What is the Creative Zone?
The Auckland Creative Zone is Auckland's answer to a creative space. Also known as a hacker space or a maker space, it's a physical, community-run space for building and collaborating on projects. The pooling of resources allows the purchase of equipment and services that most individuals wouldn't have the buying power to access alone. It also creates a community of people, encouraging collaboration from different perspectives and experiences.
For more information on maker/hacker/creative spaces, see these websites:
- Site which collects information on various Creative spaces around the world
- Wikipedia Definition
-
Hamilton Hackerspace (Think Haus)
This hacker space isn't in New Zealand. There is a Hamilton City in Ontario, Canada. - Home page of the Wellington Makerspace
- Home page of the Christchurch Creative Space (Space Craft)
Getting Involved
A Creative Space is very much a physical entity. Thus, coming along to a meeting is probably the best way to engage us.
We've also got a mailing list - for discussions between our meetings.
Our wiki covers our documentation needs. Things like the agendas for meetings.
Details about our next meeting:
When:
August, 2010
7pm-9pm
Where:
This meeting is to check out a like minded group.
Our next meeting may be held within this same week. There are a couple of places coming up which are either interesting in how they relate to this group or as potential locations.
Previous Meeting Minutes
Getting into the fun stuff
Well we've got our 15 signatures, the gaps filled in on the incorporation documents and some really positive signs that we may find premises really soon.
In the meantime, given that the meetings have become really short, (due to the lack of that boring administration stuff) we're now looking at the meetings having an element of "show and tell", a workshop or even, working bee (in the interests of re-use, go somewhere and fix stuff).
This also means that we may have meetings pop up at the last minute due to opportunities popping up. These opportunites are things like viewing potential premises, meeting like minded people or other events that may fit into our sphere of interest.
The need for big attendance
Part of our becoming an incorporated society is that we need have to get the paperwork signed by 15 people. We also need to cover some expenses.
So at our next meeting, we need 15 people at the VERY least to turn up and sign the paperwork for becoming an incorporated society.
We're also asking that those 15 people donate $10. This is to cover things like the filing of the paperwork for becoming an incorporated soceity (just over $100), registering the new domain name (just over $20) and we're going to have to talk to a solicitor about the constitution (rubber stamping it basically - we've kept pretty much to the sample anyway so we shouldn't have too many issues here).
So if you're able to come along, we'd really appreciate it.
Becoming an Incorporated Society
We've recognised that we can't really do too much without becoming an incorporated society - this includes renting a space.
However, this also means we need to chose a name, form a constitution, assign some positions and collect some funds.
In otherwords, we've got a ways to go, but we are getting there. We're aiming to have this cleared up and underway by the 7th of August.
Council Assistance?
At our last meeting enthusiasm rose over the idea of using a council building rather than trying to find a commercial building.
The reason for this is simply a matter of price. If we're a community group anyway and trying to engage more of the community, then we fit the bill.
This however, may be something that doesn't happen quickly. One of the pre-requisites to getting a council building is being able to show that you're an active group i.e. doing something. Thus, we may need to find an interim space.
In terms of interim spaces, a shed will probably do. So, we need our members to keep their eyes peeled for something that we could use for a couple of months.