starting a thingery

Thanks for your interest in starting a Thingery in your region! We’re excited to begin working with you.

We’ve created a step-by-step process to assess your region's place in the development timeline for establishing a Thingery. Once you’ve submitted the form below, we’ll be in touch to help you get a Thingery up-and-running in your region.

What we Deliver

3 - 5 Thingery sites operating for one year

20 skill building workshops held across all sites

4 quarterly reports on Thingery activity and community input

Step 1

Complete our Readiness Assessment Form

We’ve created a brief form to help us understand where you’re at and what you’re hoping to achieve. We’d like to get a better understanding of a few critical pieces needed to start a Thingery, including:

  • Level of support from community leaders
  • Level of support from municipal council
  • Ability to permit a Thingery on the street
  • Available funding from council
  • Capacity to promote The Thingery pilot

Please take a few minutes to fill out the form and we’ll be in touch to talk about establishing a Thingery in your region.

Step 2

Establish a Local Working Group

We convene a working group made up of representatives from local sharing organizations, various municipal departments, and neighbourhood activators.

Step 3

Thingery Site Identification

Using feedback from a brief survey sent to the regional community, we consult with our working group to create a shortlist of potential Thingery sites.

Step 4

Community Engagement

We use our proven engagement process to conduct a series of surveys and in-person design sessions to understand each of the selected neighbourhoods’ needs. This process will inform the design of the site, the equipment to be included, the types of workshops to offer, and how to identify local leaders. A report on this research will be presented to the working group.

Step 5

Site Plan Approval

The Thingery’s architecture and design team creates a package of CADD drawings and renderings of each of the proposed Thingery sites and submits it for approval from the regional licensing and permitting office.

Step 6

Build and Site Launch

With the permits and licenses finalized, we begin the site installation. We source local materials and labour to build our unique shipping container site. The containers arrive ready for assembly and can be set up in less than a week. Once construction of the site is complete, we welcome the community to an open house event where they can plant flowers and succulents in the green wall and help paint a mural on the container.

Step 7

Ongoing Research and Programming

For the duration of the one year pilot, The Thingery will provide maintenance for the equipment, offer thorough customer support for the users, run programming, and track important metrics. We provide quarterly reports on each Thingery’s activity for our municipal partners.

Step

Regional Growth

Leading up to the completion of our one year pilot program, we present a regional growth strategy to our working group. This strategy outlines the impact to date, learnings from our pilot, and a plan for future locations.

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"Our dream is that every community, no matter its size or location, has access to a Thingery that provides its members with the equipment they need to pursue their passions.”

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