CreativeMornings comes to Birmingham
When Madison Hall moved to Birmingham a year and a half ago, she was looking for ways to get plugged into the community.
She had been involved in CreativeMornings San Diego, and in Birmingham, she felt the absence of a non-industry-specific gathering for creative professionals.
CreativeMornings, which first began in 2008 in New York City, is a free breakfast talk series where creative professionals gather to enjoy coffee and breakfast, mingle and listen to a short lecture on a certain theme.
“There’s a ton of different creative professionals, and our motto is, ‘Everyone is creative, everyone is welcome,’” Hall said.
CreativeMornings are held all around the world on the fourth Friday of each month, with every participating city hosting a talk on the same theme. Hall said it’s a great way for creative people to get out and meet others that inspire them and may have similar interests, especially when people don’t always have the opportunity to branch out of their industry.
“People kind of stay in their own bubble. I even find that in the tech industry, I’ll go to these events and know all the tech people and, then I’ll go to this other event, and it’s in a whole different industry and I don’t know anyone,” Hall said. “… One guy [who went to CreativeMornings Birmingham] said he didn’t know anyone there, and he’s like a CEO of a company in town and has a lot of people in his network, so that’s interesting to me because Birmingham can be so small.”
On the day of the event, people are encouraged to arrive around 8:30 a.m. and get coffee and breakfast while they meet some people. Hall introduces the speaker and theme around 9 a.m., and the speaker talks and holds a brief question and answer session. All the coffee and food, Hall said, is donated by local restaurants.
Past speakers have included the theme “for real” with Napkinisms creator Billy Ivey, Mayor Randall Woodfin for “symmetry” and Gulf State Lodge Park project planner and designer Matt Level for “water.”
“I think the first ones have gone amazing, and I’m almost overwhelmed by the amount of support from the community. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, people really want to go to this,’” Hall said.
Hall said it’s a capped event based on the venue’s size, so people are encouraged to reserve a ticket on the Monday before the event, which is when the spots go online at creativemornings.com/bham. So far, each event has booked up completely and had long waitlists as well, she said.
June’s theme is “wonder” and the event will be at Back Forty Beer Co. on June 28.