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Can co-learning change the
education system?
Atlanta Intown
has partnered with
Hypepotamus, the go-to
hypepotamus
source of startup and
technology news in
the Southeast.
hypepotamus.com
By Maija Ehlinger
It started with a problem close to home
for entrepreneur and founder Chris Turner.
Or perhaps it would be better to say, a
problem close to school.
Turner was looking for early learning
options for his young children, but the
schools he toured, which included some
of the best local private and charter
schools, felt outdated. Ultimately, schools
lacked the “creativity and independence”
he hoped to teach his own kids, and the
flexible schedule he wanted for his family.
That’s when the founder started
researching the education sector. He found
that while EdTech funding has skyrocketed
(with VC funding rising from $4 billion
to almost $21 billion over the last five
years), most startups were overlooking the
importance of physical learning spaces.
This, Turner reasoned, could be the
answer to why the education system hasn’t
changed much in two decades, despite the
rise of EdTech.
His solution was to create a new type
of learning environment. And at its first
location in Decatur, Georgia, we saw a
glimpse of how Moonrise is setting up an
entirely new category within education.
Forget the lines of desks, whiteboards,
and class bells. Those “traditional” items
are replaced with oversized couches,
workshops, and a flexible schedule
designed to maximize that creativity and
independence missing from other places of
learning.
The space is designed intentionally for
kids to explore their own interests at their
own pace. Kids from ages 5-12 have access to
a maker space, a curated library, and even a
podcast studio.
Design is central to the entire space, as
Turner said the focus is on comfort, beauty,
and wellness.
Since opening its doors in late 2021,
Moonrise has attracted both homeschooling
parents and what Turner describes as “flexible
tech parents” looking for supplemental
learning options for their kids.
Unlike a childcare center or afterschool
center, parents can drop off and pick up kids
at a space that is designed intentionally for
them.
Moonrise is open every day from 9am-
9pm, including weekends and summers.
Most kids come for a few hours in the
afternoon to work on projects with their
friends.
Perhaps the best model is to think of
Moonrise as a new take on co-working. As
a “co-learning” space, kids have a range of
activities that are not segmented off by age
or grade level. And Turner said the cost,
currently at $250/month per kid, is lower
and more accessible to a range of economic
backgrounds.
The Team Behind Moonrise
Throughout the space are Guides,
which Turner likes to think of as “personal
trainers for the mind.”
“They are different than a teacher
because they aren’t delivering a curriculum.
But they are there to find a kid’s intrinsic
interests and motivate them to push past
limits” added Turner. Current guides bring
different backgrounds in acting, camp
counseling, and ESL tutoring.
Moonrise is a different type of
entrepreneurial venture for Turner,
who previously founded Atlanta-based
Tenrocket, a startup that built web and
mobile applications for other startups in a
10-day timeframe.
Now he sees Moonrise as a new way to
spark the entrepreneurial spirit in the next
generation.
Moonrise is currently one location
in Downtown Decatur but plans for
expansion are on the horizon. While most
people see Moonrise as a “supplemental”
option to traditional learning
environments at the moment, he believes a
focus on flexibility and creativity could be
the model for transforming how we think
about education overall.
“We’re preparing kids for a future
of work that values creativity and
independence over standardization and
conformity.” Qil
Production companies partner to open west Atlanta hub
By Collin Kelley
Atlanta-based In Concert Productions
(ICP) has partnered with All Access,
ATOMIC, and SoCal Rentals to open The
ICP Production Centre, a 30,000 square-
foot, one-stop-shop for the entertainment
industry.
Located at 6040 Boat Rock Blvd. SW,
the facility will offer set design, staging,
broadcast facilities, and audio/visual
rentals under one roof.
“Knowing that LA, New York, and
worldwide based producers and tech
managers needed familiar names and
the type of guaranteed service they were
accustomed to, ICP brought together
friends in the industry under one roof,”
said ICP CEO Jay Rabbit. “Nine times
out of ten, we were all working together
on the same productions anyway — so,
now we can share sales, support personnel,
transportation resources, shared rental
equipment, warehouse staff and other vital
resources to guarantee a product that is
expected.”
The idea for The ICP Production
Centre came from Georgia’s rapidly
expanding TV and film industry. Yet, there
was a lack of direction to help outside
producers find capable support companies
who could stay compliant with the
Georgia Film and TV tax credit laws.
“It is an exciting time for us at All
Access! Atlanta is a unique situation for
us, all other All Access operations have
been stand-alone. This is the first time we
are sharing a warehouse and resources,”
said All Access Vice President Robert
Achlimbari. “The Production Centre
offers us more space to expand our local
inventory of core rental products and
services and alongside the other well-
known brands offers great opportunities as
we look to future growth within the local
market.”
ATOMIC’s director of marketing,
James Kelly, said the company is
“absolutely
stoked to
team up with
some stellar
companies
in the live
entertainment
industry.”
“The new
campus and
distribution
center will
serve as a
creative hub
for live events,
as well as a
great logistics
point to serve Atlanta, Nashville, and the
entire Southeast,” Kelly said.
SoCal Rentals director of business and
marketing, Brad Williams, called the move
a “no-brainer.”
“The industry has seen immense
growth in Atlanta over the last couple of
years, and for SoCal specifically many of
their existing films and broadcast clients
are in both L.A. and Atlanta,” Williams
said. “These are all companies we’ve done
business within the past so it’s nice to
come together and share resources under
one roof.”[E]