Member Interview with Kate Van Steenhuyse

Member Minute: Interview with Kate Van Steenhuyse

Meet Kate Van Steenhuyse, who is the point of contact for the South Central and Southwestern Kansas regions for the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission (KCAIC). She joined Groover Labs in October and has become an integral part of our community. I connected with Kate last week over Zoom to learn more about what she does. Below is a lightly edited transcript of our discussion.

Parker McConachie, Community Development Manager at Groover Labs: Hi Kate! Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Kate Van Steenhuyse, Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission: I’m a painter and artist. I’ve always been a working artist and also an arts administrator. I grew up in a small town in Iowa. My husband and I met in New York City, and since then we’ve lived in New York, California--even a small cabin in the woods in upstate New York. I went to college in St. Louis, and I have BFAs in Fine Arts and Women’s Studies and an MFA in Fine Arts.

Parker: Arts administrator? What do you mean by arts administrator?

Kate: I like to help artists and other organizations do cool projects in the community. If I can help you properly format your budget or write a great grant application that helps you get the funding you need to do this really cool thing, then that’s incredibly rewarding. I try to help by being able to translate between the artist and the fundraiser.

Parker: Is it safe to say that someone, an artist or creative person, who’s really good at their craft may not be as good at something like applying for a grant or funding for a project?

Kate: Not necessarily. It’s more like a lack of training. Most creatives are self taught, or they study art, but they study it academically. It’s a very old fashioned model. Without any training about how to apply for grants or tap other funding resources, they have to pick up all of these entrepreneurial skills as they go. A lot of what we do at KCAIC and Harvester Arts** is to help artists navigate these worlds.

[Kate gets animated.] Artists are entrepreneurs and so much of that entrepreneurial spirit is under the surface, but you can see it come out in their projects. No one really thinks about entrepreneurship as the engine of activity that makes an art project happen.

Over the past eight months (during the pandemic), people are watching TV, they’re streaming shows. Who makes those shows? Artists, creatives. We think of artists in old-fashioned models. We’re not all Jackson Pollock – slaving away quietly in our studios making masterpieces and selling those works for top dollar.

Parker: How did you get started in your job?

Kate: I've been with KCAIC full time since August. Governor Kelly and the state legislature increased the budget for the arts, which allowed KCAIC to add more staff and so I’ve been consulting for them since the spring of 2019.

Parker: I’d originally written down to ask what your favorite project is; but now that I think about it, I don’t think that’s a fair question!

Kate: They’re all so different. There are so many different parts to a healthy arts and cultural ecosystem across the state--there are massive organizations that everyone has heard of and then there are tiny organizations in small communities on the other side of the state--it really is an example of a rising tide lifts all boats

We’re part of the Kansas Department of Commerce, so our focus is to support arts and cultural activities which in turn shows how focusing on the arts and cultural activities supports economic activity and growth.

Parker: Why did you choose Groover Labs?

Kate: I wanted to be at Groover Labs because it’s a nice, new space and I feel like the goals of my job and the constituencies I’m here to support and represent are really encapsulated well in what Groover Labs is all about--innovation, the arts, and technology. It just makes sense to physically be in a space where those things are happening.

Parker: If someone Googles you, and this interview pops up, what do you want them to know?

Kate: I’m here to connect with anyone involved in the arts and culture community and how they intersect with economic development. There are so many ways for these ideas to work together, so get in touch with me!

Parker: What are you reading right now?

Kate, very excited: I’m reading the best book! I’m reading Manifesto for a Moral Revolution by NYT bestselling author Jacqueline Novogratz.

Parker: What Netflix show are you willing to confess to binging right now? 

Kate: I am not embarrassed to say I’ve enjoyed watching Jane the Virgin and Outlander. Oh, and I’m rewatching The Gilmore Girls. 

Parker: I’m watching The Crown.

Kate: That’s next!

Thank you, Kate, for making time to sit down with me to share about your work. I know you’re busy!

** You may have noticed I placed two asterisks next to Harvester Arts. Kate and I didn’t discuss it during our interview, but she’s also the Founder and CEO of Harvester Arts, a space in Wichita that provides a platform for visual arts experimentation.

