On April 3, CreateHere was privileged to witness firsthand what MakeWork coordinator, Harv Wileman, wisely called "a great day for the arts in Chattanooga." With 107 total applications pouring in for the final MakeWork deadline, Wileman et al. got the chance to shake a lot of hands, chat with some creatives, and glow in a life-time supply of good energy. Check out the video from the day of.
On Thursday, April 16 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm, SpringBoard will host the next installment of the Small Business Panel Discussion series. With advice from expert speakers, "Social Networking: Taking Your Business Online" will provide entrepreneurs with resources to get their services noticed across the web.
"Social Networking: Taking Your Business Online" will feature three expert speakers. John Hawbaker, founder and editor of Chattarati, a Chattanooga news and culture blog, will discuss the interplay of business and the blogosphere. Josiah Roe, president of Medium, will discuss marketing strategies on the web. Adrienne Royer, Director of Development and Communications at Girls Inc., will introduce entrepreneurs to recent social networking tools, including Twitter and Facebook.
SpringBoard is a resource hub for Chattanooga's entrepreneurs, helping businesses and non-profits move forward with confidence, for the good of their owners and the community as a whole. Programs like the Small Business Panel Discussion support the CreateHere mission to empower innovative entrepreneurs.
RSVP to this event by emailing sheldon@createhere.org, or by calling 423.648.2195.
Rock City Gardens recently announced a line-up of events celebrating Earth Day, April 22, and some of Chattanooga's finest creatives are on the bill.
Storyteller Jim Pfitzer--an ArtsMove artist, as well--will host eco-storytelling sessions and an interactive Eagles Nest building session, at noon and 2 pm, April 4-12, April 16-19, and April 23-26.
Sculptor Isaac Duncan--a Springboard graduate, incidentally--will be building a permanent sculpture in the gardens, called "Perched Raptor."
From April through October, sculptor Roger Halligan will display "Iron Age." And the final flourish? Halligan's an ArtsMove artist as well.
Keep up with all the activities going on this April at Rock City by visiting their website.
On Thursday, April 9 Cindy Li comes to Chattanooga to present "Design Your Future: Networking without the 'Ick' & Creating Opportunity," a series of workshops on the importance of a multi-platform approach to design and promotion.
Li has been described as a "delightful mixture" in the art world: an illustrator who also excels in web design; a graphic artist with a gift for social networking; and a self-proclaimed Flickr fanatic. Whatever role she plays, one description holds true: Li is an expert in her field.
Li starts her tour of the city with an event hosted by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. "Networking without the 'Ick'" begins at 8 am at green|spaces, and is open to the general public.
In the evening, Li will speak at CreateHere from 6 to 7 pm, with a reception to follow. "Creating Opportunities" is open to the general public, and bookends a day of design know-how.
Li is a graduate of the University of Florida, where she received a BFA in graphic design. She is originally from Taiwan, but calls San Francisco home today, where she pursues and publishes in the areas of graphic design, CSS, web standards, and her personal lifetime "to do" list.
Join the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Medium, AIGA Chattanooga and CreateHere in welcoming Li to Chattanooga. Check Li out online.
CreateHere is proud to announce a new exhibition in our Southside gallery space. FACES features work by local artists in a variety of media, and 10% of the show's sales go to support the Craniofacial Foundation of America. The show runs from March 30 to May 15, with a reception on April 4 held in conjunction with Palate 2 Palette.
FACES features work by David Andrews, Mia Bergeron, Miki Boni, Katie Claiborne, Cat Collier, Judy Condon, Patricia DeLeon, Matthew Dutton, Neely Hyde and Kirstin Stingle. 2D and 3D pieces in this show explore the visual and emotional structure of the face--and what ultimately makes us unique. All pieces in FACES are priced under $1200, making this a gallery event with real fundraising potential.
CreateHere hosts FACES in conjunction with Palate 2 Palette: A Celebration of Visual, Culinary and Floral Arts. This multi-venue benefit will be held on April 4, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. A shuttle bus will give visitors the chance to visit all nine participating Southside galleries in support of an organization with local and global impact. CreateHere's portion of the event includes culinary delights from Table Two, floral trappings from Pejoux, and interior stylings from SmartFurniture. Additionally, Philip Luckey has produced a custom video installation for the exhibition.
During the six week exhibition of FACES, each purchase supports three important local causes. 10% of every sale goes directly to the Craniofacial Foundation of America, or CFA, providing invaluable support for the organization's projects. CFA is a Tennessee-based non-profit dedicated to supporting individuals with facial disfigurement from birth defects, tumors and trauma. Additionally, 25% of every purchase goes to CreateHere, supporting creatives in Chattanooga through initiatives like the MakeWork arts grant program. And of course, 65% of the purchase price goes directly to the artist, pumping valuable capital into our local creative economy.
Join CreateHere for FACES. We've extended our gallery hours to celebrate: Our doors are open every Saturday morning from 9 am to 1 pm, in addition to Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm.
Visit Palate 2 Palette to purchase tickets for the April 4 event, and for more information on CFA.
Chattanooga: We're in the thick of MakeWork application season. The first deadline for these unique arts grants passed on March 20, and applicants from this date come from a variety of creative fields. The next, and final, deadline for MakeWork on April 3 is rapidly approaching.
With $150,000 worth of grants to award and a maximum amount of $15,000 per individual, now is the time for Chattanooga's creatives to make their presence known. We hope that artists and artisans will come out in numbers and capture valuable financial resources to help them succeed and grow.
"It is unusual for a city the size of Chattanooga to have such a large purse available for grants to individual artists," says LeadHere Fellow Harv Wileman. "The fact that so many disciplines are open for awards is unusual as well. Anyone from sculptors to conductors to cheesemakers to writers may apply. We awarded 24 grants last year in every imaginable field. We expect the pool of applicants to be even more diverse this time around."
Grants are available in two categories--projects and career advancement. Wileman, who has written grants for several arts and cultural organizations, often meets with potential applicants to discuss the grants process. "Sometimes an artist is so close to their work that it helps to bounce an idea off someone else."
We'd like to remind all interested creatives in the Chattanooga area that it isn't too late to begin planning your grant proposal. Want to talk through an idea? Contact Wileman by emailing harv@createhere.org or by calling 423.648.2195.