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A Space Mission for Creativity

Donation protected
Everyone is creative.
In the world today, creativity is more important than ever.
Creativity needs space to flourish.

<<<The purpose of this fundraiser is to help us transform our 5000 sqft space from the unsightly, outdated,  industrial space that it is now, into a functional, safe, and inspiring creative environment so that we can fulfill our space mission of providing space and opportunity for creativity to flourish in our community. >>>
  
San Diego is in need of more creative spaces for artists, makers, and people who long to pursue their creative talents. With the high cost of living in San Diego, artists & makers who make their living off of their creative talents are faced with the challenge to find adequate and affordable creative space, but they’re not the only ones.  

In fact, most people lack the kind of space and opportunity needed for their creativity to flourish, and don’t even know it, including those who don’t think they are creative at all! Even people who can afford homes that have physical space for creative activities often struggle to find creative space. 

 For the last 2.5 years ALLTHETHINGZZ’s creative space operated out of a 1050sqft warehouse in central San Diego. Three months ago, the property surrounding the existing warehouse  became available. ALLTHETHINGZZ brought on new team members and expanded to gain an additional 5000 sqft that includes an additional building and a huge lot. With this expansion, we now have so much space for creativity to flourish! Our goal is to be a collaborative creative workspace that benefits the creative community by hosting various creative events/gatherings  and offering affordable solutions for creatives that need more creative space.

THE PROBLEM: Creative space not the same as simply having physical space. 

Creative space is an energizing and comfortable environment that nurtures, inspires, supports, and reinforces our creativity.  

The 5000 sqft ALLTHETHINGZZ expansion is still just “physical space”. Before it can provide space and opportunity for the creative community, improvements must be made in order for it to be a functional, safe, and inspiring creative environment.

Our mission is to use thoughtful design to transform the “physical space” of the ALLTHETHINGZZ expansion into a creative space, where community members have opportunities to connect, to build creative confidence,   embrace their vulnerability, take creative risks, in order to grow and experience more success in all aspects of their lives.


How will we use thoughtful design to transform the space?
(These are just some examples - to see full list of improvements we plan to make and a complete budget list, scroll down)

My Senior thesis“The Facts and the Feelings”  explains how design has the power to affect one’s mood and how designers can use certain aesthetics such as color, texture, shape (the facts) in their designs in order to yield intended feelings from their target user.  This concept is fundamental to the transformation of our physical space into creative space. 

For example: In our current space, the old dull gray-blue paint is peeling off the walls; the once navy blue carpet now appears to be more brown than blue and smells like dirty socks; and the office ceiling tiles that encompass the harsh rectangular fluorescent lights are yellowing from age. (That’s just the beginning to see details of all improvements scroll down.) You can probably imagine without even experiencing it what sort of feelings those aesthetic elements generate.  You can probably also guess that they are not feelings conducive to a creative space.  

As we make improvements with the funds raised by this campaign to transform the space, we will consider who our creative community is and thoughtfully design the space with intentional aesthetics chosen to evoke emotions that spark their creativity.

 Another example of how we will use thoughtful design in our transformation is by designing the space in a way that facilitates connections between people.  Through connection in which we share our creative skills, experiences, ideas, successes, and failures we build creative confidence and become better problem solvers. The transformation of the “hub-space” is critical for this reason as it plays a huge role in the function of this space as a whole as it is for everyone. It is what most work-places would call a “break room”. With the intention of the room being used by everyone for comfort, connection and conversation, we will redesign the room to reflect that by eliminating harsh lighting, hanging message boards, possibly designating a “showcase” wall  where everyone is invited/encouraged to display their work.  

By using thoughtful design as we make this transformation we are going beyond simply giving a face lift.  We will evoke creative emotions, facilitate connections & collaborations, and establish a culture that encourages experimentation & creative risk taking. It is in this creative space that people will be able to overcome their fear of uncertainty and unlock their greatest creative power- the ability to be vulnerable. 

“The very definition of creativity involves making something different — and the risk of creating something different comes with vulnerability. There is no creativity without vulnerability.” - Brené Brown 

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP: 

Right now, we are at a slow crawl with the advancement of the space. Too slow. 

For the last 3 months, as a team, we have been doing as much as we can we can with what we have to make the space better.  The reality is that our financial resources are falling short to be able to make the big changes needed to transform this big space fast enough. 

The dream I have invested over $30,000 to and devoted my life to for the last 2.5 years is now at risk of not coming to full fruition as the investment is too much to continue to make for a space that’s inoperable.  The unsightly environment is starting to take a toll on even us. We cannot help anyone’s creativity flourish until this transformation occurs. 

I’m not sure of what else I can do at this point to make this happen fast enough. So, I’m now embracing my vulnerability and bravely ask for your help.  We need this financial boost to complete the first phase of improvements. We are ready to make this happen FAST.  With your donations, we will be able to complete most of the improvements and begin to function as a collaborative space that benefits the community within a month’s time! 

