This is how a shuttle is built for local art, the history of Ayarit

When Ayarit Guanche, a Tenerife graduate in Art History, finished her studies, she wondered how she could put her grain of sand to support the local artistic and cultural ecosystem. That's how he forged his dream of opening a gallery-cafeteria, his own shuttle for local art. A multidisciplinary space that was at the service of people, a place to develop workshops, activities, colloquiums and exhibitions, but also to meet with an offer of drinks and snacks that generate a unique experience.

The idea was not far-fetched, there were many similar business models and from which to rescue ideas. However, Ayarit faced an important challenge, which is that it did not have enough knowledge to spin a business plan broad and deep enough to substantiate its proposal. Coincidentally, Ayarit already knew Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs and, as soon as he contacted us, we provided him with all the necessary advice to formalize his exchange.

Fate wasn't a problem. Indeed, Ayarit had made a stay through the Erasmus+ academic exchange programme in Berlin and was clear that he wanted to return to “that cosmopolitan city full of artists”, he added. In fact, that previous background in the German capital allowed him to quickly contact his future ‘host’, Jordi Bisquert. This artist and owner of the gallery and cafeteria ‘Let it Bleed’ He accompanied him for 6 months to develop his business plan.

Growing, knowing, building

“Part of the team”, this is how Ayarit felt a few days after joining the business. As the days and weeks passed, he was able to get to know the artistic community and clientele closely to the point of forming a kind of family, with familiar faces and good relationships that transcended the professional, to become friends and colleagues, many of whom, in fact, helped him build his own artistic project that began in an impromptu way on the desk.

Ayarit began performing customer service tasks, which helped him to know in depth the people who came to the space, their profiles and interests, as well as the community of artists who participated in the organized activities. Gradually, their tasks shifted towards the logistics of the business itself, such as routine administrative activities or the maintenance and management of the store itself. He also had the opportunity to execute the communication of the business and its marketing strategy through social networks.

At the end of his experience, Ayarit was able to know all the dimensions of the business with which he dreamed, which recognizes that it was of great help to size and concretize his business plan, especially aspects such as the financial strategy to execute it. For Jordi, his ‘host’, the exchange could not be more fruitful, emphasising the growth experienced by Ayarit: “In 6 months I have seen how an insecure person due to his lack of experience has been able to take control and perform the tasks entrusted to him, actively engaging in the dynamics of collective work”. In addition, EYE is not a unidirectional way for entrepreneurs to build successful businesses, but the companies that host them can actively benefit from fresh knowledge and disruptive ideas, and Jordi knew how to see it, as he stressed: “Ayarit has been an essential help to the business, but also to exchange knowledge”.

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