Buying coffee with a purpose, or how the Shtrak Centre came into being

published on 12/22/23 7:05 AM

Photo: shtrak.org

According to a recent survey conducted by the Association for Youth Culture and Contemporary Arts "Radar", there are about 27 thousand companies operating in the creative industries sector in Bulgaria. This means that about 7-8% of all Bulgarian entrepreneurs work in the creative industries sector, making it one of the leading economic sectors in the country. The list of creative industries includes advertising agencies, the language industry, architecture, design, photography, publishing and museums. It also includes programmers and creators of software products.

The meeting was dedicated to entrepreneurship in the creative industries and was attended by representatives from various sectors. The venue - a modern yet cosy meeting room - was not chosen by chance. It is a shared social space created to support socially vulnerable groups. It is called Shtrak ("Click") and combines a café, an event space and a shop selling products made by Bulgarian social organisations. Here you can quickly get an idea of how the talents of dozens of people from the creative industries are "harnessed" to work for socially vulnerable groups.

Shtrack is a meeting place that focuses not on problems but on support - for example, for young people who have been brought up in institutions, for people struggling with addiction, for single mothers and for people with mental health problems, who are often left out of the public eye. This "social hub", as the organisers call it, works all year round. We learn how "Shtrack" was created from Alexander Kirov, who works at the centre as a digital communications and design professional: "It all started with the community we have been building over the last almost 5 years. We began with an idea we called Dar Pazar ("Gift Market"), a platform with products made by Bulgarian social enterprises. Since last December, this market has functioned as a Christmas bazaar, but more importantly, it has started to generate a community of other civil society organisations doing business for a cause and producing beautiful, valuable products. The CSOs use it to support their missions, and our idea gradually evolved to the point where we said we should have a physical space where we could showcase these beautiful handmade products to the general public, to the people of Sofia and to visitors to the city.

In this way we educate the public and show them that support can come in many forms. Even just by doing what people normally do in their daily lives, like coming here and having a coffee - and thereby supporting one of our causes. Our big ambition is to let more people know that they can help in this way.

Walking through the doors of the Shtrak shared space in the centre of Sofia, you would never guess that even the furniture, equipment and decoration were made by people struggling with drug addiction. There are some very capable and talented people amongst them and just because they are in a tough situation now that does not mean that they do not have a bright and happy future. After all, anyone can find themselves in a situation where they need help, so it is important to have someone to help them.

"Absolutely every single item sold here supports the mission of various civic organisations of social entrepreneurship. The causes are many and diverse. So when a person buys something, they are actually 'taking home' a part of the history of one of our causes," says Alexander Kirov in conclusion.