Part of the reason that we felt that this opening was different and signified that something special was happening in Houston, was the attention it drew not just from within the city, but from others outside.  Two pioneers in the CoWorking space flew in from both the west coast and the east coast to attend the opening party.  We’re talking about Tara Hunt with Citizen Space in San Francisco and Alex Hillman with Independents Hall in Philadelphia. 

Tara Hunt of Citizen Space and Alex Hillman of Independents Hall

Tara - Meeting Tara at this event was just a joy.  She carries so much genuine enthusiasm for CoWorking in general and Caroline Collective specifically that its hard not to be caught up in it.  It was Tara Hunt that infomed us that the Caroline Collective is the largest coworking space in the world based on square footage (yeah, the world) and is the first coworking space to also incorporate art space.  Overall a great interview and we look forward to hearing more great things that Tara is doing at Citizen Space.  You can also read her blog at http://www.horsepigcow.com .

Listen to the Interview with Tara Hunt

Alex - Alex Hillman also brought a lot of energy to the Caroline Collective opening.  (You can hear in my interview with him, how I mistakenly introduce him as one of the originators of the CoWorking concept ((not to be confused with Jelly)), and how he sets me straight on how Tara has pioneered the coworking space, how Independents Hall has contributed, and ultimately what he thinks Caroline Collective will mean for Houston’s Startup community).  A great interview not to be missed.  You can also read his blog at http://www.dangerouslyawesome.com/ .

Listen to the Interview with Alex Hillman

You can also see our whole set of shots of the opening party on Flickr here and all of the photos taken by a host of photographers at the event at the Caroline Collective Flickr group.

Let me begin by saying sorry for the delay in getting our coverage of the Caroline Collective opening posted, but we hope you find that the resulting interviews are worth the wait.

Now, I’m sure many of you are aware of several other Web 2.0 events that have taken place in Houston such as BarCamp, Got Social Media, Rice Alliance IT and Web 2.0 Venture Forum & StartupWeekend Houston, arranged by pioneers in the field such as Erica OGrady, Marc Nathan, & Kelsey Ruger, but Caroline Collective is a permanent installation and as of their opening party Saturday night have officially put Houston on the map when it comes to the world of Web 2.0.  Several different people noted for their leadership in the coworking space and experience with emerging Web 2.0 startups, came to Houston to celebrate the grand opening of Caroline Collective: Tara Hunt with Citizen Space, Alex Hillman with Independents Hall, and Gwen Bell most recently with TechStars.  Now, you might have read a few things about Caroline Collective (like here, here, here, & here), but what you might not have known is that the Caroline Collective is also the largest coworking space in the world based on square footage (uh huh, we said the world) and is the first coworking space to also incorporate art space, according to Tara Hunt. 

This was also an event that owed a lot of its success to new Web 2.0 apps. Solicitations for volunteers to work on the space as well as to provide donations were done via Twitter. The donations list was managed through Google Docs.

We interviewed several people who were there at the event.  Everyone from the founders (Matthew Wettergreen and Ned Dodington), to organizers and promoters (Monica Danna and Gwen Bell), to the new tenants (Erica OGrady, Tracey Lee Wallace & JJ Lassberg, Joe Litzinger , & Linda Etuk), founders and innovators of other coworking spaces (Tara Hunt and Alex Hillman), and other leaders in Houston and the surrounding area’s technology scene (Walter Ulrich and Bill Erickson) shared their thoughts on what the opening of the Caroline Collective means for Houston’s technology startup and art communities. 

This week we will be bringing you all of these great interviews in celebration of what the Caroline Collective means for Houston’s startup and art communities, starting with the interviews of Matthew Wettergreen and Ned Doddington. 

Interview with Matthew Wettergreen

Interview with Ned Dodington

Stay tuned for more interviews this week!

You can also see our whole set of shots of the opening party on Flickr here and all of the photos taken by a host of photographers at the event at the Caroline Collective Flickr group.