Groover Labs to be Satellite Screen for 2021 Sundance Film Festival

We're thrilled to partner with Lela Meadow-Conner, founder of Mama.Film Microcinema, to serve as a satellite screen for the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Read the article in Variety here or below. This is just another example of how we’re more than a coworking space in Wichita. Stay tuned for more details!

Sundance Film Festival Unveils Plans for Socially Distanced 2021 Edition

December 2, 2020

by Rebecca Rubin

The next edition of Sundance Film Festival will take place in Park City, Utah — and New York, and Ohio, and Tennessee, and Kansas, and California, and Florida.

The 2021 festival, which runs from Jan. 28 through Feb. 3, is rolling out in numerous cities across the country as the annual gathering goes virtual because of the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, Sundance Institute outlined plans for the digital event, which will also include screenings at drive-in theaters, independent arthouse cinemas and cultural organizations.

“Even under these impossible circumstances artists are still finding paths to make bold and vital work in whatever ways they can,” says Tabitha Jackson, the newly minted festival director. “So Sundance, as a festival of discovery, will bring that work to its first audiences in whatever ways we can.”

In keeping with tradition from past Sundance Film Festivals, movies will premiere throughout the day starting on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. Mountain Time. Each of the 70-plus feature films will debut in a dedicated time slot, followed by a live Q&A with key creators and talent. Multiple films will be showcased about every three hours between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Mountain Time. All movies will return to the online platform two days after their premiere for a second screening, offered on demand for 24 hours.

“The core of our Festival in the form of an online platform and socially distanced cinematic experiences is responsive to the pandemic and gives us the opportunity to reach new audiences, safely, where they are,” Jackson added. “And thanks to a constellation of independent cinema communities across the U.S. we are not putting on our Festival alone. At the heart of all this is a belief in the power of coming together, and the desire to preserve what makes a festival unique — a collaborative spirit, a collective energy, and a celebration of the art, artists, and ideas that leave us changed.”

Sundance has yet to announce the films that will debut at this year’s festival, but Jackson expects the lineup will be announced in mid-December. She stayed mum on any potential premieres, but hinted that filmmakers are enthusiastic about the hybrid 2021 event.

“Artists are excited about reaching new audiences around the country,” Jackson said Wednesday in an interview with Variety. “Nothing is going to beat being in the Eccles Theater. We recognize that, and won’t pretend otherwise. But in a pandemic, this is the best we’ve come up with and we’re happy about the opportunities with it.”

By expanding the festival beyond its traditional Park City post, Sundance created a network of partnerships throughout the U.S. to bring feature films and custom local programming — consisting of talks, events and socially distanced artist meet-ups.

The Short Film and Indie Series, formerly named the Indie Episodic, will include 50 short films and world premieres of four episodic works. These will be available on demand on the festival platform for the full length of the 2021 event.

The New Frontier program, a showcase for dynamic work that intersects film, art and technology, will showcase 14 projects in the program. For the first time, audience members will be able to engage with the works, artists and each other through a bespoke virtual platform, accessible through computer and VR headsets. The gallery hosts the complete slate of live performances, augmented reality and virtual reality.

“It’s thrilling and terrifying that this is going to be the first major festival of the new year,” Jackson told Variety. “There’s so much possibility in this. I feel both the privilege and responsibility to deliver in whatever way we can. I won’t be sleeping until the festival is over.”

Participating U.S. cities are as follows: 

Alabama:
Birmingham with Sidewalk Film Festival
Sidewalk Film Center, Sidewalk Drive-In

Arizona:
Tucson with The Loft Cinema
The Loft Open Air Cinema

California:
Montclair with American Cinematheque
Mission Tiki Drive-In
Pasadena with the Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl Drive-In
San Francisco with The Roxie Theater
Roxie Theater, Fort Mason Drive-In

Colorado:
Denver with Denver Film
Sie FilmCenter

Florida:
Key West with Tropic Cinema
Tropic Cinema, The Key West Lighthouse, The Truman Little White House, The Ernest Hemingway House and Museum
Miami with Third Horizon and O Cinema
New World Symphony SoundScape Park and South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center

