A Lab Nieuwsjaarsevent: Bring it on, 2025!

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1+1 =3 | With Árpád Gerecsey, director of A Lab

“12 years ago, A Lab at Overhoeks started with the assignment to provide affordable workplaces for creatives as an incubator. As director of the A Lab Foundation, I have been able to help with this for 10 years. The Municipality is aware of the importance of the creatives for the city and ordered us to have at least 40% of the members from the creative sector. More than 300 people now find their workplace at A Lab, and we deliberately chose not to spend the other 60% on purely commercial parties. The building is filled with people who all want to contribute to society in their own way. Last year, we therefore decided to formalize just that in the statutes. Our new assignment: “facilitating impact makers”, of course, still includes affordable workplaces, but the connection between our members, the impact on the neighborhood, the city and the country are now also important. We are going to work with members so that they can achieve their goals even better.”

Eva: And what is the ambition for the coming year? I heard something about “from us, to a larger WE”?

Árpád: “True, of course, we will continue to offer workplaces and event and meeting rooms to work hard. But on the contrary, we believe that we can all make even more impact if we can activate the power of the community. When members know how to find each other better, share their knowledge and expertise, and open their network. Then 1+1 suddenly becomes 3. The A Lab team organises a lot, but it is also a small team with big ambitions. We believe that we can do even more and become even more successful if we do that with all members. Starting this year, we will focus on that. So from 'we' to 'WE'.”

‍How can members participate and contribute ideas?

Árpád: “We start by asking everyone “What do you need?” and “What can you contribute?” We visit everyone for that. And to make it even easier for members to contribute or receive, we are also going to develop a number of tools. An important role lies there for the so-called 'Collectives', in which members also shape what we do at A Lab. You may already be familiar with some collectives, such as the Christmas party, organized by a group of members, which is now called the Christmas Collective. The Garden Collective is responsible for maintaining the new façade garden. Or take the Sustainability Collective, which is committed to making the building more sustainable and working as environmentally aware as possible. Or the Renovation Collective with which we pre-discuss the upcoming renovations in A Lab. So there are already some initiatives, but we are always open to more. Because it is our members who know and notice what could be better, different or smarter. I'm hoping for a Program Collective soon and I'm seeing the first signals about a Communication Collective emerge.”

“So to better understand what is needed, we will talk to everyone in A Lab. We're talking about what you need to grow, but also how you can help others in the community. This can be events, knowledge or collaborations. In doing so, we don't just look within the walls of our building. The community is larger, we are here in Noord; a district that will grow by another 25% in the coming years. But in the meantime, there are also many problems, such as poverty, poor housing and energy transition. We also want to visit the neighborhood and contribute to it. We have around 330 talented people, so together we must be able to come up with great solutions for the things that are going on here?!”

“Finally, we are also going to take some other steps to increase the dynamism within the community. Previously, new organizations could have a maximum of 12 people, which is what we are going to reduce to, in principle, no more than 6 people for organizations that are new arrivals. We are thinking about adding a few more work hotels, are looking forward to the positive effects of the renovations and have come up with an additional discount structure for impactful events. But of course, the best ideas don't come from us, but from the community, so bring it on! ”
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^{‍You can find Árpád in Lab 003}

“Of course, the best ideas don't come from us, but from the community, so bring iton! ”

‍The value of community | with Ahmet Polat

With the Polat Foundation, Ahmet creates impactful stories and documentaries, seeking connections between cultures and disciplines. He is also the editor in chief at Omroep HUMAN.

How did you end up at A Lab?

‍Ahmet: “I came to the Netherlands in 2015, before that I lived in Istanbul. Nothing was arranged or organized there, so you really had to work with the community, otherwise you couldn't get anything done. When I was invited to A Lab for a talk in 2016, I was asked if I might need a studio. “A studio, what for?” I still thought. It  turned out to be not the studio itself, but the community that I needed. And that convinced me to join A Lab. And that's how the Polat Foundation was born.”

‍What is the value of A Lab for you?

“I love working with people and the talents in the building. For workshops, on projects, to raise money together, share knowledge, or just to get things done. This is really about sharing. It is not transactional or competitive, but much more social: you invest in someone else without getting anything in return. Not now, but who knows later, if you need help yourself.