WHAT WE DO HAVE:

          We have the SPACE!

ALLTHETHINGZZ has been in operation for 2.5 years at this location and with the recent expansion now encompassing the whole property, we have over 5000sqft at our disposal. The new indoor building has 2 individual workspaces that are being used as a music studio and surfboard shaping bay; an oversized 2 car garage that will become a woodshop; and a “hub-space” that is a shared room for use by all to help facilitate gathering and exchanging of ideas and support.  The 3000sqft outdoor lot currently has 2 individual shipping container workspaces in operation and the potential for providing more short or long term creative workspaces while still keeping the majority of this area open as shared multi-functional space and for hosting a wide variety of creative events. 

       We have the VISION
A play-space stocked with resources and tools for dreamers and doers to work amongst each other, share their creative skills and knowledge to conceptualize, collaborate, and together, be capable of creating anything we could dream of.

A place to be inspired by the other projects happening around you, to have peers to solicit feedback from, like-minded people to offer encouragement when things feel hard, and lending hands when something is too heavy to lift alone. Within this place we will provide solutions to the creative space problem many members of the San Diego creative community face by offering creative individuals and/or groups affordable solutions tailored to their needs and budgets.  Host a wide variety of events and gatherings that create opportunities for creativity to flourish in a multitude of ways so that as a community we can not only make creative dreams realities, but we can also solve problems, spark innovation, make a positive impact in so many ways.

This is a vision that has been in development for over 3 years and has already been realized & tested on a smaller scale with the ALLTHETHINGZZ warehouse. Throughout this experience,  we have gained an understanding of what the creative community needs from a space, and how we can best be of value to the most amount of people.

We have also beta tested many events, learned what works (and what doesn’t work) and are fully ready to take it to the next level. 

*All events that happen here will have some sort of creative focus beyond just music*

Examples of events we plan to host:

-p(ART)y’s - These are art centric day parties where we combine music with inspiring creative activities. We also encourage attendees to bring their own art projects to work on during these donation-based events.
- Art shows/exhibitions- 
- Workshops
- Surf Art events
- Projection movie nights
- Creative meet-ups
- Marketplaces 
- Open paint/craft nights
- Mastermind sessions

Some of the events/gatherings will be free, while others will be used to generate income for the upkeep and continued growth and improvement of the space. These events will also offer opportunities for our creative team to keep their rent costs down, and for creative members of the community to market their skills and or products. 


                               We have a multi-talented team of people committed to making it happen

Teamwork makes the dreamwork! In addition to the team members that you can read more about below,  we have a large network of creative friends in the community who have been generously donating their time and energy to this project over the past 2.5 years.  Collectively, we have a full spectrum of skill sets to bring the table. We are all ready to help see it through NOW.


With your support we will overcome this defining obstacle and make this creative dream a reality . Please help us bridge the financial gap we are facing so that we can immediately make the critical improvements needed to on level that is of value to the creative community. 

THE IMPROVEMENTS: 
The priority #1 improvements that are impeding our ability to move forward with this project have to do with function and aesthetics, as well as safety and comfort. 

Function:  We have identified these elements as essential to being able to function as a space that benefits the creative community. Without thoughtfully designing a space that functions to meet our users needs, we risk causing more harm than help to the creative community. 

- Repair the garage doors so that development of the woodshop can progress
- Build shade for outdoor workspaces and event spaces (without shade, our outdoor spaces are pretty much worthless in the san diego sun)
- Build out a designated area to safely store and organize scrap materials so that they are easily accessible for upcycling/repurposing in order to offer the community free materials and minimize waste 
-Re-pave the lot area that has turned into gravel so that is can be usable as work/gathering space 
- Install more lighting outside both for use of workspace at night and for added safety and security. 
- Adding fencing and protective covering for shingles so that “roof deck” can actually safely function as a “roof deck” (this space is valuable as it adds 1200 sqft of usable creative space to our offerings) 



Aesthetics:
- Junk removal
- Interior and exterior paint for new building 



Comfort:

- Remodeling of the restroom - the state of the bathroom can be equated to that of a desolate gas station doesn’t even have door knob
- New carpet for the creative hub (it smells and is very discomforting)
- Installation of kitchenette in creative hub 
- Better lighting solutions inside hub room- fluorescent lights sure are a buzz kill - this is a creative space not a jail 



Additional financial investments that are not priority 1 items, but follow shortly behind and will make a huge difference in the design and utility of the space:

 If we have extra money after completing priority one items these will be next to happen, otherwise they will happen using revenue generated from events.

- Planting community garden 
- Building an organized storage area for tools and other shared supplies so that we can easily keep track of all of the amazing resources in order for them to be readily available for everyone 
-Wi-fi Extender so the signal is strong on all parts of the property (currently covers 3/4)
-Installing locker type storage for people to use to store personal materials for short term project space usage
- Adding cameras around the property for dual purpose- 1.  Providing an easy way for us to document awesome things that happen in the space and also to help those using the space easily document their work too 2. For security purposes. 
-Would love to have CARO CARO to finish mural across entire wall and have other artists paint smaller murals on other walls surrounding lot space

We have put all of the above items with our determined budget allotment for each in a spreadsheet to show you exactly where the funds we raise will go in order of priority. 

