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\f0\fs26 \cf0 You can\'92t fake a community, you can\'92t just decide you\'92re going to
be one, you can\'92t go make one. It has to happen organically, and it just takes time.\
\ 3rd Ward is an arts and design incubator,
so we provide space, resources, networking opportunities, classes, education, events,
parties...\ \
We get people who are just looking for something to do and they want to come in on the weekends
and make some furniture or they want to come in and take a class in digital media so they
can do their own website. We have a lot of people who are here basically nine to five
everyday who come in and use this just like their job. They really rely on 3rd Ward to
run their business on a day to day basis. A lot of photographers here, furniture designers,
cabinet makers, sculptors, graphic designers, writers... so, it takes all kinds here, you
In was like, I know there are people out there who need the same thing that I need. There\'92s
tons of creative people from all over the country, moving to Brooklyn everyday. I know
that if we build this resource place, that it could work. Even trying to explain what
we were doing here, people didn\'92t get it. The incubator concept in general is pretty
well established, but specifically towards this, like, sort of creative freelancer demographic
it\'92s kind of new, and we had a hard time explaining it. So, in the meantime, while
we were waiting for it to catch on, we just kind of threw really, really big parties.
We would pay our rent, you know, with beer-soaked cash. And we just kept doing it, until it
started working. We had no idea how complicated it is. \
\ It\'92s also... the unfortunate side about
it is if you actually want a business to work you really have to think about money. Otherwise,
there just, there won\'92t be any. The real hard lesson is that you can\'92t just do whatever
you want, you have to do what people want. So we had all these ideas that we thought
would be really exciting, and we thought were really cool. And we kind of quickly realized
that, \'91yeah guys, you think that\'92s cool, but everybody else thinks this would be really
cool, that\'92s what they want, so you can either go under, or you can say, let\'92s
give the people in this neighborhood what they really need, what they really want.\'92
And when you do that, it just starts working. So that was the first major lesson. It seems
really obvious, but it took us a while to get it, you know?\
\ When you first start any new project, you
always have this fantasy in your head that it\'92s going to be an instant success. But
really, to do something that\'92s this complicated, and new, we need to be focused on it for the
long term. So, I\'92m in it to win it, man.}