To continue the momentum generated during Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week last November, BREW organizers are designating entrepreneur-themed events throughout 2017 as “microBREW” events.
Emergent Method’s Julie Laperouse, whose help BREW organizers have enlisted for microBREW, says microBREW is simply a designation given to already-planned events that reflect the spirit of BREW and can benefit others.
“After last year, we made headway in making BREW more collaborative,” says Laperouse, who also worked with BREW organizers NexusLA on past entrepreneurship weeks in Baton Rouge. “We didn’t want to lose the enthusiasm in the 11 months leading up to BREW.”
Organizers decided, she says, to maintain some continuity and community engagement throughout the year with communication about BREW. MicroBREW events are designated to do just that.
The first microBREW event is Tinker Night at Front Yard Bikes, 700 Terrace Ave. From 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, the nonprofit, which teaches kids how fix and maintain bikes, will open and founder Dustin LaFont will discuss his brand of social entrepreneurialism.
Attendees also are encouraged to bring a bike, small appliance or other item they can fix at “tinker stations” set up for attendees.
Laperouse says LaFont’s crew and his kids will be there to help attendees “tinker” with and fix the items. Not everyone needs to bring an item to participate, she says, adding that attendees can be entrepreneurs, creatives or come from a corporate or other environments.
Unlike most microBREW events, Tinker Night was specifically designed to kick off and introduce others to the microBREW concept, Laperouse says.
“One of the big requests we get from the entrepreneurial community and BREW is more opportunities to connect with entrepreneurial and other creatives throughout the community,” she says. “We saw this concept is popping up in cities all over where people get together to do something.” The tinker concept provides an alternative avenue to get to know someone other than just meeting for drinks, she says.
MicroBREW events are taking place throughout March and April. They are: TEDxLSU, taking place from 1-6:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 11, at the LSU Union Theater, and PitchBR at the Pelican House on April 6.
Register to attend Tinker Night, and check out more microBREW events coming this year.
—Alexandria Burris
