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3rd Ward closes, this is the official letter to instructors

Citing high costs of operation, founder Jason Goodman said both Philadelphia and Brooklyn spaces will close its doors Friday, Oct. 11.

(Photo courtesy of 3rd Ward)

Following news of its upcoming Philadelphia classes being cancelled, 3rd Ward announced that it was officially closed, according to an email sent last night from 3rd Ward founder Jason Goodman and obtained by Technically Philly. Citing high costs of operation, Goodman said both Philadelphia and Brooklyn spaces will close its doors Friday, Oct. 11. 3rd Ward staff has not responded to requests for comment. Its $1.5 million fundraising campaign has been discontinued.

When you read this letter, you can’t help but think Goodman suggests 3rd Ward got overextended with an expensive expansion from Brooklyn to Philly. Gosh, you just can’t ignore the comparisons to Brownstoner, although a blog launch is a decidedly less costly affair — Indy Hall cofounder Alex Hillman has been tweeting about how some of this should have been spotted.

A 3rd Ward Brooklyn teacher spoke to our sister site Technically Brooklyn about how the Brooklyn space had been managed. Read that story here.

Find the letter below.

Dear Instructors,

It is with heavy hearts that we are emailing you today to let you know
that after seven wonderful years of serving our community, 3rd Ward is
closing its doors.

When we opened in 2006, our vision was to create a shared space for
our community of artists and entrepreneurs to have a place to work,
teach, learn, network and thrive. We’re proud to have been able to do
that for as long as we did. It would have been impossible without your
commitment and efforts, and we thank you all.

Yet, with the costs of running and operating our two locations in
Brooklyn and Philadelphia, we are sadly no longer able to remain in
business.

We will cancel all sections in progress and future sections by the end
of today. Students will receive a cancellation message from
help@3rdward.com, and they can respond to that same email if they have
any questions.

We want make sure that our instructors are able to collect their
belongings before our doors officially close on October 11th, 2013. We
will have open hours from 10am-6pm on this Thursday and Friday, and
next week on Monday andTuesday for you to pick up any of your
materials. Additionally, we will be open from 9am-1pm this coming
Saturday, and12pm-4pm this coming Sunday.

Today is the last day that our Education team is working at 3rd Ward.
They have calculated all instructor, TA, Art Model payments and
transferred that information to the Finance department. If you have
any questions, please feel free to contact Nick Alexander at
Nick@3rdward.com. As we are operating with limited staff, please
understand that we will try to answer your email as quickly as
possible, but your patience is appreciated.

All the best,

Jason Goodman

3rd Ward

Companies: 3rd Ward
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