Minor Oak will be a creative workplace, but it will not be limited to people who are working in the arts. Why? Because magic happens when people with different skill sets and different ways of thinking come together and share their strengths.
Minor Oak will be in Nottingham’s Creative Quarter, in the Sneinton Market. The people behind the Creative Quarter understand that entrepreneurs and independent workers are creative whether they’re writers, builders, artists, solicitors, administrators, or developers. Building and nurturing a business requires openness to innovation, inspiration and improvisation, and that’s what Minor Oak Coworking is all about.
“When I say artist I mean the one who is building things … some with a brush – some with a shovel – some choose a pen.” – Jackson Pollock
An Industry-Inclusive Coworking Space
Coworking spaces work best when they help their members generate business opportunities.
In the world of traditional work, employees most often have colleagues who do jobs closely related to their own. Most of Nottingham’s existing coworking spaces are based on the idea that our shared-office coworkers should be the same: people within a common occupation or industry: media, writing, photography, clean tech, biotech, etc.
Minor Oak will take a different approach. It will aim for a broad demographic that includes creative industries, but also embraces the professions creatives – and others – need to thrive as business owners: consultants, accountants, solicitors, administrators and more. Successful businesses and project groups are made up of people with different skill sets and perspectives.
Industry associations, professional societies and organised trades already offer training, feedback and support within industries and occupations. An inclusive coworking space offers self-employed people a rare opportunity to meet and work with colleagues in a wide variety of specialisations.
We Have This in Common
Can people in different industries and people across the spectrum of professions, trades and occupations be colleagues? Yes!
No matter what we do for a living, we are working on our own, and many of us are running businesses without formal business training. We are running tech-heavy businesses without technical backgrounds. We are looking for customers and clients without backgrounds in marketing. We must also learn to stay motivated without extrinsic management, structure our time and plan for the future.
Minor Oak will be built on that common ground. There will be free open networking sessions and free or almost-free workshops for members. There will be space for working privately, working together, and just having a friendly chat over a cup of coffee or tea. Coworking spaces generate strong business networks and can help their members thrive through both learning and connecting, and that is Minor Oak’s objective.