A spot for Nottingham freelancers and artists to spend their working days, The Carousel are raising money to offer a free working space one day a week - fighting the isolation that can come with working from home...
A Nottingham work and event space for community artists, freelancers and small businesses, The Carousel is a coworking spot helping eradicate the loneliness connected to working from home. They were founded in 2019 after taking over the old Nottingham Writers Studio and since then have evolved and expanded, as the amount of people working from home has grown since the Pandemic.
What will you find there?
During the day you’ll find everyone from artists to remote workers, to university students. A welcoming and diverse workspace, it gives spaces for different types of working. If you’re an artist and need studio space; a hot desk worker or someone after a quiet space, they provide it all. Alongside bottomless tea and coffee, a fully equipped kitchen, and lockable storage spaces.
During the evenings the studio transforms into a social space - hosting events such as Messy Drink & Draw, Collage & Cocktails or comparable community nights. Always championing creativity, they’ve exhibited 104 artists' work; recorded over 89 hours of DJ sets; hosted three small festivals and produced street art projects. Plus, on top of hosting events, they’ve supported creative individuals, having distributed over £18,000 to them.
Eradicating Loneliness
One of the main aims of The Carousel is helping eradicate the issue of loneliness attached to working from home. The Mental Health Charity Mind recently found 81% of under 35’s fear loneliness from long-term working from home. Likewise, another study by Monster found that 69% of employees working from home were experiencing symptoms of burnout. Having the ability to work in a space filled with other like minded individuals creates a community and a happy and healthy working environment.
Community Working Day
Currently, The Carousel is funded via memberships. However, in line with the cost of living crisis, memberships are falling, meaning less people can access the workspace.
To help with this problem The Carousel are hosting a Crowdfunding campaign (which will go live on 25 February) fundraising for a Community Work Day. This would mean free access to the facility one day a week - helping people who are struggling with working from home and the cost of living crisis. During this Work Day, people would have access to the Carousel every Wednesday from nine to five, with the ability to attend Wednesday evening workshops. In addition to their Crowdfunding campaign, the Co-operative Bank has pledged to match each donation, meaning that whatever they raise will be doubled.
You can learn more about the Crowdfunding Campaign via The Carousel's Instagram
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