New approaches to going out

My social media feed has popped up with not-serious-but-serious messages like this one:

And one I neglected to screenshot that was to the effect of,

“why do libraries close in the evenings? I don’t want to go to a bar, I don’t want to go to a club. I want to sit with a few people and have a glass of wine and read books.”

I love these ideas not only because they describe what I want for myself, but that there are some interesting ideas floating around of shifts in shared spaces.

The messages I’ve seen come with a range of requests for “third spaces” that fits their preferences better than what’s available in the mix of private establishments (usually bars, restaurants, clubs, gyms) and publicly funded offerings (libraries, parks, community centers). Some people write about nicer outdoor spaces, or spaces to hang out that don’t require purchasing anything (and are nice), cater more closely to their interests (like the Housewives and cheese boards), etc.

(Personally, I would love a place to read books and have a drink or coffee and a little something to eat. Especially cheap used books. I was a teenager when Barnes & Noble was just coming up and was a hangout spot, and I went to Yale where we had Atticus and Booktrader, two independent cafe-bookstores, so I have a model for this in my imagination. What I thought worked so well was that they were a great meet-up spot, so they had a little bit of bustle so there was some energy in the space, but you could also just read or study or work by yourself and not be bothered.)

Along these same lines, a story from WBUR in Boston on ArtsJournal caught my eye: “Boston’s newest comedy club goes sober as young people ditch the drinks.” Much has been made of the comparatively low alcohol consumption habits of the younger generations, so it makes sense that someone has shaped this into a business opportunity. I’m curious to see if this catches on in some other ways and more social spaces open without alcohol. Cat cafes are another example of this, where you can go and pet cats and maybe get a coffee.

As these preferences for third places evolve, I’d love to see artists and arts organizations collaborate on how to have more casual ways for people to be in their buildings just to hang out with others or by themselves. Maybe it has a direct but low-key interaction with the art, but maybe not. There are no cost and low cost ways to experiment with this, so it’s just a matter of being willing to try it and see.

Do you have an idea of how to create better or a wider variety of third spaces?

Featured Image: Photo by Daniel on Unsplash