Ladies of hive contest 254 - A creative space

I honestly have no real desire to run a business. Growing up my parents ran a business togethere, and my mom still runs a small one on her own in her 60s. It’s a lot of work. There’s paperwork, managing business accounts and customers, juggling time and responsibility. I have no idea how she did it while also raising five kids. To be clear, we had a dad to but he worked 60-70 hours a week so the bulk of child rearing was on my mom.

However, I do sometimes day dream of creating Kylin’s creative house, a gallery and art space that’s also full of cats. I picture turning my home’s upstairs into a gallery workspace. Meaning the walls are covered in artwork, there’s displays of work from local crafters like the pottery studio down the road and the knitting group in town, and anyone else who wants some space to put things on sale. There’d be a self serve tea and coffee station, which is actually just the kitchen counter with a fancy display case for tea bags and a kettle. It’s on donation which some how works. Sometimes people leave a new box of tea, other times a few dollars. And maybe some baked goods from the absolutely amazing local bakery for sale.

The other aspect is it’s full of cats. They cuddle, and purr, and have an area that no one else can get to so that when they don’t want attention they don’t have to deal with people. There’s places they climb and play and stalk as cats do. When someone gets attached to one, they can, for a reasonable fee adopt the cat that’s chosen them. The cats would all be spayed or nutured and get their shots so they’re healthy. None are getting declawed. Regular nail trims, but not declawed.

I’d also host art classes or times you can just hang out and do art, that have no age groups. I hate it when there’s something really fun and whimsy, and it’s only for kids. Or something that’s about appreciating age but you’ve got to be 60+. Everything at Kylin’s creative house is all ages and inclusive. Every member of the alphabet is welcome here. I’d find some way to also make the cost of classes scaled to income. Or maybe have a barter system, help me with the cat litter for a month and you get a free art class. There’d also probably be periodic game nights because a lot of artist types also like board games and maybe support groups for LGBTQ folks or people who could use a safe space for mental health discussions.

In short, a place where people can be safe, thrive, do art all of it enhanced by the comforting presence of happy cats.

This dream clashes with the reality of costs and how painful I find co-ordinating with people to be. And the reality that this is not a business idea but more a non-profit. It’s not something which is going to give benefits in dollars but in making people better. And in the capitalistic hellscape that is current day north America I have no idea how to make that sustainable. So one thing I’d need is someone with a gift of fundraising or finding grants, or some other skill that could help reduce the gap between business and something that I want to be free the way libraries are free. There would also be concerns about the cats safety since my cat at least thinks paint water is delicious.

But if I won a major lottery and money was no longer an issue, I’d find somewhere to do it. The world can never have to much human made art, or to many places where people can truly be themselves.

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