YAQ ? Youth Arts Queensland ? Coffeeshopification- is it friend or foe?

I recently read a blog about why offices, bookshops, universities, and retail outlets will all soon become coffee shops. The article points out that in the 17th Century coffee shops were often used as offices ? so we shouldn?t feel too smug and modern about it.

Now we in the arts should be experts in this area ? we?ve been doing everything in coffee shops all along. I?m generally a fan of meeting in coffee shops (everywhere from Longreach to West End, BrisVegas). ?There?s a lot to be achieved like this. But I also think we?re in a key position to warn the rest of society about the perils of living in coffee shops!

So here are my top three reasons for, and against, coffee-shopification. Love to know what you think.

FOR:
1. There are lots of opportunities to run into people, share ideas, get unexpected things happening. And in a coffee shop you can feel less like a strange artistic hermit.

2. It?s good to work somewhere more than 2 meters away from where you sleep.

3. Whether you drink coffee or not ? food and drink are necessary ? and it gives people something to do with their hands while they are thinking.

AGAINST:
1. You can run into too many people ? #distractioncentral

2. In most coffee shops the tables are definitely too small and you cannot make your hand moulded clay llamas without getting in trouble.

3. You need to pack everything up all the time and buy too many muffins to justify your existence. This leads to a laptop bag full of unfiled documents covered in chocolate.

I think the ideal solution for me would be a writing studio/shed in the backyard away from everyone, supplemented by frequent visits to coffee shops of awesomeness. ?But for many young artists in share-housing building, a shed just isn?t possible. ?Sure, for Brisbane folk Visible Ink, The Edge, State Library of Queensland and the Rabbit Hole are great. But I?m wondering if anyone out there has other solutions. ?It looks like it won?t just be artists that need them.

image: CC by 2.0

Source: http://www.yaq.org.au/index.php/coffeeshopification-is-it-friend-or-foe/

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