SEXYLAND – more than a coworking space (C1994030)

Photo by Liam McGarry on Unsplash

When you hear about a club called SEXYLAND in Amsterdam, most people’s first thoughts would probably be related to prostitution. The image Amsterdam has as the weed-loving city full of prostitutes is one that’s hard to shake off. However, Amsterdam has come leaps and bounds in the past decades and can now be considered a real creative city. SEXYLAND is one of the pioneers that has encouraged the creative movement in northern part of the city, as a one-of-a-kind co-working space.

Photo from SEXYLAND website

The innovators
SEXYLAND was launched in 2016 by Arthur van Beek and Aukje Dekker with the intention of having a different owner every day for a year. After that, it would close. Dekker and van Beek bought an abandoned barn at the edge of the IJ river in the north of Amsterdam and decided to give it the name SEXYLAND, without any context. From the outside, it looks like it could be anything. And that’s exactly the point.

The intention of van Beek and Dekker was to find creative people with an unique idea. SEXYLAND would offer this creative a space to live out their fantasies. For a year, SEXYLAND had a different owner every day. Their experiment had succeeded. That’s when they closed. However, there was a need for a creative co-working space like this in Amsterdam. A year later, in 2018, SEXYLAND re-opened and it’s still running to this day.

Photo by Pauline Niks for de Volkskrant

Who funds culture?
The main question that pops into people’s heads when you tell them about SEXYLAND is how they fund it. Every owner can choose their own entry price. SEXYLAND does ask people to buy a €2.50 membership. This will give the buyer access to SEXYLAND events for a month. Apart from that, SEXYLAND just asks the owners to have every event be open to everyone. Art should be shared, and should not be behind closed doors. It’s fine to ask people to pay for a ticket, but the event should be open to everyone. Apart from that, SEXYLAND runs on financial support of the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts and other donations.

Photo from SEXYLAND website

Be yourself
At SEXYLAND, it’s okay to be yourself. No one will judge what kind of event you put on, and nothing is off limits. This kind of attitude is what the creative industry needs in order to properly flourish. Creative talent should not be limited, otherwise it will not be able to develop to its true potential. All the pictures used in this blog are from their website, and showcase the wide range of events that are hosted at SEXYLAND. From drag contests to hip-hop concerts, and from university meetings to political gatherings, nothing is forbidden at SEXYLAND.

Photo from SEXYLAND website

The point of a co-working space is to have multiple creatives work in the same space and form a community. In that regard, SEXYLAND is not your traditional co-working space. Everyday there is a different creative in the same space, so they don’t work together at the same time. However, SEXYLAND has formed a community. Their website describes it best. ‘We believe in the magic that can happen when meeting someone in SEXYLAND by accident, and then coming up with a brilliant idea. There will always be space to realize those gems.’. That is the community that SEXYLAND has formed. People meet each other, come up with a crazy idea and are then accommodated by SEXYLAND.

A compilation of the events hosted at SEXYLAND in its first year

Do you have events that you would organize at SEXYLAND? Let me know in the comments!

Cardiff’s Multifaceted Creative Hub

Originally built in the early twentieth century as a tram depot, Tramshed is now known throughout Cardiff as a creative and cultural hub.

As a Grade II listed building, Tramshed offers so much more than a nice scenery. After serving as storage space and hangar for nearly a century, Tramshed opened its doors in 2015 as a space encompassing everyone one needs in order to create. Comprising of a  concert venue, a gallery, a cinema, office units, and a co-working space, Tramshed proves just how powerful of a creative city Cardiff can be.

A transcendental gig experience  

On one side of the building is the concert venue that has a capacity of a thousand. It has welcomed artists such as Zervas and Pepper, Public Enemy, Craig Charles and The Charlatans.

As more and more cities around the United Kingdom start to close doors to independent music venues and retailers, Tramshed’s concert hall is a reminder of the strength of Indies in an industry that tends to aim for stadiums. Following the close and demolition of Gwdihw and Guildford Crescent in 2019, one of the last Victorian terraces in the capital, Cardiff’s independent and rebellious scene grew larger and louder, allowing for smaller venues to rival the Motorpoint Arena or the Principality Stadium.

A high-end venue owned by an independent company means a better space for both the artists performing and the audience.

‘Fatherson at Tramshed’ by BBC_Fangirl is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The duality of a budding co-working space

On the other side of the building, Tramshed Tech, its co-working space, was built to promote growth opportunities for start-ups and entrepreneurs and creative collaboration, offering many services that include modern workspaces, a vibrant community, super-speed internet, and free tea and coffee! Located just a few minutes from Cardiff Central station, it allows young professionals and established businesses to let their creativity run wild. It has also hosted numerous large-scale events, such as Ted Talks, Digital Festival 2017 and BBC Digital Cities 2017 and 2018, and has established partnerships with global companies like Google, Microsoft and LEGO Education.

Co-working spaces are a great asset to any city; they bring people together, provide support to any type of business, ranging from the smallest to the largest, and stimulates creativity and innovation. But they don’t just have a local impact: they connect people of the creative sector from all over the world.

Creativity is often perceived as separate from business, the ‘left’ brain and ‘right’ brain colliding. The ‘creatives’ are pitted against the ‘suits’, spontaneity versus bureaucracy. But instead, co-working spaces allow both sides to prosper and develop themselves fully. Indeed, creativity requires two types of thinking: convergent and divergent, the former meaning systematic and regulated, the latter being more spontaneous and playful.

Co-working hubs such as Tramshed permit both of these, by accommodating to everyone’s needs and wants.

‘TEDxCardiff 2017 Randoms’ by Jason Aspinall is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

An outlet for physical creativity

Not only is Tramshed a concert venue and a co-working space, it is also a dance, fitness and yoga studio, allowing people of all ages to exercise their mind and bodies. Creativity comes in all shape and sizes, dance being one of the most ancient forms of at expression there is. Yoga is also known as a

The fact that Tramshed offers multiple mediums and spaces to express one’s creativity only highlights its progressiveness and inclusivity in the creative world. It is, simply put, a complete and well-rounded creative and cultural hub, allowing people from all backgrounds to prosper and grow in their creativity.