[ freespace ] – A Badass Temporary Community Center in a 14,000 sq ft Warehouse

The other week my buddy Morgan Fitzgibbons invited me to drop by [ freespace ] to check it out. I really had no idea what it was gonna be, so I was incredibly surprised and pleased to find a space, where I used to party my face off, being used as a rad community center. Things like this are what help San Francisco be the special place that it is. Amongst the many projects being floated around [ freespace ] are a community garden, a free store, a learning shelter, an art space, and a bike share. In talking with Morgan he nodded to the fact that some of the group inspiration came from The Diggers, the radical community action group that was based in The Haight in the late 1960s.

Here’s what the folks behind all this have to say:

[ freespace ] is a month-long temporary community center focused on manifesting permanent transformation of the city and people of San Francisco. Hosted in a 14,000 square foot warehouse in the heart of Mid-Market as a part of the National Month of Civic Hacking, our mission is to foster creativity, community, and civic innovation through the gift of free space.

Throughout the month we’ll be home base for a wide array of events and projects, including but not limited to classes, music, art, yoga, silent discos, free bikeshare, community engagement and field trips, and more than a few silly costumes. The power and success of [ freespace ] is a direct result of the energy freely contributed by a diverse range of every day citizens – everything that happens here is created by someone like you.

Amazing, right? If you’re still trying to understand what the fuck all this is about, you should watch this video that shows the progress after the first 10 days of [ freespace ].

The only unfortunate part about all this is that the folks involved with [ freespace ] only have the place for a mont. In fact they are actually trying to crowdfund enough money to get the space for another month. You can contribute here.

So yeah, check them out online and drop in to see how you can get involved.