Morning meetings inspire Charlotte ‘creative types’

On a recent Friday, more than 200 artists, writers, photographers and others mingled at LaCa Projects in Charlotte, listened to tunes spun by DJ Smitty, and broke into a spontaneous dance party. All before 9 a.m.

The reason for all that early-hours electricity? Charlotte writer/theater producer Matt Olin has launched a chapter of CreativeMornings, a global movement that originated in Brooklyn in 2008 and has spread from Amsterdam to Antwerp, and from Portland to Prague. Charlotte is the 123rd chapter.

The website describes it as “a breakfast lecture series for creative types.” But it’s a lot more than that.

It began when founder Tina Roth Eisenberg, a Swiss designer based in New York, started a small co-working space in Brooklyn. “I (had) been craving an easy way for the creative community to meet” regularly, she recalled. “I love conferences, but they’re expensive, not accessible to most and only happen once a year.”

She started inviting people to her studio, and word spread. In 2010, friends in Zurich asked if they could start a chapter. A month later, a friend in Los Angeles. asked to start one. CreativeMornings grows organically by three to five chapters each month.

Community-minded creativity

It’s an entirely volunteer-run organization. Olin and his co-organizers, Levin Chaskey (a cinematographer) and Alexis Bruce (a singer/music manager who’s curating the music featured at CreativeMornings) – they’re the husband/wife team behind Charlotte Star Room – and Tim Miner, “marketing dude” at Brixx Wood Fired Pizza, have taken it on because they believe in the power of creativity to connect people.

Each month, each chapter discusses the same one-word theme, although how they choose to address it is left up to them. Themes for the first quarter of 2016: language, ethics and change.

November’s theme was work. Jen Band, founder of Playing for Others, a personal development program for Charlotte teens, danced up the aisle and then gave a talk on finding professional joy. She espouses aiming for what she calls “brutter” – a melding of toasted bread and butter, which become one new entity when combined. When we work at what we love, we’ve achieved “brutter.”

“The energy was palpable,” Olin said. “It was joyful,” Miner added. But not every meeting will lend itself to a dance-off.

The December meeting has a “time” theme. But instead of hearing from a time management expert, they chose a speaker who has done time.

Patrice Gaines is a Charlotte-based writer (she worked for The Washington Post for 16 years) and teacher. She’s also a convicted felon. She’s written the autobiographical “Laughing In The Dark: From Colored Girl to Woman of Color – A Journey from Prison to Power.” She’s been on “Oprah,” “Dateline NBC” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

But before all that, she was in a Charlotte jail for possession with intent to distribute heroin.

“You may not always hear a motivational speech,” Miner said. “But you’ll always be inspired.”

Growth of a movement

Eisenberg insisted when she first started the meetings – and still does – that events are free. Sponsorships help make that happen.

Potential sponsors have been calling Olin. “That never happens in the theater,” he said. Sponsors of the first event were as diverse as the Arts and Science Council, Ready at 7 (a digital marketing company), Warehouse 242 (a church) and the Knight Foundation.

“I want CreativeMornings to become the ‘church of creativity,’ metaphorically speaking,” Eisenberg said. “We’re also working on building out the biggest Rolodex of the creative world.”

And even in an age where STEM education is being touted as The Way of the Future, creativity still matters.

Author Daniel Pink (“A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future”) has said: “In many professions, what used to matter most were abilities associated with the left side of the brain: linear, sequential, spreadsheet kind of faculties. Those still matter, but they’re not enough.

“What’s important now are … artistry, empathy, inventiveness, big-picture thinking.”

Olin says everyone is creative. “All are welcome” is part of the manifesto. The youngest attendee in November was a 9-year-old decked out in a Batman costume. The oldest, Olin said, was in his early 90s: “Creativity is a great connector.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 4:42 PM with the headline "Morning meetings inspire Charlotte ‘creative types’."