Meeting about new info shop

Tena Koutou activists and rad people,

Some people have been keenly aware of the lack of spaces available for grassroots radical activism in Auckland. We have been looking for suitable and affordable spaces for infoshops, community centers, spaces for events and meetings as well as places which can be used for radical creative expression.

Recently we have been re-contacted by a space which we had enquired about 3 months ago, which is now free for us to use. It is a small shop front on great north road (almost) opposite bond street some of you may know it as its previous name ‘Misfit theater’. We have discussed our expectations with the residents of the other part of the building and reached some middle ground on what is appropriate for it to be used for.

We hope to use this space primarily as an info shop/radical outreach with DIY/Anarchist/Punk distro of resources and information. (Further down are some more possible functions, including meeting space, for this location).

 This space will be actively free from racism, homophobia, sexism, ageism, classism, speciesism and abusive behavior so that it is a safe space.

We have formed a collective which will be accountable to the other tenants of the building and responsible for this space, its running and upkeep. Due to the responsibility required for this role and the level of commitment required, we have decided to keep the collective closed. This is primarily because we are subletting the shop front which has been used as a bedroom as a part of the rest of the house which is a flat. However we are open to applications of those who believe they could commit to the space and work well as part of the collective.

This space is only a total of $165 a week including all expenses. (How fucking awesome is that. The average price we have found is around $400-$600). However this means we will need some type of financial security to pay this weekly. Ideally we would like to do this in the same way that was discussed at the first AK-FreeSpace meeting at the mushroom house last year for the $400 shop front on Mt Eden rd. It worked by people pledging a weekly payment, ie $5 – $20 or whatever you can afford and this may be shared out or lessoned as more people get involved. Last time this was brought up we managed to get $400 a week committed for at least 6 months from around 15 people. This space is way cheaper and can be used in many ways and important in getting new people involved to grow the movement.

These contributions will be bottomlining the rent, we are non-profit and if we do make a profit at any stage it will go back into developing the shops and activist and community resources and projects.  We are realistic about the possibility of the shop being monetarily self-sustainable and have talked to people who have done similar projects with spaces.

Possible functions for the space:

(these are just some of the ideas that we came up with which could be appropriate for the space but are very open to other suggestions.)

Infoshop

Meeting space (small scale, 20 people max.)

Workshops (small)

Fundraising for projects

Radical directory and point of contact (notice boards, posters, calendars, whiteboards. Contact details for all types of radical activism/projects)

Opp-shop

Gig space (small scale)

Film screening (small scale)

Distro: Arts, craft, music, clothes, books, zines, accessesaries, video/dvds.

Distro: Dumpstered food and other items

Filter and coffee  and vegan baking for koha

Chill out/safe hangout space

Reading libaray

Internet for koha

Seedlings for koha

Stitch’n’ bitch

Creative space

Exhibitions

Cause themed displays

Vegan potlucks.

There will be a meeting to further discuss this space, get your ideas and contributions.

6.30pm Monday 9th November Albert Park, band rotunda