Plus, you never know which conversation leads to which idea. Here, all kinds of events are organized about themes that are not even on the map in other places. People are ahead. Ideas for, for example, a TV show like AI Love that is now on NPO don't literally come from here, but the seed was planted here and initiatives were inspired by events that took place here.”

Do you have advice for members with a full agenda?

Ahmet: “At least open your door; there's always someone walking around. And come to things that are organized. My favorite was the Coffee & Croissant at 8:30 at the Coffee Virus, or sometimes in the Kaleidoscope. Just catching up or pitching ideas. But the most important thing is: Just show up, sit down, talk and see what happens.”

^{You can find Ahmet in Lab S07.}

The Power of Collaboration | with Britta Möller and Doruk Eker

Britta Möller has been in A Lab since 2015, initially with her own graphic design studio, but now as an autonomous artistt floor. Doruk works at Orb Amsterdam and has been in A Lab since 2020. With creative technology, they develop impressive creative experiences, for example for museums, universities, hospitals or brands.

You participated in the Pop up festival together last year. How did that come about?

Doruk: We made a mini exhibition with Britta's work. In addition, we mixed reality and technology and people were able to experience that with VR glasses. In this case, Árpád brought us into contact with each other. We got into a conversation and we were both completely excited.

How did it work out, and what did it bring you?

Britta: “The collaboration resulted in a great end result. Everyone had their own thing and together it became this. I loved seeing that people really wanted to see it and were excited about it, just like in a museum.”

Doruk: “It was so good to see that the technology appears to be suitable for this as well. This small-scale experiment helps us move forward: it's a new discipline that we can further explore, so it offers new opportunities.”

‍Do you have any advice for other members?

Britta: “I wasn't into it at all, opening the door or randomly getting in touch with others. By now, I have experienced that it's not all that scary and that it brings me a lot. I wish that for everyone. So I would say: open the door and just start that little conversation.”

‍^{You'll find Britta in Lab 301 and Doruk at Orb in Lab 202}

‍You're invited! | with Minouche Besters

STIPO is working on better cities. Whether it's about better mobility or making optimal use of space. Minouche: “We're having conversations with people in the neighborhood, for example about what buildings should look like. There is always input from the people in the community, but we also work with policy makers and navigate between these two groups.”

You have come up with an initiative with which you want to actively contribute to the A Lab community, tell me more?!

Minouche: We really enjoy being in A Lab and would like to collaborate more, but... we are busy, we have a lot of projects and we are working so hard. Add to that a private life and... well, we were often absent from activities. We want to do it differently. So we decided: Christmas dinner is mandatory for everyone! And that turned out to be a great start because everyone loved it!”

“That tasted like more. So we thought about the following: there are many more people in A Lab who have common ground with our field. Fellow A Labbers who focus on architecture, urban development, urban poverty or sustainability. We want to inspire and be inspired. And we're having lunch anyway, so let's make it a networking moment. That's why we're introducing the Urban Lunch every last Thursday of the month!”

The first Urban Lunch on January 30 was a very pleasant introduction to various urbanists in A Lab. The next Urban Lunch is on February 27 at 12:30pm in 210. Everyone is welcome!

^{You can find Minouche at STIPO in Lab 210}

‍Impactful theater | Live Your Story performance

‍You make theater to make the world more inclusive. Can you tell us a bit more?

Sarah: ”We make an impact with theater shows. The goal is to create a world where people can truly be themselves; “in full glory” is what we call it. We want to convince people that not one is right, but to help people open up and start a conversation with people who think differently or have different values. We do this with a wide range of theater shows and the conversations we always have about the subject afterwards. We have quite a large group of about 50 actors, all of whom work voluntarily. And we have a small team in the work hotel, but you can also find us here in the evenings or weekends for rehearsals.

Where can your theater shows be seen?

Sarah: “We started with theater shows at schools and universities across the Netherlands, with shows about sexual diversity, racism and gender, among other things. But companies such as NOC*NSF were also added, so we now also reach adults, which is great. For example about inclusiveness.”

During the New Year's event, Live Your Story played three scenes, from different shows and with different target groups, but they were all about working better together. About awareness, opening up more, listening to someone else and speaking the same language.

^{You can find Sarah Schaeffer at the Workhotel}