The Community Café is a space that provides a place for community programmes, small communities and local residents to interact on a daily basis. A common problem in Komárom is that there are limited community spaces where cultural or recreational groups can place their events.
ART-Tér also provides the communities that use the café with professional support to develop and achieve their goals. In addition to this, it is also important that the common space of the café connects them and thus the coexisting communities are intertvined. As a result, they can act together to achieve certain goals. People who come here can feel at home, trust in the power of community to find communal solutions and organise cultural and communal activities. So they are not just passive spectators, audiences, but active participants. The exchange of favours and donations are also central to its operation. Anyone can donate a packet of tea/coffee or an English language lesson in exchange for consumption. But even those who suddenly can't think of anything to give to the community need not despair: there is a donation box in the café that acts as a box of honour, and the money collected is spent 100% on the café: the money is used for pay the rent or buy cleaning products, so everyone can be sure that their donation is going to the right place.
What exactly are we raising money for to create a community café?
We are raising 400.000Ft for a mobile wall to help separate the community space and for the construction of the community café (sink, fridge and counter)!
The community café will be set up on the residential floor of the ART-Tér. At the moment our DIY workshops are located in these rooms, so moving them to the basement is essential. Donations are being collected from the DIY workshops to convert the basement area. We plan to implement the following to create our Community Café:
We need to create the buffet portion of the café, which will require a counter, shelving, and sinks. We are primarily planning to use recycled materials, but we will certainly have to buy accessories or purchase the materials necessary for assembly (nails, screws, fasteners, hardware, paint, sanding materials, etc.)
We will need to buy a fridge and a coffee machine. We are not necessarily planning to buy new machines, but buying second-hand machines is still a fairly large investment.
We need to open up the two larger rooms and create a movable wall so that we can use it as a smaller room for larger events but open for smaller community sessions
We are also fundraising for the cost of the permits and bylaws needed to legally operate the Community Café