SKOLA6 is a creative and digital industries centre in Cēsis, Latvia, with 230 years of history. Anyone from the local community can access the services and opportunities provided by Skola6: use the coworking place and meet interesting and independent professionals; create your own workshop and become a member of an inspired community; attend events organised by and for young activists and entrepreneurs; fulfil your own ideas and initiatives. SKOLA6 design laboratory is a co-creative home aiming to support the development of products and services in all stages.
What’s the story behind your hub?
Skola6 is based in Cēsis, a very small city in Latvia. It’s a rural area so we have around 14.000 inhabitants. In 2016, a vocational school that was here since the 18th century left for new premises, so there was this gap where a very old historic building in the old city next to the most central church was empty. Local enthusiasts got the keys of the building and started working on the second floor just as a very primal coworking space, with a few chairs and desks. Somehow, it grew from squatting into something real. The municipality saw a chance to develop a business environment in Cēsis. In 2018, we created our foundation, but this year we started to grow more. All this time we were one and a half people, now our staff is four people. We are working very actively on this project with the municipality, as they see us as good place-makers and community creators. We are involving an industrial area of the city into our creative quarter.
This was a very “hipster” thing to do, millennials are the ones who were searching for new models of education for their kids and new quality of life, so they moved away from the big city to smaller areas.
We have got the chance by the municipality to create all the content for this creative quarter, meaning that we are searching for possible residents, we are thinking about the strategy of the area’s development, how to attract more people and what is important for the society. That’s why we need extra people, to do all the communication and all the practical stuff.
At the moment, we have sixteen members in Skola6. We are divided into three coworking spaces, some dedicated to desk coworking and other to art studios for seamstresses, fashion designers etc. We are mostly focused in creative industries and SMEs, including accountants or other finance professionals.
What brought this community of enthusiasts together in Cēsis?
During COVID, a lot of young families moved here because there is a “new age” school for kids, where they have a different approach to education. This was a very “hipster” thing to do, millennials are the ones who were searching for new models of education for their kids and new quality of life, so they moved away from the big city to smaller areas - Cēsis is one of them.
We have become a very hip location for people over 30 who look for a calmer life and a connection to nature. We have created this bubble of millennials who are very active and have a very wide experience across the world. We are very international. Latvia in general is not very international, but here, we are. We have a programmer from Cuba, a researcher from Chile, product designers from Switzerland… This is their way to get to the community, because coworking spaces are always the easiest points to meet new people and friends, if you are new to the area.
What has your hub managed to (re)build in your territory?
As newcomers in this town, we are all redefining the connections and the meeting points that could help one grow in the city. For example, as a coworking space we try to build connections between not only our residents but also the most active communities in the city in general, like in the educational spheres or prototyping laboratories, or other support systems that could help people grow. We are very focused on entrepreneurship and how small entrepreneurs can grow bigger and develop their products and services. We are mapping the possibilities for them and pushing them along the road.
Our relationship with the local municipality is what makes us different from most creative hubs.
Creating this network of opportunities is our biggest goal, and we are very proud that we can take our entrepreneurs who just moved to Cēsis and bring them to the world we have built for them. We are also building two different locations at the moment. It’s a very weird switch in our coworking. When I started, I couldn’t imagine myself rebuilding and reconstructing the way a newcomer can see the city. The city is going to be more open and more inclusive, so it will be easier for any newcomer or tourist to integrate in the city.
How do you engage with the local community?
We have events, which is the easiest way to engage with the community. We have creative conferences or masterclasses about crafts or rebuilding furniture, natural colouring etc. That’s something people are interested in. We recently did the first citizens engagement event, where we had an open discussion about the new upcoming creative quarter and how people who live nearby are interested in developing it. People came together, gave some feedback and ideas. We wanted to integrate the New European Bauhaus values to have this process as open as it could be.
Our relationship with the local municipality is what makes us different from most creative hubs. We are supported financially by the municipality and we have to account for our actions to the municipality. In a way, we are a half-public entity. We will transform soon because there are new laws and the municipality cannot contribute to a foundation anymore. They see us as a big success, they are very proud that they have us in their region and of how we are impacting the entrepreneurial sphere and of how we are engaging other citizens, so they are very supportive with mostly everything we do.
We hear on a daily basis the feedback of the citizens of the region, so we have first-hand knowledge of what should be improved. We have a very close connection to the municipality, so we can give them this information and the city development plan can be very user-centred, rather than just a top-down process.
How do you envision the future for your hub?
We are in the process of strategic planning, as we have to stop existing in the way we have always been. We have to step away from being a public sector player and start thinking about being in the private sector. When we make this switch, the sky is the limit. What we understand is that everything we do is to make this region a more attractive place for other people to live in.
Our possibilities become endless when we can have resources to back up our ideas.
We are very much keen to engage in the educational sphere, creating new professionals who are up-to-date with technology. We have really good resources with our residents, we have internationally awarded people who are amazing with UX design and it would be a shame to not share this knowledge among the youth of Cēsis and the professionals of the region. ECHN is an amazing place to learn from other hubs that have always been in the private sector and to see how we can stretch the borders of the way we have been working all this time. We are just mapping our possibilities now. We are doing this new strategy where we go to hub networks and we check what they are doing, exploring possibilities we haven’t thought of and see how we can integrate them in our development plan.
By switching to the private sector, we will start to actually earn some money. In the public sector, we cannot be profitable. If we can earn more, we could invest more and create new educational courses, bigger events. Our possibilities become endless when we can have resources to back up our ideas.
Spotlight Practice 1: Grant competition for entrepreneurs
Skola6 coordinates a grant competition each year, powered by the municipality, where 10 entrepreneurs can get money for their ideas. Any new idea regarding new enterprises to be implemented regionally is supported. The grant amounts to 3000€ and this has created many new products and services in the region. There are breweries, cafés, bakeries, new publication houses… The impact that only 3000€ has on each of these entrepreneurs and the city development is incredible. The municipality gave the whole coordination to Skola 6.
Skola6 coordinates a grant competition each year, powered by the municipality, where 10 entrepreneurs can get money for their ideas. Any new idea regarding new enterprises to be implemented regionally is supported. The grant amounts to 3000€ and this has created many new products and services in the region. There are breweries, cafés, bakeries, new publication houses… The impact that only 3000€ has on each of these entrepreneurs and the city development is incredible. The municipality gave the whole coordination to Skola 6.
Spotlight Practice 2: Obligatory resources exchange
When someone joins Skola6, there is a rule they have to agree on. They have to give one hour of their time and skillset to another hub member, without any costs. If there’s a need for a graphic designer, you can offer one hour of your time and you don’t charge for it. A huge excel sheet lists everything that the residents own, tools and resources that populate the community. In a small city, it is very important to take the first step of collaboration and this usually initiates longer collaborations. Some new products and companies came out of this system.
Amanda Strīģele is the co-founder of Skola6, a creative hub that has brought an international and highly skilled community to the Latvian countryside. Here, creative and entrepreneurial innovation is finally creating a bridge between citizens, professionals and the local administration.
