TRANSITION TOWN BRIXTON
inspiring local action for a sustainable and socially just future
Open Projects Night
Open Projects Night (OPN) grew out of the Lambeth REconomy Project. With initial support from Power to Change, OPN was launched in 2016 at POP Brixton as a collaboration between TTB and Impact Hub Brixton and was set up to support the incubation of peer-led community business ideas and provide a free, facilitated weekly space for community organising.
The idea was to open up the Impact Hub - a members only co-working space by day - to a wider group of people wishing to get a local project off the ground. The events are hosted and facilitated and combine the Impact Hub’s ethic of learning by doing with TTB’s network and energy. Events are run on “Open Space” principles and a “hosts’ bible” was created to make sure the events are welcoming, easy to navigate and allow ideas and projects to develop. We invite speakers, show films and cater the events with local food businesses.
OPN followed on from similar events TTB had run called Shared Space. Starting in 2010 as a monthly event in a local community centre, we offered the venue to affinity groups to use the space for open meetings while we organised short-film screenings, themed discussion groups and practice sessions in swapping and sowing seeds, draught proofing, introduction into carpentry and sewing, with participants bringing along home-made dishes to share.
Open Project Nights have become a popular way of mobilising community projects across the Impact Hub network and although Covid19 has made gathering challenging, we are looking forward to bringing OPN back to life soon.
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