Georgia:
Atlanta with Atlanta Film Society
The Plaza Theater, Plaza Drive-In, Dad’s Garage Drive-In
Macon with Macon Film Festival
Douglass Theatre

Hawaii:
Honolulu with Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA)

Iowa:
Iowa City with FilmScene
FilmScene at The Chauncey

Kansas:
Wichita with mama.film
mama.film microcinema, Wichita Art Museum, Groover Labs

Kentucky:
Louisville with The Speed Art Museum
Speed Art Museum

Louisiana:
New Orleans with New Orleans Film Society
The Broad Theater

Maryland:
Baltimore with Maryland Film Festival
Stavros Niarchos Foundation Parkway Theater

Massachusetts:
Brookline with Coolidge Corner Theatre
Coolidge Corner Theatre

Michigan:
Detroit with Cinema Detroit

Minnesota:
Minneapolis-St. Paul with FilmNorth
Riverview Theater

New York:
Pleasantville with Jacob Burns Film Center
Jacob Burns Film Center & Media Arts Lab

Ohio: 
Columbus with Gateway Film Center
Gateway Film Center

Oklahoma: 
Tulsa with Circle Cinema
Circle Cinema, Circle Cinema Drive-In, Admiral Twin Drive-In, Philbrook Museum, OSU-Tulsa, Tulsa University, Gilcrease Museum

Pennsylvania: 
Philadelphia with BlackStar Film Festival

Puerto Rico: 
San Juan with Asociación de Documentalistas de Puerto Rico (AdocPR)
Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico (MAPR)

South Carolina: 
Columbia with The Luminal Theater
Spotlight Cinemas Capitol 8

Tennessee:
Memphis with Indie Memphis
Malco Summer Drive-In
Nashville with Belcourt Theatre
Belcourt Theatre

Texas:
Austin with Austin Film Society
AFS Cinema
Dallas with Aviation Cinemas
Texas Theatre
Houston with Houston Cinema Arts Society
MoonStruck Drive-In, DeLUXE Theater

Utah:
Park City
The Ray
Salt Lake City with Salt Lake Film Society

Washington:
Seattle with Northwest Film Forum

Foreman Law Office Hours at Groover Labs

Foreman Law will host office hours at Groover Labs on Friday, December 4, from 9 a.m. to noon.

You may have noticed we held a lunchtime talk in one of our classrooms last week with Sam Foreman and David Ferguson of Foreman Law. It was an engaging and informative conversation. Several of our members attended, as did non-members. They were able to ask important questions about the legal side of starting a new business.

If you weren’t able to attend, we have great news: Foreman Law will begin hosting office hours at Groover Labs on the first and 3rd Friday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon. This service is available for free to both Groover Labs members and non-members.

The attorneys at Foreman Law have years of experience working with startups in the region and on a daily basis advise startup companies at all life cycle stages concerning legal and practical considerations related to formation, operation, and liquidity events. 

To schedule a time during Foreman Law’s office hours, you must email contact@grooverlabs.org at least 24 hours in advance of your appointment. This is a requirement of the Kansas Bar Association to ensure there are no conflicts of interest between you and the attorneys at Foreman Law.

When: The 1st and 3rd Friday of each month starting December 4, 2020

Where: Groover Labs (in a conference room)

Who: Attorneys from Foreman Law

Why: To provide legal guidance to entrepreneurs

How: Email contact@grooverlabs.org at least 24 hours before your appointment

24/7 Access Options

We understand the odd hours entrepreneurs and startup founders must work. We’ve been there. It may have been with our own projects, or it may have been with the spin up of Groover Labs itself. Ideas strike at all hours.

A hot hand must be played.

Enter the ability to work 24/7 at Groover Labs. If you sign up for a dedicated desk or private office membership, you’ll have 24/7 access to the building. We know you may have a day job and a night job. We know during the pandemic that work-from-home doesn’t just apply to you; it applies to your family—your spouse and your kids. We know late night owls like the serenity and quiet of night.

