Dear member,
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the permanent closure of our West location by the end of November.
This decision has been very difficult to make. In West, we have made continuous efforts to create an accessible and welcoming space. However, struggles with the facilities occurred from the beginning. Most WERQ West visitors will have experienced some of them: an increasingly strict and unpredictable door policy that sometimes prevented members from making it to classes (or from getting out), bathrooms being closed off unexpectedly, and a general lack of maintenance despite explicit agreements. With our contract coming to an end at the end of this year, we have made the decision to close our chapter at Teclab on November 22nd.
However, we do not want WERQ to disappear from West. We are looking for ways to continue to foster the WERQ West community at external collaborative locations starting end of November. We will ask your input on your preferences later this week.
And of course, the West visitors are very welcome in East. We have recently revamped the gym space, and a shower will be installed in November. With the shower, we hope you can fit a workout at East more easily into your schedule.
Please know that this decision has not been made lightly. Our West location has been an important community space for many people, and we can imagine this announcement brings up a lot of thoughts and emotions. To address those, or answer any questions you may have, we have organised several walk-in moments coming week in West. There, you can come and talk to us, pose the questions that you may have, or just come to connect.
- Wednesday 15th 11:00 – 13:00 Community Coordinator Tess and Treasurer Babat
- Thursday 16th 18:00 – 20:00 Coach Coordinator Milou and External Relations Melchior;
- Saturday 18th 10:00 – 12:00 Volunteer Coordinator João, Run Club lead Emmie, Secretary Ying
Coming Wednesday, we will send another newsletter with future steps and FAQs to our West visitors. The FAQs will be available on our website.
With lots of love,
The Queertopia Board
Senn, Ying, Melchior, and Babat
