I have been meaning to write a blog post about this for quite some time. Creative Mornings is one of my favourite gatherings and one of my favourite concepts: it's a lecture series for the creative community, it's a place to meet like minded people and a great way to get inspired over a cup of coffee on a Friday morning.
Image source : http://bit.ly/1N1O4sn
Creative Mornings was started in New York by TIna Ross Eisenberg, or Swissmiss, a designer from Brooklyn, a blogger and the mind behind several business endeavours. She wanted to create an accessible event where you can meet like-minded people, get a quick dose of inspiration and then go on with your day. The first event took place in 2008 but since then it grew to a global movement taking place in 128 cities and counting around the world, usually on the last Friday of every month at 8-8:30 in the morning. To participate, get your ticket online at the beginning of that week (check the details with your local chapter, but if you're from Montreal, Monday of that last week of the month, set an alarm at 11 am to book your ticket). It's all free, it's on a first-come first-served basis. Once those tickets are "sold out", you can register on a waiting list for an extra number of tickets. Each month there is a different theme, the same all over the world, and each chapter has their own speaker giving a 20 min inspirational talk. And it's all Non profit. It's put together by passionate people, fuelled by sponsors and kept alive by the increasing number of participants. It's truly a great concept. I've only been to a few of the Montreal gatherings and what i found is this great welcoming vibe, awesome people, inspirational talks (in French, at least I get to practice), and tasty breakfasts. It always takes place in different locations around Montreal (i've seen in other cities it's in the same venues), which is cool, you always see something different. It was brought here "by a small band of creativity aficionados" in May 2013. (I actually found the first blog post about how Creative Mornings Montreal was "born" and about the first event. Click here. Cool to read).
The first time I heard about Creative Mornings was from this Chase Jarvis LIVE interview with Swissmiss. At that time I was a soon to be graduate from photo school, so I was about to lose my networking environment with other creatives, and I was pretty sad about it. And I was looking for a way, a place, something...where I can meet other creatives and get inspired. Obviously my first reaction when I heard about Creative Mornings was something like: "No way!!! And this thing is every month!?!?" And then disappointment: "Nooo...it's Friday at 8 am...I'll never make it". At the time I was working in a corporate job with a very strict 8-5 schedule so really no way for me to make it there. They do have a boss-convincing guide on the Creative Mornings website, which might actually work for some.
The first Creative Mornings I attended was in June 2015, and I kept going since, and I'll keep going, as much as I can. Actually, next time I go to Romania I'll go check out a CM event in Bucharest. The last Creative Mornings I attended was this last Friday, at Rialto Theatre, and, under the theme "Empathy", we got to meet and hear the stories of Patsy Van Roost, an artist known as the Mile End Fairy for her urban projects directed towards raising connectivity and solidarity in her local community. I suggest reading about her projects on her website. We need more people like her in this world.
And if Creative Mornings is all about creativity and inspiration, then that's my way of staying active and creative: coffee in one hand, camera in the other, all while listening to inspirational stories.