We ask all dedicated desk and private office members to complete a background check for both their safety and that of other members. We aim to foster a safe, fun working environment. For more information about what our background checks entail, read our Membership Handbook.

If you need workspace outside traditional working hours, then schedule a tour or drop by to see what spaces we have to offer.

December Hours

We will be closed on Thursday, December 24 (Christmas Eve), Friday, December 25 (Christmas), and Friday January 1. We will close at noon on Thursday, December 31.

As a reminder, dedicated desk and private office members have 24/7 access to the building, so they are welcome to work at any time regardless of our hours. We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday break. We will return to regular working hours on January 4, 2021.

Members in the News: QuickHire (Forbes)

Groover Labs member QuickHire making headlines again. Thanks for the shoutout, and thanks for supporting Wichita’s startup community.

Screw The Pandemic - These Entrepreneurs Are Helping Essential Workers Find Jobs

By John Greathouse, contributor

I offer street-smart startup advice.

To read the article on Forbes.com, click here.

When COVID-19 began raging in the U.S. during the Spring of 2020, Deborah Gladney was pregnant and working two jobs, while raising two children under five. Her sister, Angela Muhwezi-Hall, was in the hospital after contracting the virus. The last thing you’d expect these sisters to do was start a business – which is exactly what they did.

Motivated by the historic unemployment rates, Angela and Deborah launched QuickHire, a hiring platform focused on the skilled trades and service industries. 

John Greathouse: Angela and Deborah – you started QuickHire against significant headwinds. What motivated you to launch a venture in the midst of a pandemic and a historic economic downturn? (Angela and Deborah’s remarks have been lightly edited for brevity and readability.)

Angela Muhwezi-Hall: QuickHire is an idea I’ve had for quite some time. With my experience in career and educational advisement, I’ve seen firsthand the struggles people face trying to find work in the skilled trade and service industry. COVID-19 was the catalyst for bringing this idea to fruition, as it was evident people needed to find work, and needed to find work quickly.

Deborah Gladney: The pandemic exposed a number of disparities, one being the digital divide amongst our workforce. There have been a number of technological advances and platforms created for desk jobs, but very few for skilled trade and service jobs.

Greathouse: Good for you. Workers need all the help they can get in this economy.

You’re both from and are currently based in Wichita, Kansas. I’m a long-time fan of startup ecosystems outside of the traditional Silicon Valley, New York and LA powerhouses. Tell us a bit about the Wichita startup scene and the degree the community has been supportive of your efforts.

Muhwezi-Hall: Wichita is small, but mighty. People here have a desire to make Wichita a thriving ecosystem for businesses, especially startups like ours. Wichita leaders want people to come here and are implementing a lot of strategies to attract talent. One of the main reasons why I moved from LA to Wichita is because of the unmatched support here. People from Wichita want to see their fellow Wichitans win. We’ve received amazing local press, inbound requests from businesses and support from other leaders in the community like Groover Labs.

Gladney: Wichita is a great place for us right now. Starting a business isn’t easy and there are a lot of bumps along the way. We’re so grateful to be going through these growing pains in a city that loves us through it all. 

Greathouse: Sweet. You’re fortunate to have such a strong base of local support – reminds me a bit of Santa Barbara’s tech community.

You define your market as jobs with a “skilled-trade focus.” What types of jobs fall into this segment and what are the deficiencies of the legacy job-recruitment tools you compete against?

Gladney: Broadly speaking, our focus is on jobs that don’t require the traditional four-year college degree. We truly believe there are a lot of fantastic platforms that cater to that segment of the workforce. For us, we’ve seen a gap in not just connecting skilled labor and service industry talent to opportunity, but also helping them progress in their careers.

Muhwezi-Hall: There’s a stigma that these jobs are “dead-end” gigs. But the reality is that there are amazing opportunities in these fields. We want to help create pathways to success while also addressing the looming workforce shortages in these critical areas. 

Greathouse: The only people that would call a trade job a “dead end” is someone who’s never gotten their hands dirty.

