Adult Play Network

 

After pondering this idea for a while, I've just set up a Kickstarter to see if anyone else would genuinely be interested!  

The aim is to fund a network (on MightyNetworks, a commercial platform) of people wanting to bring more play into all aspects of their lives. It will be a social network (so lots of chances to share), as well as regular playful tips and ideas from play experts. 

It will also be a training platform, with play experts able to host courses and events through the network. 

The hope is that the training will provide funding for the platform - but instead of taking a large cut of course fees, a membership fee will be bundled into the course for non-members. So once you've taken one course, or subscribed to the platform seperately, all courses will be discounted by the membership fee.

I'll launch the Kickstarter either 21st or 28th August, but to be informed when it goes live, just click on the "Notify me" button on the upcoming project page.

Should I set up an Adult Play platform?

I've posted before about the possibility of setting up some sort of "Institute of Adult Play, and I’m expecting I’ll have enough time to do something about it over the next couple of months… if anyone is interested! (If so, please fill out the form.)

I want to create a platform where lots of playful people who work with adults can offer some online training, as well as having a social element so we can share ideas.

There are a few underlying aims:

1. To try and create some way of creating more paid work for everyone.
2. To share ideas across a range of different playful people.
3. To get more people who wouldn’t think of themselves as playful to do some training that brings out their playful sides.

If there is enough interest, I’ll set up a company (possibly “Community Interest Company” in UK?) for everything to go through and launch a Kickstarter to provide initial funding, and more importantly, gauge interest in it before we spend too much money!

I’ve investigated platforms and think I’ve found one that would allow an element of social networking / sharing, plus an integrated online course platform, for a reasonable monthly cost. Courses can be free or paid for. “Membership” of the platform could be paid for too.

So I have in mind:

• A small membership fee for belonging to the platform (£5 per month? Maybe different levels available?)
• Some “free” introductory type courses (people would pay a membership fee to access all the free ones).
• Paid for courses – where the fee (minus processing charges) would go to the course creators (though if people weren’t members, an extra “member” fee would be added on top).
• Membership fees would go towards the running of the platform, course fees would essentially go to the play community – the course creators.
• Courses, plus pages within the platform, could also be used to encourage people to book playful experts to run bespoke training, consultancy, events, etc., outside the platform (so acts as a “shop window” for people too).

Would anyone be interested in being (a) a Member for a small fee, (b) A course creator in such a platform?

If so, please put your details in the form – I’ll only use this in relation to the initial set-up of such a platform and will delete all contact details by the end of this year.

Institute of Adult Play ponderings

Sample Logo for an "Institute of Adult Play"

I've pondered for ages ways of encouraging / creating more work in the field of play and adults for myself and some friends. Something that could pull opportunities for us together and enable those that want to escape from their existing jobs, or to gradually do so at least. Some of them joke about setting up a fun-versity or play-versity as an antidote to their work at universities. But what about something smaller? So I was pondering some options...

Sample Logo (2) for an "Institute of Adult Play"

How about something that is a cross between a provider of training and a social / professional network for adult play people? An "Institute of Adult Play"?
There are such a wide range of people who work with play and adults, so the first thing it would do is pull people together - provide a platform for cross fertilisation of ideas, for sharing opportunities for work, and to generally share stuff amongst themselves.
The second thing would be to provide training - partly training for those play professionals, but also a way of providing training to the wider public / organisations. Members of the "institute" could provide training on a shared online platform (which spreads out the costs of providing it) as well as linking to training where we have to be physically present (when we can eventually do so again!)- hopefully that would mean people would do one course, then come back to do someone else's, increasing the work for all of us.

Sample Logo (3) for an "Institute of Adult Play"

 

It would probably be a not for profit type membership organisation - with members paying a monthly or yearly fee (£5 a month maybe?!) which would let us pay for a membership platform with a virtual learning environment built in. Some of these platforms let you charge for membership, plus have the choice to charge for courses or offer them free for different membership levels, so could let people develop their own course(s) on the platform which we'd pay out for when people booked on the course. Or dish out the membership fee dependant on how many people had done each course? Or some other way of spreading the money!

This would be really risky to set-up. It'd need a small amount of seed money to set up as a company (maybe a Community Interest Company - a type of social enterprise?), but a much larger amount to run a platform / network.

Sample Logo (4) for an "Institute of Adult Play"

So I pondered a Kickstarter? If we risked a small amount of money to set up a business, it could be done in a way that it only started trading if the Kickstarter was successful, otherwise just got closed down again before it actually did anything. The Kickstarter would be a way of getting enough money to run the platform for a year, plus gauging if enough people were interested in becoming members to be worthwhile!

So... does this all sound completely ridiculous, or does it sound amazing and you'd all like to be directors and founder members? Should we take a gamble and try and set something up? Would anyone like to play along in running something like this? Let me know (preferably via Twitter...) @PlayBrarian with the somewhat long #tag of #InstituteOfAdultPlay