The pilot site of Bydgoszcz

Young generation job access support

Pilot site: Young craftsmen in old city

The name of the pilot action in Bydgoszcz is The Creative Centre - Young craftsmen at the Old Town. We haven’t got the acronym yet. The Pilot Manager may decide to use another name/acronym which is more suitable for this place.

The Creative Centre will be located in old tenant house from XVIII century (enlarged in 1863-1864) in the heart of the Old Town. Jezuicka Street is popular because of location of Bydgoszcz City Hall and its departments. Also there are many restaurants and pubs nearby. Neighboring stores represent categories like: handmade regional products, traditional souvenirs, private art gallery, bookshops. The space for The Creative Centre has over 100 m². The property used to belong to ADM (Administration of City Property ), but now it belongs directly to the City of Bydgoszcz. The space is in quite good condition inside, it needs just small renovation.  There are apartments on the upper floors. It might be possible to use garden at the back of the building that is a common space for inhabitants from few buildings around. 

A ground floor has been used for commercial activities but now for more than 1 year it has been vacant. Teresa  Wojnicka, a person who had rented the local for boutique, is a fashion designer, but she moved her business to Warsaw and since then the space haven’t been used. In the minds of residents this place is connected with tags like: fashion, handmade, slow fashion, local design, craft, tailoring, personal tailoring, local brand.

The Creative Centre will be a place for craft renewal. We consulted with Regional Craftsmen Association:

- what kind of crafts Bydgoszcz had and still needs,

- which crafts could be lucrative,

- which masters of crafts are ready to transfer their skills (our resources).

Bydgoszcz used to have potential in crafts like: tailoring, shoe making, bike making, printing, purse making, but now these skills are in decline. The skills are represented by old masters and they need to teach young generation to acquire their competence. The Pilot Manager should build a network between old and young generations with a craft as a bridge. This place should attract young people who want to learn craft skills and how to start business  based on them (settled and on-line). 

On 17.07.2018 there was a meeting with representatives of tenants of the building and City                          of Bydgoszcz informed about the plans on establishing the Creative Center to support young generation of craftsman,  in the place of the former shop. Also the rules of using the common space (garden) was consulted.

The CCI operators were involved in planning the competition rules for Manager of the Creative Centre. During the meeting on 3 July 2018 they described they needs related to space renovation, eligible costs, time for preparing a concept/offer. Our ambition is to prepare the competition for Pilot Manager which is designed/tailored according to user’s needs.  The plan of the venue was presented to CCI who want to see how the place look like. We also took into account require of CCI who asked about possibility to design the space on they own.

Our main stakeholders are representatives of CCI sector (question above). Moreover we consulted the needs of development of certain crafts with the Regional Craftsmen Association.

The Center is supposed to be very vivid and active. It should be open for citizens in order                         to familiarize with the work being done by our start-ups.

The Pilot Manager who will win the competition decides what crafts are going to be introduced                   in The Creative Centre. We don’t want to limit their creativity by the rules of the competition. However we provide  a list of propositions of crafts to be considered there, which shouldn’t disturb inhabitants of the building (like grinder). The Manager should create at least 3 start ups based on craft during the project. The Manager decides what kind of crafts will be involved in the project. During the meeting with group of CCIs (potential Manager) on 3.07.0218 we consulted the recommendations of crafts which are typical for Bydgoszcz.

1. The main stakeholders are 3-4 craftsmen (or interested in craft) who want to develop their skills and business in The Creative Centre. The Manager of the pilot action is responsible for creating the atmosphere for common initiative like “turquoise organization”. It means that participants of project have an impact for The Creative Centre vision and mission. We plan to have a training for potential Pilot Manager to show what expectations we have concerning the style of management.
2. The second group of stakeholders are other craftsmen, representatives of CCI sector as well as students and graduate of schools who want to participate e.g. in the pilot action trainings offer.

We truly believe that The Creative Centre will stimulate creative environment in Bydgoszcz to set common goal: craft renewal and business based on it. It’s a beginning of networking different institutions: private, academic, business support or training schools. It’s an occasion to build new creative entities and brands in Bydgoszcz which will be also examples of job possibility for young people who don’t want to work for corporations/institutions. The Creative Centre should be a place which attracts creative people and works as an incubator at the local map of craft business.

The Creative Centre generates job opportunities for young people (Millenials) who are interested                    in craft and business. Trainings, workshops designed by Pilot Manager will equip them with the knowledge e.g. how to run business in legal way, use a brand and on–line marketing tools. Lots                   of trainings will be directed to young people from schools (professional, artistic) and for students (interior design, industry design) who want to start their own business.

Our building for pilot action is located at the Old town (downtown), next to the main city’s Old Market  Square. The address is: Jezuicka Street 20-22, 85 – 102 Bydgoszcz.