Congratulations on building an intuitive tool, including.  the ability  to upload a video, in lieu of a formal resume.

I realize you just launched in September (2020), but to what degree has the app’s ease of use translated into traction? More specifically, what metrics are your tracking and how are you doing against your Plan?

Gladney: Muhwezi-Hall: We launched the first week in September and are quickly approaching 2,000 users. So, we’re quite pleased with our fifty percent monthly growth rate. 

Gladney: Nearly seventy percent of our users are millennials and Gen Z’ers. This makes us happy because as Angela mentioned early, we’re really focused on addressing the looming workforce shortage challenges in these industries. 

Muhwezi-Hall: As we continue to grow, we’re keeping an eye on how many matches and job placements we’re landing as well as advancement success with our career development features. 

Greathouse: I’ve also written a fair amount about the importance of mentors, especially to first-time entrepreneurs. I understand you’ve pulled an impressive group of advisors into your orbit. How did you go about getting these busy folks’ attention and then motivate them to join your team?

Muhwezi-Hall: One of our competitive advantages is that we have a lot of life and work experience. Both of us are in our thirties and have had time to develop relationships. When we decided to begin working on QuickHire, we were able to tap our established network that has a variety of talents and skills essential to helping us build our business.

As an example, one of my dear friends built LadyLab and had a lot of great insight to share on how to build a tech business from the ground up. Another friend of mine, Victoria Bell, founded the Black Women @ Facebook group and has extensive start-up and tech experience. She was the first one to tell us about accelerator programs and various options to scale our business.

Gladney: Yes, Angie is right. Many of the friends we’ve met throughout our careers have gone on to do amazing things. We have a mentor that works at Twitter and another one at Apple - both of whom we met during our time at Kansas State University. We also now have access to one of the co-founders of Blavity due to some of the positive press we’ve had.

Muhwezi-Hall: We’re entering a space that is lacking in diversity, so we’re lucky to have insight from mentors who are minorities and can help us navigate the unique hurdles we have to overcome along the way. 

Greathouse: You’ve received an impressive amount of media coverage, given how nascent your startup is. Other than hustling, do you have any buzz-generating insights entrepreneurs with minimal resources can borrow?

Muhwezi-Hall: Tap into your skills and see what you can do first before spending any money. Being scrappy will get you far as an entrepreneur. Realize that you’re going to need to roll up your sleeves and learn how to do things on your own along the way. 

Gladney: Yes, we’ve relied on some of the skills both of us have, but there are so many that we’ve had to pick up. It’s okay to not know everything, there are people and resources out there to help you. Research leaders in the space you’re entering in and learn from them - the good and the bad. Surround yourself with people who believe in what you’re doing and can help you pro bono. You’d be surprised by how much you can get done for free. 

Greathouse: Correct me if I have it wrong, but at one point you planned on launching an enterprise product, for use by large employers. If this is still the case, I’m curious as to how you went about conducting your market validation, as it can be difficult for a small company to get the attention of the titans.

Gladney: Yes, we’re launching QuickHire for Business early 2021. We’re knee deep in finalizing our features and will begin beta testing with companies in a month or two. Honestly, we were surprised at how easy it was to connect with some top companies. We were able to conduct research with major brands including Denny’s, Five Guys and CVS. 

Muhwezi-Hall: The reality is there is this perception that these types of companies have all of the resources in the world, but there is an existing gap in the market for a platform that meets the unique needs of their business. Companies are eager to collaborate when you are meeting a critical need of theirs. 

Greathouse: Fast forward ten years – what is the headline that you’d like to see written about QuickHire’s legacy.

Muhwezi-Hall: That QuickHire is the platform that is helping a population of people who’ve been vastly ignored and underserved. We want people to feel that they finally have a platform they can go to that helps them connect and progress, regardless of their background and/or pedigree. 

Gladney: Yes. And to add to that, we want to be at a point where we can share how two black women were able to build one of the most successful skilled labor marketplaces. We’re new faces in this field and we’re just eager to shatter preconceived ideas of who can build successful companies in this space.

