Friday mornings often are a time for drinking coffee, anticipating the weekend and preparing for that routine business meeting you’d rather not attend.
CreativeMornings has something else in mind for your workday: a meeting of creative minds that leaves you inspired and excited to work. On Friday, Jan. 20, Lexington officially joins the ranks of 157 cities worldwide with established chapters of the wildly popular global series.
Founded in 2008 by Brooklyn native Tina Roth Eisenberg, CreativeMornings describes itself as “a breakfast lecture series for the creative community.” The concept is simple: breakfast and a short talk one Friday a month. The parallels with TED Talks are obvious, but with one important caveat: CreativeMornings is far more accessible for most. Though online registration is required the week of, all events are free and open to everyone.
On a typical CreativeMornings Friday, check-in starts at 8:30 a.m., with time for coffee, pastries and socializing. At 9 a.m., a speaker presents on the global theme of the month, followed by a brief Q&A. By 10 a.m., you’re off to work.
When local legislative aide Jamie Rodgers expressed interest to Celeste Lewis, director of the Downtown Arts Center, Lewis decided to attend a program at the Louisville chapter to find out more. She fell in love with the concept.
“The energy of it is amazing,” Lewis said. “Everybody’s in it for the greater good and the community.”
Though the CreativeMornings brand spans continents, its model highlights local issues and talent. Each event is run almost entirely by local volunteers. Chapters rely on community sponsors to supply venues and breakfast supplies, but only the photographer and videographer are paid. Because there are no fees to headquarters, CreativeMornings is, in a sense, a community effort.
Rodgers and Lewis, now the official Lexington host, reached out to advertising agency Cornett and Kong Productions for help with the application process. In addition to an online application and Skype interview, organizers were required to submit a three-minute video showcasing the creative talents of the Lexington community.
“CreativeMornings will provide a global platform. It creates a larger audience for the cool things that people are doing,” said Whit Hiler, a key organizer who works at Cornett. “It’s about celebrating success stories that are happening in Lexington.”
Indeed, Lexington’s inclusion is something of an outlier among chapters in major global metropolitan cities including New York, Mumbai and Hong Kong. CreativeMornings’ website states that applications are typically only accepted from cities with populations of at least 500,000; according to the Kentucky State Data Center, all of Fayette County had just over 300,000 as of 2013. Nonetheless, Lexington’s application was impressive enough to convince headquarters.
Of course, Lexington’s thriving creative community is no surprise to those who live here. In 2015, USA Today included Lexington in its list of “15 most inspiring cities for young artists.” And according to Scott Shapiro, chief innovation officer for Mayor Jim Gray, Lexington boast more arts and cultural institutions per capita than some of the country’s largest cities.
Organizers hope that the community’s small size will be an advantage to the chapter.
“Hopefully it’ll be more intimate and connected,” says Jason Majewski, a senior copywriter for Cornett.
Photo by Magnus Lindqvist
Drura Parrish
That’s not to suggest that the Lexington chapter will exclusively target “traditional” artist types. Rather, CreativeMornings espouses the idea that anyone can be creative in their work, regardless of industry.
“It’s not just art and performance. It’s cooking and technology and fashion and … everything,” says Lewis. “It’s meant to open the doors to what creativity is.”
Lexington’s first meeting will be held Jan. 20 at 8:30 a.m. at 21c Museum Hotel. MakeTime CEO Drura Parrish will speak on the theme of “Mystery.”