-working space

72
Reported an increase in their income

OF PARTICULAR INTEREST

HBR

Workspaces that
move people.

Ben Waber, Jennifer Magnolfi, and Greg Lindsay

“Few companies measure whether the design of their workspaces helps or hurts performance, but they should. The authors have collected data that capture individuals’ interactions, communications, and location information. They’ve learned that face-to-face interactions are by far the most important activity in an office; creating chance encounters between knowledge workers, both inside and outside the organization, improves performance.” Read more…

Searching For Neccessity

People making a difference
in cities across the US.

Megan Deal & Kate Creason

“In the summer of 2013, Megan Deal and Kate Creason of design studio Tomorrow Today visited 30 innovative spaces – setting out to uncover the following:

  1. What special practices can be discovered in urban innovation epicentres, that may be replicable, scalable and transformative?
  2. How are emerging projects influencing traditional institutions, public policy and city futures?
  3. What urban phenomena are producing above average results and return on investment?

The report which Tomorrow Today compiled from their research is a superb and timely insight into the inner workings of some of the newest, most exciting and successful generative spaces currently open.” Read more…

Labcraft

How labs cultivate change through experimentation and collaboration.

A collaborative effort

The struggle to solve local and global issues often appears to pitch large corporations and governments against activists, artists, workers and ordinary citizens. But what happens when these entities consciously join forces and share resources to create social change?

It’s happening more than you might think—in a growing phenomenon known as innovation labs. And Labcraft offers an intimate picture of this new and evolving landscape—where seemingly disparate stakeholders network and align as learning communities who collaborate for positive change.

Innovation labs do what we expect laboratories to do—invent and experiment. But their “test tubes” are real-world challenges. And as they explore new connections, new ideas, and new initiatives, they often generate new perspectives and promising solutions. Read more…