Holiday Hours

We will be closed on the following days for the November holiday season:

11/23: Closed at noon (the day before Thanksgiving)

11/24: Closed (Thanksgiving)

11/25: Closed (Black Friday)

As a reminder, dedicated desk and private office members have 24/7 access to the building, so they are welcome to work during these days. We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday break. We will return to regular working hours on 11/30.

Roundup: Members in the News

Here’s a roundup of Groover Labs members in the news over the past three months:

SEPTEMBER

Sisters Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall, who together founded the employment match-making company QuickHire, appeared in both the Wichita Eagle and the Wichita Business Journal on September 28. QuickHire offers an app that uses swipe-based features to connect people in the service industry with jobs. The articles tell similar stories: two sisters came together to create an app that shares features with current dating apps; users swipe right for jobs that interest them and left for jobs that don’t. If the employer does the same, there’s a match. Incorporating the swipe-and-match feature set will resonate with younger generations who are familiar with the process.

On September 30, the Wichita Business Journal published a story about FlagshipKansas.Tech’s new executive director, Ashley Scheideman. Scheideman joined FlagshipKansas.Tech from Youth Entrepreneurs, where she worked for almost five years. As executive director, Scheideman plans to support Kansas’ current tech companies, attract new talent and companies, and grow overall tech jobs in the area.

OCTOBER

In early October, Groover Labs member Kansas Global Trade Service landed a front page article in the Wichita Eagle about a pilot program, the Wichita Export Accelerator, which hopes to increase exports from the area and help diversify the city’s economy. Five local companies are part of the program: Meter Engineers, Hornet Cutting Systems, Lubrication Engineers, Quicc, and Big Dog Motorcycles. KGTS began with a list of 500 companies and winnowed it down to five.

On October 9, Groover Labs’ internet service provider IdeaTek recently made headlines in HutchNews.com. IdeaTek, whose headquarters is in Buhler, Kansas, leases a dedicated desk for its representatives working in the Wichita area. The firm won a $13.71 million grant from the Connectivity Emergency Response Grant (CERG) to extend its fiber-optic network to underserved areas in parts of more than a dozen Kansas counties. The award comes with its challenges: IdeaTek must lay some 300 miles of new line and related wireless equipment during an 80-day window.

Startland News published a story on October 12 about Miguel Johns. Johns and his startup KingFit entered into a partnership with BioTel Care, a subsidiary of BioTelemetry, a $2 billion publicly-traded global company. Johns, who completed an agreement for the acquisition of another KingFit product earlier this year, said the BioTel Care deal was underway before Covid-19. It has been an exciting and busy 2020 for Johns and KingFit.

We return again to Kansas Global Trade Services, who, on October 14, announced that they will have a presence at Groover Labs. The trade consulting firm is shifting to a new and more agile workplace model to match its digital and physical resources to meet their clients’ needs. KGTS had been planning this new operations paradigm before Covid-19 took root in the United States.

On October 16, the Wichita Business Journal published a second story featuring QuickHire co-founders Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall. They discuss the challenges they face as first generation Americans and Black women who are disrupting the labor market and how a lack of representation with VCs can lead to a lack of understanding about available resources.

NOVEMBER

And, finally, we return to FlagshipKansas.Tech, who, on November 10, officially announced they had joined Groover Labs as members. The article appeared in the Wichita Business Journal. New executive director Ashley Scheideman, who’s no stranger to the entrepreneurial culture, said FlagshipKansas.Tech and Groover Labs have similar goals—create opportunities to keep tech talent and grow the number of technology businesses in the region.

CONCULSION

Congratulations to all of our members who are making headlines! Their successes are examples of businesses who, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, have smart and ambitious leaders and staff who are determined to meet and surpass their goals.

If you’re looking for a place where smart and motivated people are working together to create and grow their businesses, then you’re looking for Groover Labs. Schedule a tour here or drop by!

Members in the News: FlagshipKansas.Tech

We may have already welcomed them to Groover Labs, but we’re thrilled to see the Wichita Business Journal did, too. The press release issued by FlagshipKansas.Tech is included below the news article.

