The Angel Players had a fantastic experience of the Centre for Creative Collaboration.  The Angel Players are a local community theatre group, based in the Angel, Islington.  We worked at C4CC on our set design and build for our recent show, 'Lost and Found'.  The atmosphere of community and support really enhanced the design and build, with volunteers and members of the Angel Players able to benefit from the expertise and ideas shared by other people working in C4CC. Equally, it felt good and matched our community-ethos to be able to offer ideas and feedback, and interest, to other projects working in the space. 

The Centre for Creative Collaboration is an interesting space but I find it hard to describe; thinking about how to do so has got me thinking about all sorts of things – creativity, collaboration, teamwork – and what it means to find a home for them.

Most of my interaction with C4CC has been on the back of my participation in <a href="http://tuttleclub.wordpress.com/">Tuttle</a>, a weekly meet-up where people – well, we just talk: Tuttle is full of <a href="http://patrickhadfield.wordpress.com/?s=tuttle">great conversations</a>. Anybody can have a conversation; but the people at Tuttle are particularly adept: there is a lot of creative energy at those Friday mornings in C4CC.

A conversation is clearly collaborative: it requires two or more participants to contribute. Conversations can be creative too; they may be transitory, but in the flow of the words change can be created, and something new left in the air.

I have also used C4CC to meet people to discuss projects that have come out of Tuttle.

<p align=center><a href="" title="DSC_2087 by Patrick Hadfield, on Flickr"><img src="

" width="295" height="500" alt="DSC_2087" /></a></p>

But mostly my creativity isn’t collaborative: my main creative activity is to take <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhythmaning/">photographs</a>, a solitary practice; and I write a little (like this), also by myself. Whilst I have engaged in conversation at C4CC, and I have participated in events as an observer, I don’t feel I have been part of anything specifically creative there.

It is however a very interesting space. It has lots of white walls – crying out to be filled; it has lots of interestingly shaped rooms. It feels chimeric: it could be anything to anyone, a space waiting to be filled.

As an irregular regular to Tuttle over the years I have been impressed by the transformation of the Centre for Creative Collaboration over the last 6 months to become a truly inspiring space to visit, relax, work and meet with other Tuttlers.  For me personally it is always great to know that even though I don't get to Tuttle often there will always be friendly faces and interesting conversations to be found at the Centre every Friday morning - and I really appreciated the flower arrangements today!

All the best,

Janet

"Often as a self-employed PR, I find myself looking to connect with other creative people, to find inspiration. Getting a "fix" by visiting the Centre for Creative Collaboration for the weekly gatherings of The Tuttle Club gives me the chance to meet other creatives who are finding innovative ways to earn income, and connect with each other in the process. I've met intellectuals, artists, start-up entrepreneurs, poets, accountants and many more individuals, many of them leaders in their own sphere of influence.

On a visit to the Centre one day I saw a demonstration of an instrument that plays the building, and on another day, I found out about workshops in SEO marketing that is very valuable. The space is serving as an informal incubation space for people in London who are doing extraordinary things, and from this brewing cauldron of creativity, I think we'll see some new products, services and thinking about how the world ticks along. The Centre for Creative Collaboration is a simmering pot of new ideas that are bubbling up to the rest of the world in the very near future, so let's hope it keeps going and that its doors remain open for all."

Lisa Devaney
Director of Hai Media Group
http://www.haimediagroup.com

Not much c4cc experience so far, but what I've had has been fantastic - a few Tuttles and a very peaceful afternoon of cosy armchair inspiration. It's a great space - a white cube with many compartments, tucked away corners, light and dark, deceptive spaces and volumes of interior space. The light is wonderful too - as a photographer I could play all day with the natural beams falling through the skylight.

C4CC provided a welcome home for several of our London events in the run-up to UNCIVILISATION: The Dark Mountain Festival. From discussions with Vinay Gupta, Lottie Child, Briony Greenhill and other guests, to live music from Marmaduke Dando and Bleak, it gave us a much-needed space to start the face-to-face conversations and collaborations which burst into life in Llangollen at the end of May. Big thanks to Lloyd for being such an obliging host!

I had a positive experience at the centre. Liam from Concrete Solutions hosted a gathering of "distributed executives", a rather grand term for people who are playing around with types of change that does not rely on institutional implementation, but people led transformation at all social levels. Whatever the term means, Liam gathered a few very interesting people together and we conducted an action cycle, which included Veena, Bembo, Luke and Paul. Because of the quality of collective values, we ended up coming up with an objective to facilitate Sofia's Social Startup Lab. The whole thing, the high trust involved, the depths of learning, and the concrete outcomes all demonstrate the principles of collaboration, and I am thankful to Lloyd for affording us the space to make it happen.

A big thank you to everyone who has visited, used, commented on, supported and helped to get c4cc running so quickly!

Because events are moving quickly, we really need your feedback to help steer the direction of the work, make sure we continue to listen hard and that we capture and document the thoughts of the communities of people who collaborate in the space.

Of course it's lovely to hear all the nice things many of you have been saying about what we are doing and how you are using the space.  We also need straight feedback - how we can do better and what we might be missing.

You can post to this Visitors Book by e-mailing post@c4ccvisitors.posterous.com and you can add photos, links and video attachments.

Thanks!

Brian, Lloyd, Neil and Thias.