Community - what’s the secret sauce? (Part 2)

If you’re just joining us, you can read part 1 here.

The secret sauce in action

If all this talk about principles is making you think that community building takes effort, you’d be right. But with an intentional approach, you cultivate enriching soil for a strong community to root and grow. Community is SO powerful. It’s how we’ll make a difference in Cambridge.

So what do Together Culture principles look like? I’m glad you asked.

Our boundaries are pretty porous - anyone can become a Founding Member - but it seems unlikely that you’ll want to join the Together Culture community if you don’t believe that creativity is powerful, or that there’s an urgent need for systemic change in the most unequal city in the UK, and also globally. We have four clear values: Turn Up, Collaborate, Experiment, and Help Others. If those are values you share, there’s every chance you should be a Together Culture member. 

One of Together Culture’s Just People designs

When you sign up as a Founding Member, you receive your digital copy of the Living Book - your guide to Together Culture values, and the foundation for every experience you’ll have at Together Culture. While we’re getting started, the first 500 members will receive a limited edition Just People sticker and postcard as a symbol of their belonging. Once we open our physical Together Culture home, initiation will include an orientation session to familiarise members with the space.

Similarly, until we gather enough members to get Together Culture off the ground, you’ll find Together Culture ‘temples’ all over Cambridge. We’re excited to reveal some of the partnerships we’re forming - but you’ll have to stay tuned for that!

During our CoDesigns throughout 2022, something that we kept hearing from people was that they wanted a community campfire. Not in the literal sense - but a focal point around which to gather and share stories, connect. That’s how one of our core rituals was born - the Together Culture Campfire. We’ll be holding these in different locations around Cambridge for our Founding Members, and once our physical space is open, Campfire will find a home there.

You’ll often hear the word codesign from Team Together Culture - because this isn’t an off-the-shelf order, it’s a community of people and we all get a say in what that looks like. That’s why this year our Founding Members will be starting to write the Story of Us - the bedrock of why the Together Culture community exists and what our purpose is.

Together Culture’s community model

Charles Vogl’s inner rings principle inspired our community model. Each ring represents a different group within the community, and each group has a role to play. There’s no expectation to progress through the community to the centre, but democracy is important, so we want the path to be open to whoever chooses to take it. 

There are a few special ingredients in that secret sauce then. Shared values, intention, and opportunities for meaningful connection. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned through our first CoDesign year, it’s that we, the Together Culture co-founders, don’t have all the answers. Together, this community has become so much more than the sum of its parts and as our first 500 members start to join, the Story of Us is just beginning.