3rd Ward is a member-based center for creative professionals and amateurs in Brooklyn, NY. Members pay a fee for access to wood and metal shops, photo studios, media labs and related equipment.
In addition to offering creative coworking spaces, 3rd Ward also proves a wide range of events and educational programs for artists, designers and other artisans. Like other coworking facilities, 3rd Ward stresses the opportunities that come with joining their network and participating in their community.
The NY Times Urban Artisans: A Collective Thrives in Brooklyn covers the activities at 3rd Ward.
There were two key quotes from one of 3rd Ward's owners that caught my eye. The first has to do with the composition of the membership at 3rd Ward:
“We have way more inventors, furniture makers, cabinet makers, commercial photographers, hackers, than we do what you would originally conceive of like an artist.”
The second quote is on the growth of freelance artisans:
“The industry here that’s really exploding right now, and it’s really under served, is this freelancing creative industry ...”
The growing number of artisan-related coworking facilities like 3rd Ward, Tech Shop and Next Fab Studios illustrates the growing number of new artisans.
It also points out the trend towards segmented coworking facilities targeted at specific niches or industries.
For more on the trends related to the growth of new artisans, see our Intuit Future of Small Business research report The New Artisan Economy. Places like the 3rd Ward show how quickly this trend is ramping.
And our report Today's Hobbyists are Tomorrow's Hobbypreneurs covers the trend towards amateur artisans turning professional.
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