Michel Bauwens says: “Please support this wonderful and important project in Oakland … ‘hackerspace’ would not even do remotely justice to it .. a true commons space, ‘free, sustainable and solidarity'”.

We invite you to join us in building a place to pool resources for the shared use and stewardship of the greater community—a space rooted in an ethic of radical collaboration between people of different backgrounds and across disciplines, creating a replicable model for future public spaces outside of the market and the state. At 22,000 square feet, this large and flexible space can support the collaboration of many different groups working on a variety of projects and ideals. We are asking for your help in opening our building to the public!”

A collective space to empower creative life in Oakland, California

Too often, our creative initiatives that aim beyond profit and private interests lack the common space and resources to go deep.

Omni is a collective of collectives building an open community center and venue.

We want to invite you to join hundreds of volunteers in building, appreciating, and sharing a model for deep societal change that goes rise above limiting corporate structures.

Our effort is rooted in Oakland’s rich history of thought and action for better urban life. After organizing for almost a year, we all took a giant leap on July 1st, 2014 by pooling funds to lease a 22,000 square-foot space! As we prepare to open, the energy has been incredible, with all kinds of people and value coming together.

We need your help to fully open and build our vision for a more equitable commoning of the space and resources people need to thrive.

WHY OAKLAND NEEDS A COMMONS

Cities like Oakland need new community center models for open access to the space and resources that sustain cultural life. Too many initiatives exploit human need and take power through marketing. Too few share and cooperate through “commoning”.

Omni is a community center modeled as an open commons. We steward our shared space and resources to generate abundant value with anyone. Omni is an empowering response to the displacement and inequality threatening Oakland’s cultural heritage.

Our space welcomes acts of revolution and celebration. You can have 500-person parties and lectures in our grand ballroom, meditation and movement classes in our dance studio, and small and medium gatherings in a half-dozen other rooms.

Our resources make any idea possible. You can cook and brew, print in letterpress, silkscreen, and 3D, write, type, solder circuits, use free community WiFi, sew, embroider, repair bikes, and gather in many spaces to connect, ponder, heal, grow, work, and organize around any idea or project.

The Indiegogo campaign is here.

Here’s an article on Shareable.

Their excellent video about the project is here: