A Yearning For Learning

What do you get when you cross the Fine Arts and Film Studies? A yearning for learning, apparently.

Meet CultureRun, a service that hopes to make continuous learning easily accessible to the citizens of the Klang Valley. CultureRun is the brainchild of two sisters, Suwen Low and Su-Zen Low. With backgrounds in Fine Arts and Film Studies respectively, they’ve brought their collective heads together to try and bring their love of learning and self-improvement to the masses.

Is the Klang Valley ready for small learning workshops or are we too used to huge, fill-the-convention-hall type of learning? We talk to the entrepreneurial sisters about their yearning for learning, CultureRun.

Try something new, you never know what the adventure is going to be.

Firstly, can you explain what CultureRun is all about?
CultureRun is a way to learn new things and meet new people. CultureRun works by bringing people (teachers) and places together to create a temporary learning space. People can sign up to teach courses and venues can sign up to offer their location as places to hold the workshops.

What made you start CultureRun?
We’re huge fans of seminars and workshops but there’s not really a platform or scene for that here in KL. There’s not much to do here in KL aside from the usual mamak sessions, clubbing and movies. Besides learning something new, seminars and workshops are a great way to meet new people and get to know them. We also love communities and we wanted to create a community that had some sort of meaning to it. To us that meaning is learning. We want to make learning as accessible to as many people as possible. CultureRun is a way to help people learn something new and is an alternative way to meet people (aside from clubbing and parties).

How did you come up up with the concept of CultureRun?
The idea started out as a venue, a sort of cafe where we could have food, art and workshops all come together. We were toying with the idea when a friend who had returned from the US introduced us to a similar idea that was already running in the US. It was an online-based model with popup class rooms and many people involved in it. We took a look at it and decided that it was the better model to follow. CultureRun isn’t just for us, it’s for the community and we want to get people involved. Our current model works with venues, teachers and the community; we built the business model around that.

How are you funding your business?
Being an online business, overheads are lower so we’re self-funded right now. We’re looking to get some outside funding to help us grow.

How long has it been around and how has it grown so far?
The idea came around in May 2011 but we didn’t act on it till Suwen came back in Sept (2011). That’s when we started tester workshops and in November 2011 we had the Big Idea project (http://culturerunbigidea.blogspot.com/) and that’s when it really took off. We launched the website mid January (2012). We have been seeing a mix of people coming for the workshops; there are returners and new people. Growth has been steady now that the website has been launched.

How do you think the concept of CultureRun will fit into the minds of KL/Malaysia?
It’s quite hit and miss really. We were quite skeptical when we first started but since then we’ve noticed that there’s a real hunger for knowledge here and we think that can be turned into people ready to share. We need to push and guide it a bit but I think people here are ready. The situation here in Malaysia is not what it was 5 – 10 years ago, people are more open now. We really believe that Malaysians want to do more and learn more.

What are your business strategies for CultureRun?
Well we’re arts people, so we have had friends help us develop our business model and strategy. From the start we sort of did everything wrong. It was learning through trial and error. We knew what we wanted but we didn’t know how to execute. We learned a lot along they way, we’re still learning now.

The concept of CultureRun is fascinating but as a business model can it turn a profit?
It’s definitely possible, but we’re looking to expand it and make learning a lifestyle. How CultureRun works is that we take a commission on each workshop ticket sold. We run mainly on volume so we’re looking to grow the business.

Who do you consider a role model in your business?
When we first started out Su-Zen was really into Richard Branson. We also look up to Vishen from Mindvalley for believing in Malaysia and basing Mindvalley here in KL. I mean he could have easily started Mindvalley elsewhere but he believed in the potential of Malaysia.

What courses have you got lined up?
At the moment, we’ve got a ring-making class, “How to buy your first guitar” and a workshop on “Building Social Confidence” up on our website. We’ve also been speaking to people doing personal development, mixed martial arts, language, dance, etc… We’ve been meeting lots of amazing people lately.  What we’re really looking for is for the community to do it by themselves. We want people to come and share their skills so that other people can learn from them.

Do people really have skills to share?
We believe everyone has something that they’re good at. When we meet people who say “I have no skills to share,” we find that really sad and we think that’s something that we want to change. We find that really sad and we think that’s something that we want to change. Sometimes people don’t realize that they have something that they can share. For example, we have a friend who’s really good at Excel. He can do so many amazing things with it and we’re like “That’s amazing, we can’t do that! You should teach people how to do those things!” He didn’t realize that he had a really good skill that he could share.

But can they teach?
That’s why we’re here. We’re here to help people to share their passion. We also have a support section on the website that gives some guidelines on how to teach. It’s all about doing what you love.  Once you talk about what you love it’s effortless. Passion is infectious.

What are the perks of your job?
Meeting people. Meeting lots of new people. It’s being able to make friends with the people we meet. We meet so many interesting people, from different fields. There are also so many quirky people with interesting points of view.

What is it like in a day of work for you?
It’s very varied. We meet a lot of people. We go out everyday, we get in touch with teachers, venues, we work on the website. We meet a lot of people in a day. We kinda start the day late but we’re working on that!

What goals do you have for CultureRun?
Our eventual goal is to make learning a lifestyle. We want to have at least a class every day. We also want to reach out to the community and provide some CultureRun “scholarships” to go for CultureRun classes. We’re going to focus it mainly on the youth. We want them to explore all these CultureRun programs and hopefully they can find their passion. We hope for them to carry that passion through to university – to fill places of higher learning with passionate people chasing their dreams.

What can we expect from CultureRun for the rest of 2012?
Lots more classes and more variety in the classes. We’re trying to get as many individuals as possible teaching. Our focus in 2012 is mainly to make people aware of CultureRun and what we do; it’s a community project. For 2012, we hope to host at least 10 classes a month. At the moment we’re focusing on KL / PJ but we’re hoping to spread to the rest of Malaysia in the coming years.

It all sounds very empowering. Do you have any parting words for people who may be reading?
Don’t be afraid to share your ideas and don’t be afraid to speak out. Be open and don’t be too suspicious of people. Try something new, you never know what the adventure is going to be.