The Studio, for all intents and purposes, is a lifestyle membership club started by Royal Property, the luxury real estate, hotel and management company responsible for places like The Charlee Lifestyle Hotel, Meritage and Luxé in Guatapé. However, The Studio is so much more than meets the eye.
Royal Property searches to provide experiences with every project. By that I mean their endeavours are hardly ever “just a hotel”, they’re usually filled with awe-inspiring spaces. For example, their luxury hotels include rooms like the Aqua Room, the Spice Room and other sensory experiences that make your stay feel like so much more than a bed to sleep in, so one can imagine a social membership club created by this group will hardly be boring or traditional.
The Studio isn’t a place; it’s not a destination, it’s a way of life inspired by the desire to create a community of young professionals and creatives in Medellín. At this time, it stands at roughly 300 members approximately between the ages of 25-35.
It has a board of directors who hand pick each member every three months to bring in new talent and have a representative group of the young entrepreneurs and professionals in the city. Who’s on this board? Oh, you know, just your average joe like Pedro Fajardo, Carmen, and other well-known characters in the city. Also, did I mention that it’s totally free? More on that later.
Being a part of The Studio has lots of small and large benefits. Upon acceptance, you receive a sturdy silver membership card with your name on it. This card will allow you to have access to discounts and perks like:
However, these benefits are really just the side dish of the main course provided by The Studio Membership. The Studio allows you to come in contact with people that are thriving in the city, starting businesses, managing businesses, innovating, creating and always thinking about something new.
The networking that happens at all of The Studio events is organic, it happens naturally due to simple proximity with people who are doing great things and can help your dream grow along theirs.
Members of The Studio include designers, event planners, musicians, photographers, among many other talented local millennials.
The Studio hosts a large variety of micro and macro events. There are weekly and monthly events like Sunrise Yoga, and The Brunch, the former an exclusive yoga class at sunrise, of course, and the latter a monthly networking brunch, both held at Envy Rooftop Bar. There are also one-time events like workshops on making cocktails, ceviche, and other types of food; and large events like larger than life Halloween parties, barber shop and whisky tastings, latest trends in makeup, among many, many others.
To be a part of The Studio you must be an active member of society in Medellín, know at least one person in The Studio or the board of directors that can be your reference and fill out the application. Membership is totally free as the group is still growing and creating traction.
The board of directors evaluates applications every three months and the deadline is coming up in December so get on it!
To see videos, photos, posts, and more on The Studio check out their website, Facebook page, or Instagram.
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This looks like it is a sponsored post, which isn't disclosed.
Sergio Fajardo isn't the "ex-governor of Medellín". He was the Mayor of Medellín from January 1, 2004 – January 1, 2007. He was also the governor of Antioquia from January 1, 2012 – January 1, 2016. So he is the ex-governor of Antioquia and the ex-Mayor of Medellín.
How can I even sign up if I don't know one person in The Studio or the board of directors that can be my reference? So what value is this post to us normal readers of Medellin Living? Thumbs down from me for this post.
Hi Kate,
This is not a sponsored post, which, as I've said before, we always disclose. I am personally interested in The Studio and think they do really cool things, run cool events.
On the other hand, You're right, the fact on Sergio Fajardo being wrong, it's a different fellow by the same last name and it has now been corrected.
This is an exclusive club, but they have 300 active members of society, chances are you know someone who knows someone, which since you know Colombia so well, I assume you know is how a lot of things work here. It's all about networking. Medellin really has a small community feel despite its 3 million people.
Finally, I think the readership of Medellín is just as much on the tourist end as it is active expats who live here and actually know a Colombian or two. So I agree, real estate post aren't for everyone, nor digital nomad posts, nor any other of our articles, so we try to have articles that attract all sorts of English-speaking readers, local and foreign. If The Studio isn't for you, I'm sure another of our posts will be more geared toward your interests. Thanks for your feedback!
'''' responsible for places like The Charlee Lifestyle Hotel, Meritage '''' this is some sort of joke right? You do know that the Meritage project is bit of a disaster. First the lots that were purchased, were discontinued due to legal action, with owners being required to select between a house / land option at considerable cost, or convert to an apartment, which is exactly what most land owners were trying to avoid. Then, to top it off the fiscalia has effectively seized the entire project, with work stopping in August 2016.
You're right James, THe Charlee took over the Meritage project after the fact.
From how it is described, "The Studio" appears like some hipster "initiative" not much different from what you may find in Austin, TX, San Francisco, CA, Montreal, QC, or any other large liberal city in US or Canada but, in this case, with no clear edge. Or rather there is an edge, it must be, but it's unclear from the article what is it.
