For the past six months I have been hosting the Austin YouTube Creator Meetup group at Tech Ranch Austin. We’ve grown to nearly 100 members and several people have approached me about the idea of creating a community space for members to access shared production equipment and film stages. This seemed like a good idea to me, but I wasn’t sure how to best execute it. Places like channelAustin do exist but aren’t catered to YouTube channel creators, and the membership rules make it difficult to use the facilities as part of a commercial business. I’d want the space to be affordable for those who are primarily making their money through YouTube’s AdWords program (less than $200 a month) and might also be doing some commercial projects on the side. I also want the space to offer weekly classes focused on helping members transform their channels from a hobby into a business.
Then last month I went on a business trip to Los Angeles. While in the area I attended several events at the YouTube Space LA facility. After speaking to many of the creators involved with the space, I now firmly believe this is the direction we need to go to make Austin a center of the emerging web television industry.
Last night I proposed the idea of creating our own version of a YouTube Space to the members who attended our most recent meetup, and everyone was very supportive. Now we’ve created a survey to figure out exactly what resources the community wants and what each member is willing to contribute in order to make this co-working facility a reality. This survey will be used to plan the space, which we expect to open in April.
