CoworkingSpace2

I’m Alec Holowka, an independent game developer living in Winnipeg. I earn my living by selling my games online to an international audience. This means that I could technically live and work anywhere in the world, as long as I had access to the internet. I’ve chosen to remain in Winnipeg for a number of reasons, including the tight-knit creative community, family, low cost of living and the amount of open space. What I miss is the day-to-day communications and camaraderie that one would find in a modern office environment. Often times it feels lonely, despite the number of creative and friendly people who live in the city. We simply don’t see each other that often. By building a coworking space to house New Media endeavours, we will be building a stronger creative community - one that is less likely to fracture or to be enticed to other provinces.

Not only will having creative folks in the same space help to keep them happy and engaged, it will also inspire new transmedia projects and new startups - many of which we can’t even begin to predict. True innovation is more likely to occur at the intersections of differing mediums. An agile and diverse community formed by game developers, web developers, filmmakers, composers, and marketers can iterate very quickly on its own innovative ideas.

Being a kid who wanted to make games in Winnipeg wasn’t very fun. I could never find a place in the city to go to learn how to start making games. A really important element of the coworking space is that it could be used to teach children and young adults many different New Media skills. These students would have a very clear path to getting contract work or even joining a company just by hanging around the coworking space. No suit-and-tie interview would be required, just raw talent and a passion for self-improvement. I believe that reaching out to inspire and encourage children in this way could lead to a positive impact on our city over many years, including a reduction in crime and an increase in the amount of small, healthy creative companies in Winnipeg. The coworking space would connect young people to a world full of opportunity, where they could craft their own dream careers.

The importance of having creative people of different backgrounds working next to each other is deceptively simple - it’s not just that it would make for a happier and healthier working environment for freelancers and independent developers in the city. It can lead to unexpected innovations, new startup companies, exciting events and an alternate education path for young people. The future of our province would be much brighter if this space existed.