Note:  Our list totals well over our goal of $5000, however, we are confident that with the $5000 we raise we can make the most critical improvements that will enable us to begin our growth trajectory. From that point we will be able to begin curating events that are of real value and benefit to the community so that we can  generate additional revenue to reinvest back into the space. 

TOP PRIORITIES:


NEXT PRIORITIES:

Utility shed to house tools/supplies- $400.00
Community Garden- $200.00
Wifi Extender- $70
Project lockers for short term projects- $200.00
Camera System - $500.00
Mural paintings for rest of wall- $500.00

Timeline: 
We have been ready to get to work for 2 months now, the only thing holding us back right is funding. 

Without these improvements, we are not only unable to benefit the community, but even more urgently, we are unable to provide value to  team who have made this all possible with their willingness to not only invest financially in the vision of the space but also with their time and energy in making it a reality.   

Making these improvements as fast as possible is detrimental to our ability to continue with this mission as without being able to begin to function as intended we will exhaust our ability to continue to invest everything we have with no return. 

With that said,  we plan to begin to make the improvements as soon as we have funding and will have completed at least 80% of improvements covered by funds within a month and the remainder within the following month. 

                                                            TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAMWORK 

This is the team of multi-talented creative individuals who made the expansion possible. .  Together we are co-creating this next phase of ALLTHETHINGZZ.  


<< TEAM PHOTO COLLAGE COMING SOON>>


Catherine Worsham- Creative Operator of ALLTHETHINGZZ.  Has Industrial Design degree from Virginia Tech’s college of architecture + design where she became  passionate about the design process and the ability thoughtful design has in making a positive impact on anything. She credits the thoughtful design of her college studio experience as the positive impact that inspired  her to dream of creating a collaborative creative workspace. Her work background before ALLTHETHINGZZ was centered around education- both in classroom and designing for the classroom. Over the last 2.5 years working for herself she has worked harder than she has ever worked in her life to keep this dream alive, but nothing has been quite as hard as making this gofundme campaign, she hopes it works.  If you have any questions for Catherine or would like more information about her please DM @allthethingzz on Instagram or use contact form on this page to get in touch!

Chris Cheezem,   Markie Kirst,   Laurel Small,   Brittanie Edgeworth,  Bubba, Leah Boyer, Interns

Suggested Donation & Rewards:

Any donation is impactful whether you donate $1 or $1000. We are so grateful for you investing your energy and belief in our mission. 

In order to honor your donation and fully focus our efforts to complete these ambitious projects in the short period of time as we have promised, we will not be offering physical rewards during this campaign, however we do have a plan to thank and reward our donors.

Everyone who donates will have their name engraved on a plaque that will be displayed at the entrance of ALLTHETHINGZZ and will be forever considered a part of our creative collective. Additionally you will receive complimentary passes to events for a year, and  exclusive updates on the progression of the space.  

Additionally, if you would like to fully fund a specific item (or items) in our budget we will name said item(s) after you (or a name of your choice) and create a name plate that will be installed with the improvement made.


We have the space, we have the vision, we have the passion, and the people now all we need is your help. Will you be the catalyst that brings this dream to life? Donate and share our campaign today and join us in our space mission for creativity!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU 



FAQ:

Why isn’t the owner paying for these necessary improvements?

The property owner is in full support of ALLTHETHINGZZ and was willing to give us a greatly discounted rental rate for taking the property as is. He has given us full creative freedom to renovate the property however we like and knowing that we are making investments into the space he has promises us to being able to continue to renew our yearly lease for as long as we want (or at least the foreseeable future). 

$5000 isn’t a lot of money when it comes to  renovations. Are you sure this is enough money to make these critical improvements?

I know that $5000 is not enough money to do any sort of extreme house make-over magic happen, and there is the chance that  it may not prove to be able to make ALL the improvements happen as I hope, but I AM sure that it is enough to make the improvements we need to get up and running. Ideally I would like to raise 10k to really make a huge transformation, but I don’t want to be greedy; we’ll get there!!!

Why don’t you have more pictures of the space and people working there over the last couple years?

In my video I mention facing challenges- having an operational phone/camera to document the space has been one of these ongoing challenges for me. I am doing my best to hunt down more pictures and will update the campaign as I do. 

Can I donate something other than money or come help with the improvements?

YES! We are grateful for any help we can get. Please use contact form on this page and let us know how you's like to get involved! THANK YOU 

Can I come see the space/ Is there available space for rent?

Absolutely!!  Contact Catherine Worsham using the contact button on this page and we will set something up! 


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Donations 

  • Matt Hess
    • $100
    • 5 yrs
Donate

Organizer

Catherine Worsham
Organizer
San Diego, CA

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