Community-centred coworking spaces provide a setting where people can share knowledge, build skills, and create as a team. These shared workspaces thrive on members exchanging resources, ideas, and feedback. Creativity thrives when members collaborate and exchange ideas. It is this spirit of connection that makes Creative Works so vibrant.
With the community in mind, we are delighted to welcome Lauren Kirk as our new Sales & Community Manager, stepping in while Elena Giroli takes maternity leave. Lauren has spent the past six years working in the coworking sector, combining her background in customer service, marketing, and event management with a genuine passion for creative collaboration. She thrives in roles where she can bring people together, generate fresh ideas, and turn plans into action (all qualities that fit perfectly with the Creative Works ethos).
“I love being part of a space where what we do every day makes a real impact,” Lauren says.
That belief mirrors what drives our community: a shared commitment to learning, mentoring, and collectively working towards something meaningful.
Organic Learning: The Coworking Advantage
In a coworking space, learning can occur through observation, casual conversation, and even coffee break chats. This informal learning turns daily moments into opportunities for professional and personal growth. At Creative Works, freelancers, small businesses, and creative apprentices often learn from each other in this way.
For our members, regardless of background or discipline, there is the added benefit of being exposed to fresh ideas, tools, and perspectives simply through sharing the space. For instance, members might pick up a new marketing technique by watching a coworker’s campaign unfold, or gain insight into project management just by overhearing someone problem-solving in the breakout area.
Formal opportunities for skill development are available at Creative Works; however, members tell us they gain equally from the everyday exchange of knowledge, ideas, and experience between coworkers.
Mentoring: Building Confidence and Connections
Mentoring has always been integral to our ethos at Creative Works. It helps people build skills and confidence by providing access to training, skills, and industry knowledge that might otherwise take years to acquire. Within Big Creative Education (BCE) and our wider network, mentoring is embedded both formally and informally, as apprentices are supported through both assigned mentors and the day-to-day conversations that happen naturally in a shared workspace.
Research consistently shows that mentoring boosts confidence, retention, and career outcomes, particularly in the creative industries where career pathways are not always straightforward. For emerging talent — especially women and those from underrepresented backgrounds — a lack of access to mentors can be a barrier to progression. By prioritising mentorships, Creative Works is helping to close that gap, creating equitable access to professional guidance and growth.
Mentoring is never one-sided, as mentors often gain as much as they give by rediscovering their creativity, developing leadership skills, and finding renewed purpose in helping others succeed.
The Role of Community: Collective Success, Social Impact
Our members at Creative Works focus not only on their own professional achievements but also on supporting broader social impact. Collaboration often extends beyond business, encompassing inclusion initiatives, local community endeavours, and environmental programmes. Employees of organisations that work to build sustainable practices across industries worldwide are part of our community. We also have members who examine how public resources are managed. Their work helps ensure that economic justice and accountability remain a priority on the public agenda. These members remind us that community impact is not an abstract idea; it is lived daily through the work people do here.
Our members are accomplished in their own right; yet the magic happens when they come together as a community. This sense of shared purpose is exactly what drew Lauren Kirk* to Creative Works.
“It’s important to work somewhere where I can see the difference what I do makes — and where everyone is working towards something meaningful too,” says Lauren.
* Thank you to Lauren Kirk for her contribution to this article. Creative Works is delighted to welcome her to the team.
