3rd Ward is a haven for artists, designers, and freelancers. They’ll give you a desk, a bike, internet, plus computer lab and photo studio and shop access. They’ll teach you how to weld or make websites or screenprint. Really anything they can think of to make their members happy. Jason told us, “We obsess over them.” That’s his secret to how they went from struggling artists throwing rent parties to a successful, rapidly-expanding creative business.
3rd Ward gives a free bike to each of their members.
How did 3rd Ward start? What’s the beginning of the story?
Wow. OK. In 2004, a bunch of other artists and I moved to New York from Boston. We moved in together in this big loft, and we thought, “We’re all going to become New York City art stars!”
Of course!
Right? And then we got hit with all these harsh New York realities. The cost of real estate down here was out of control, so we ended up way out in the middle of nowhere in a warehouse. Nobody could find work. Nobody was getting along. “Dude, you didn’t pay rent!” or “You broke my shit!” It was totally like a reality show.
For work, Jeremy and I started doing some construction jobs. We did a lot of work for this one guy who had a bunch of real estate. At the same time, we were still trying to do our own artwork and design work. We had a lot of problems finding the resources we needed. We needed access to a shop. We needed a place to do photo and video shoots. We needed access to good enough computers to do retouching. We thought, “Man, I wish there was a place that I could go do that.”
One day I just pitched our idea to the real estate guy. I said, “Look, I know it would work because I personally need this and there’s other people out here like me.” And he said OK. He had just bought the building that 3rd Ward’s in now. He asked me how it was going to work and I said, “How about you build everything out to our specs and pay for it all, and then we’ll pay you rent.”
So he did it?
He did it, and we opened in May 2006. And then we could never pay rent! We started throwing parties for rent. I was giving him his rent money in brown paper bags that had beer-soaked cash. So that’s how we got started. There’s a long way from the day we opened to now. We’re way stable now.
How did you get past the phase of figuring out how you were going to pay rent?
Basically by learning how to serve our members. We’re customer obsessed at 3rd Ward. It’s part of our culture. We are there to serve this community of people. And we are always figuring out how to do that. If we build something that doesn’t work, we rip it out. We had a whole dance program, it wasn’t working, so we just ripped that whole room out and added a lot more to the shop.
You have to keep listening to people and responding to them. We are our members. There is no 3rd Ward without them. We have to provide resources that members want to come and pay for. So we obsess over keeping them happy and making it more and more productive for them.
What was the hardest part of stabilizing?
There are a couple things that are really challenging. First of all, you’re always treading water trying to get money in the door. You have to learn how to be a business person really fast. I really wasn’t. So I got my indie-MBA on the streets of Williamsburg! Understanding cash flows and all that.
Then there’s learning to really look down the road long-term. What we’re going to do today, we’re not going to feel until 6 months from now. You have to think, “How are all these moving parts going to impact each other in 6 months?” You don’t want to fall into short-term thinking, where something might seem good right now but is going to hurt you down the road.
The front desk at 3rd Ward.
Can you walk us through all the different services 3rd Ward offers?
It’s a lot of interrelated resources that are under one roof – two roofs now. A big thing that we do is desk space for freelancers. All the furniture is there, all the internet is there, all the utilities are there, basic secretarial stuff is there, there’s always a lobby for clients to wait. We take your mail and packages, that kind of stuff.
We have four photo studios – there’s a lot of photographers who sign up for membership just based on that. We have a huge shop. There’s a digital media lab, which is free for all members to use whenever they want. And then we do a lot of classes.
The class program that we have at 3rd Ward is massive. The woodworking classes, the welding classes, and our core digital design classes, always fill up. We also try to do weird stuff, you know? We’re always trying new classes, and some work and some don’t. We know that and we’re comfortable with that. Somebody once said, “You have to learn to see failure as progress.” We believe that at 3rd Ward. We’ll always try new stuff. We did bag building, which was really popular. Screenprinting is really popular.
What are the plans for this second location?
There’s a drop-in co-working space, where you can just show up with your laptop and work. There’s a bunch of desk space and work studios. We’re going to have a couple new classroom spaces. Down the road there will probably be a real screenprinting setup. And we’re putting in a commercial kitchen and doing culinary classes. I’m really excited about the culinary program. It’s more universal, you know what I mean?
We’ve noticed a few people in Brooklyn starting up food companies, it’s pretty cool.
It’s true. There’s actually a kind of renaissance of culinary stuff happening in Brooklyn right now. I’m good friends with the guys at Roberta’s. They have a little farm in the backyard, and they have beehives on our roof.
Do you want to keep 3rd Ward in New York? Have you thought about expanding outside?
Yeah, I have thought about it, but we have a lot of work to do here. We get courted by a lot of people. Somebody from the Detroit government called me and was like, “Please come to Detroit. I’ll do all these great things for you guys.” But I can’t just go to Detroit. I am of this community. I know these people. I don’t know what’s going on in Detroit. So the short answer is, we’re focusing on New York right now. The long answer is, wherever we’re needed. 3rd Ward Moscow!
Jason Goodman and Jeremy Lovitt at 3rd Ward. [photo via NY Mag]
What’s been your happiest moment so far with 3rd Ward?
There’s this whole economy that happens, where the jewelry designer hires a photographer to shoot her work. And then the woodworker goes to the metal guy and says, “Hey, I’ve got this table I need to make. I’m doing the wood work on the top, but the client wants a steel base. ” It happens every single day, all the time. Seeing that happen is pretty magical. And giving the free bikes out was pretty exciting. I don’t know if you guys know about that.
I saw the sign outside and I was wondering about it.
Last year I was thinking, “What is another thing I can do to enrich my members?” and the lightbulb went off. “What if I could give everybody a good, urban bike for New York City? That would be amazing.” We threw a huge party and we were like, “Free bikes from now on!” The bikes are single-speed, so they can’t really break. They have a nostalgic old Schwinn frame look, set up for a street bike – skinny tires and straight bars. It’s something that meant a lot to our members, and it also did something good for the world. Every bike on the street is better. Every day with that is progress.
Absolutely. You guys are doing amazing things.
I have a super awesome team of brains. We have a really creative culture in the office. There aren’t a lot of rules, and we don’t need a lot of rules, because we’re all really engaged with what we’re doing. I would never be where we are today without them.
And we have a great front desk crew. We’re staffed from 8am to midnight every day. They’re constantly taking care of our members. Whether people need food delivered, or to packages coming in, or a circuit blew. We make it so you don’t have to worry about if the roof’s going to leak, or if the circuit’s going to pop, or if your delivery guy’s not going to be able to get in. You can focus on what’s in front of you right now and making this photograph happen, or whatever it is that you do.
Handmade Music at 3rd Ward.