Wichita Business Journal: FlagshipKansas.Tech makes a move to Groover Labs

Technology startup FlagshipKansas.Tech has moved its operations to Groover Labs, the organization announced Tuesday.

"FlagshipKansas.Tech and Groover Labs have many of the same goals, including creating opportunities to retain tech talent in the region and grow the number of technology businesses," said Ashley Scheideman, FlagshipKansas' executive director.

FlagshipKansas.Tech previously had offices at 125 N. Market. The nonprofit that is nearing 2 years old promotes the state's tech companies through awareness and retaining tech talent.

Groover Labs is a non-profit that encourages startup activity in its 42,000 square-foot facility that opened in January.

Kansas Global Trade Services announced recently that it was leaving its 1st Street location for more of a virtual space, but would hold some space at Groover Labs.

News release: FlagshipKansas.Tech Finds New Homebase

Groover Labs Office Offers Collaborative Environment, Support

(Wichita, Kan.) FlagshipKansas.Tech has a new home inside Groover Labs at 334 N. St. Francis Avenue in Wichita. It’s a location that makes perfect sense, since its founders, Tracy Hoover and Curt Gridley, share the organization’s passion for technology and the region.

Groover Labs is a non-profit whose mission is to foster growth in local startup activity by providing a single location where entrepreneurs and tech workers can get support and share ideas in a collaborative working environment. 

 The 42,000 square-foot facility features a variety of flexible work and meeting spaces that can be scheduled by the hour or month.  These spaces include large and small offices, dedicated and open desk seating, seven conference rooms, a large event venue and two classrooms, all with high speed gigabit internet access.

 Groover Labs also includes a large maker and prototyping space featuring advanced tools for printed circuit board (PCB) assembly, large format laser cutting, various forms of 3D printing, as well as wood and metal work.

It’s the kind of inspirational and originative environment where tech companies can thrive.

“The tech companies who are a part of Groover Labs will find immense value in connecting with FlagshipKansas.Tech right here in our collaborative technology hub,” said Tracy Hoover, co-founder of Groover Labs.

In addition to providing a great space for meeting with current and prospective FlagshipKansas.Tech members, this location will allow for greater collaboration between the two organizations.

“We are thrilled to host FlagshipKansas.Tech at Groover Labs and believe the synergy between our two organizations will go far in promoting technology in this region,” said Curt Gridley, co-founder of Groover Labs.

“FlagshipKansas.Tech and Groover Labs have many of the same goals, including creating opportunities to retain tech talent in the region and grow the number of technology businesses, so it makes sense that FlagshipKansas.Tech found our home at Groover Labs,” said Ashley Scheideman, executive director of FlagshipKansas.Tech.

Those interested in learning more about Groover Labs can visit grooverlabs.org to set up a tour, as regular protective measures have been implemented to allow visits during the pandemic.

Those interested in learning more about FlagshipKansas.Tech’s mission, collaboration opportunities, and/or membership/sponsorship can contact Executive Director Ashley Scheideman at ashley@flagshipkansas.tech or (316) 469-6800.

About FlagshipKansas.Tech

FlagshipKansas.Tech is a nonprofit organization that brings together Kansas technology companies to shine a light on the depth of skill, ingenuity, and innovation running through our cities and communities. Current goals include raising awareness, attracting and retaining technology talent, and supporting technology workforce training and education. Learn more at flagshipkansas.tech.

Welcome New Members: QuickHire

QuickHire’s Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall

Sisters Angela and Deborah founded QuickHire earlier this year during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. QuickHire is an app that applies swipe-based features to connect job seekers with available jobs in industries like delivery, grocers, and manufacturers. They hope to make it easier to help people in the service industry find jobs. Both Angela and Deborah graduated from Kansas State University. Angela recently moved back to Wichita from Los Angeles, where she worked in higher education for Volunteers of America, St. Mary’s University, and the University of Southern California. Deborah earned a Masters degree in Communications from American University before working in public affairs and communications in Washington, D.C. and at Koch Industries in Wichita, Kan. Welcome to Groover Labs, Angela and Deborah!