Full Circle!

We are thrilled to announce that Windsor House School (WHS) will be the new project to run the current Thistle space!  Windsor House, a publicly-funded democratic school for K-12 children and youth, is located in North Vancouver at this time. The Thistle space will be a second home that will house all kinds of rad art programs — kind of like a hacker/maker space for WHS teens. Stay tuned to hear about this incredible teen program and all about the WHS move to East Van!

This part of their story is a meaningful end to our story, and here’s why: back in 2000, before the Thistle was even an idea, Matt Hern (founder of the Thistle) worked at WHS where he had been working closely with a small group of teens. This crew of kids and Matt lived in East Van and were looking to create something more local, something in their neighbourhood. So Matt and that group gathered weekly at his house for about 6 months or so, and during those meetings and hangouts dreamed up the Purple Thistle together. This group of 7 friends started the Thistle, and a bunch of them were from WHS!

To have a bunch of youth from the same place where the Thistle grew out of move in to our space is incredibly meaningful to us and we look forward to seeing what will emerge out of this project in their new home!