From which derives an impression that the article is paid for to promote this thing preying on some people's obsession with "trendy", "cool", and "exclusive" rolled in one.
Let me be blunt and ask directly - Where is the money in it? Who profits from this "free membership", and how? Show me the fine print, I promise will read!
Let's be realists who are honest at least to ourselves - there is no such thing as a free lunch.
Pierre, I haven't been around other places around the world as an adult long enough to be sure, but I agree the initiative isn't new in the world. This one specifically is actually inspired by similar projects in Buenos Aires.
The money, I suppose, would be in the increase in clients at places owned by and in alliance with Royal Property group. They will charge a membership at some point, but probably in 2018. At this point, the idea is to build a community first and an identity tied to that community. But it is somewhat of a hipster/trendy community.
I must agree with the other posts. When I say as a long time Patron of this site,this is not something I care to read about. How does writing about an exclusive club in Medellin inform or enlighten your readership community? I am putting you on notice.
Marc,
I'm sorry to hear that you weren't interested in this post. However, like I said before, we have a wide variety of readers and though it may not be interesting to you, others may want to know about the existence of groups like this that, though "exclusive," are rather large and not hard to get into. Quite the contrary, they welcome foreign members as it is a majority Colombian group at the moment. That being said, you aren't obligated to read or be interested in all Medellin Living posts. The idea is to attract all kinds of readers and not exclude or mute anyone's interests. We're not silencing topics that individual readers aren't interested in, but rather including all kinds of interests so everyone finds something interesting on our site. That way we grow our readership community.
I actually really liked to read about it. I did not know that something like this exists and it is information that I did not get anywhere else...
It is, however, looked to me first as a sponsored ad due to the style of writing, but as I know this website - the disclaim when it is, so I understood that it is not.
Medellin Living has an editorial policy disclosed here: http://medellinliving.com/editorial-policy/ - in this was said:
"We are transparent.
If we do a story because we were invited to a free meal, tour, etc., we note that at the bottom or explicitly state as much contextually.
Or, sometimes we get something for free after the story, as a show of gratitude. But we had already decided to do the story because we liked the place so our objectivity was not compromised.
We can tell you this with certainty: we’re not going to write about a place or service we don’t like just because they offer something for free."
I have been writing for Medellín Living for nearly two and a half years. None of the 107 articles I wrote during this time were sponsored and I didn’t receive anything “free” before writing any articles on the site. Only once I received a free meal about a week after an article was published on the site as a show of gratitude from the grateful restaurant owner.
In fact it is very difficult to get any business in Medellín to pay for a sponsored post on a blog as they are not accustomed to doing much, if any, advertising. Some businesses in the city don’t even have a website. As a result I am aware that Dave who started the site had trouble getting sponsors.
I was paid by the Medellín Living site a small amount to write 107 articles so far as a freelance writer. Many of the articles I have written have been some of the most popular on the site as they were about my actual experiences living in Medellín as well as research I have done on my own time about the rental market in the city.
Hundreds of expats have thanked me for what I have written, which is why I continue to write for the site. Thanks to all these appreciative expats I continue to write for the site even though it doesn’t pay that much.
The bottom line is that most articles on this website are not sponsored in my experience. If they are sponsored articles I understand this is disclosed. If you have additional comments please respond to our reader survey (http://medellinliving.com/reader-survey/) that runs until December 9 - this is the type of feedback we are looking for with our survey.
"Because of our optimistic outlook, we reserve the right to delete comments, either parts of them or in their entirety, that we feel are not constructive toward the mission at Medellín Living, and that’s a key point."
Please keep on writing Jeff - this website is my main source of Gringo Medellín.
As for the righteous professional complainers - they are of the type that would not throw a penny to help this website. Don't even bother commenting and explaining.
Writing a post like this, gather info for it, edit it, re-edit it, proofreading, and then technically posting it on the website - all this take HOURS and most people - especially ones that never ran a blog or a website - do not know that. Would that people give away 3 or 4 working hours of theirs?
Love you man!
Thanks!
I wish more understood that it actually takes hours for each article to gather information and research, go to a place to take photos or find good stock photos, write, edit, re-edit and technically post on on the site.
Great post really like this idea of an elite club for networked people! Can't wait to be in Medellin and living the high life! Appreciate it Jeff my man !
"Exclusive" sounds so cool until you consider what it means. To achieve exclusive it means you have to exclude people based on whatever your prejudiced little values are. Sounds like a High School clique to me. Just remember, karma is a bitch.