Coworking Spaces
During the last few years new co-working and co-creating spaces have opened their doors. The Boardroom leads the co-working trend, with spaces in Anchorage and Juneau; a Fairbanks Boardroom is in the works. Co-creating spaces, like Anchorage Community Works and Anchorage Makerspace, are hubs for artists, crafters, musicians, and makers. Less formal spaces are busy too - wander into a coffee shop midday and the busy tap tap tap of fingers on a keyboard is as ubiquitous as the sound of baristas pulling espresso shots (swing by the downtown Kaladi Brothers or the midtown Steamdot and you'll see what I mean). Anchorage Public Library branches are also attractive locations for independent workers – not only are workspaces and wi-fi free, branches host groups providing writing, entrepreneurship and technology training as well as access to databases offering information for financiers and researchers.
Shared spaces and their public counterparts are so appealing that it’s not uncommon to find a refugee from corporate Alaska working amongst the freelancers in hopes that spending a few hours as part of an innovative, vibrant community will shake loose an little inspiration and productivity. In Anchorage, the Boardroom has become a magnet for creativity, and new partnerships are being made and entrepreneurial ideas being formed. Jon Bittner, Vice President of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation, says “Alaska attracts the dreamers and the risk takers, the adventurous and the wild. It’s not really all that surprising that when you put folks like that together with advanced technology and collaborative workspaces they create something amazing."