Idea factory

Creative Louisiana's monthly morning meetings foster collaboration between successful business owners and budding entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs fight familiar challenges that range from startup financing to marketing on a shoestring. But one of the fiercest battles is isolation, say organizers of Creative Louisiana, a new monthly lecture series that matches successful creatives with budding entrepreneurs.

Launched in June, the events discuss the source of new ideas and how to implement them. The series is modeled after the popular Creative Mornings concept founded by designer Tina Roth Eisenberg and held monthly in U.S. cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Ore., San Francisco and Seattle, and worldwide in such cities as Auckland, Berlin, London, Milan, Stockholm, Toronto, Vancouver and Zurich.

Wendy Overton, assistant executive director of LSU Continuing Education, was approached by undergraduate student Logan Leger about bringing the idea to Baton Rouge. Leger, a business major at LSU, was intrigued by grass-roots movements that fostered entrepreneurism, and Overton saw the series as part of Continuing Education's mission of community outreach. In May, she began tweeting Creative Mornings contacts in New York and Zurich, eventually working her way to a direct exchange with Eisenberg.

She encouraged Overton to mimic the simple concept: a free monthly lecture followed by a networking opportunity that's brief enough for participants to be at work by 10 a.m. Creative Mornings registration fills so quickly in some cities, Overton says, that people interested in attending wait by their computers to secure a spot.

Baton Rouge's meetings have featured lectures by artist Kelli Scott Kelley, architect Trey Trahan, photographer CC Lockwood, Project Runway designer Anthony Ryan Auld, New Orleans entrepreneur and filmmaker Benjamin Reece, and startup expert and 300seats founder Manuel Valencia. Locations have included the Baton Rouge Gallery, Manship Theatre and Louisiana Art & Science Museum.

“Our hope is that we attract a broad group, no matter what discipline they work within,” Overton says. “We want to focus on the different iterations of creativity.”

The workshops are part of a growing movement in the Capital Region that values entrepreneurship and growing a so-called creative class, says Stafford Kendall, principal of the digital media firm Covalent Logic. She says that it makes sense for startups and existing businesses to encourage creativity.

“Being creative isn't limited to typical creative types,” Kendall says. “Artists and writers are creative all day every day, but this is a problem-solving skill and a new way of thinking that can be transported to any industry. People can get inspiration from anywhere; when I talk to a kindergarten teacher, it inspires me about how to train adults on software.”

At the October meeting, which was held in the Manship Theatre, Reece discussed his career evolution as a former computer engineer and programmer who developed a sideline project—the film series Fifty People One Question—that was successful enough to help him launch his production company, Deltree.

After several years, Reece became aware of a problem for digital filmmakers: the inability to monetize their productions in the world of free downloads. So he launched a second company, Kinio, a service to help independent filmmakers distribute their movies and merchandise online.

Reece discussed principles that have helped him maintain his focus while taking risks and working alone. He answered questions from the crowd of about 25, some of whom were interested in leaving full-time jobs to start companies.

“What's your biggest goal?” he asks. “And what's your biggest problem in accomplishing it?”

Valencia, a startup expert who had attended every meeting since the program started and who spoke at the November meeting at LASM, says that entrepreneurship requires a community of creative, forward-thinking individuals who can share ideas and advice.

“It can be an isolating existence,” he says, “so gatherings like these are really important.”

Valencia's lecture, held in conjunction with Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week, focused on finding inspiration in worldwide heroes.

“Heroes are free, they're always out there,” he says, “and you can change them out as you need different ones.”

He says that creativity is something that can be “worked toward,” that it's applicable to any field and that it's more about being resourceful than being artistic.

“I used to encourage creative thinking among my teams in business by just asking, ‘What's the coolest thing you saw this week?'” Valencia says.

The day before Valencia's lecture, New York-based entrepreneur Marlo Scott spoke at a BREW event about launching her acclaimed Sweet Revenge, an eatery in the West Village that pairs cupcakes with wine and beer.

Scott, a former sales and marketing professional, developed the concept after years in an unpleasant work environment where she was ultimately laid off. Thinking creatively, she says, was essential to her launch of the business, and a characteristic that remains a priority in her management style.

“I'm constantly searching for new ideas,” Scott says, “and encouraging my staff to do the same.”