[Repost from StarNews; by John Staton, October 12, 2024]
As the outer bands of Hurricane Helene blew through Wilmington on Sept. 27, about 75 people assembled in the ballroom of historic Thalian Hall for what would be the inaugural gathering of national organization Creative Mornings' brand-new Wilmington chapter.
The crowd, which included musicians, actors, visual artists, arts administrators and even a few people who claimed not to have a creative bone in their bodies, was lively despite the stormy weather and the 8:30 a.m. hour, chatting as they enjoyed free coffee and doughnuts, and commenting on each others' answers to a question on a name tag handed out when they arrived: "What advice would you give to your younger self?"
After 30 minutes of socializing and opening remarks by Creative Mornings chapter host Kerry Skiles and Thalian Hall director Shane Fernando, it was time for the main event: A Ted Talk-like presentation by James Tritten of Wilmington label Fort Lowell Records on the topic of "reflection."
"People in creative fields or who are doing creative projects, there's always something you can learn from them," Skiles said during an interview a week or so after Creative Mornings made its Wilmington debut. "It's really about just connecting with people in the community. We want this to reflect what the community needs."
The Creative Mornings motto? "Everyone is creative."
Skiles, a native of Edenton, lived in Wilmington in the early 2000s before moving to Raleigh, where she lived for about two decades before returning to Wilmington a couple of years ago.
During her time in Raleigh she attended monthly Creative Mornings meet-ups for close to a decade, and "every time I left one, I was like, 'I'm so inspired,'" she said.
When she looked for a Wilmington chapter of Creative Mornings and found there wasn't one, she decided to start her own. Founded in Brooklyn in 2008, Creative Mornings now boasts some 238 chapters in 69 countries. According to its website, about 70,000 people attend a Creative Mornings event worldwide each month.
Events are typically held on the last Friday morning of the month, with all chapters hosting a speaker who expounds on a common theme. In September, it was "reflection."
Aside from a minor technical glitch that cropped up when slides she had prepared didn't project properly, the inaugural event seemed to go swimmingly.
"It became bigger than we expected," Skiles said, "And that was just from word of mouth."
September's speaker, James Tritten of Fort Lowell Records, told the story of how the label he runs with wife, the singer Tracy Shedd, started in Tuscon, Arizona, and responded to a tragic shooting there in 2011 by trying to put positive energy back into the community via a compilation album of local bands that raised money for anti-violence causes.
The label has released 76 albums since its founding 2009, the majority of them since Tritten and Shedd moved to Wilmington in 2018. In 2020, inspired by the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests, Fort Lowell released a compilation album of Wilmington bands called "GROW" that has funded scholarships for a half-dozen students through the Wilmington chapter of the NAACP.
That project, Tritten said, "helped us realize the beauty of what was here," and he also talked about the label's "This Water Is Life" series of albums that pairs Wilmington indie rockers with local hip-hop artists to raise money for environmental causes.
"We took it as an opportunity to share the story of Fort Lowell. To reflect back, but also creating this idea of, 'I just want to shed light on the things around me,'" Tritten said. "I went at it wanting to ensure that there was an opportunity for inspiration to be had."
In talking with people after his talk and "having people tell me, 'That really was inspiring,' I definitely left feeling good," Tritten said.
When Skiles first asked him to speak at Creative Mornings, Tritten said, "My first question was, 'Where's the money?' If anyone was making money off this, I was going to have a problem with it. I quickly recognized Kerry is doing exactly what I'm doing, which is trying to shed light on our peers and our community."
After talking with her, he said, "I realized, I have to be involved with this."
Skiles said that Creative Mornings meet-ups are required by the national organization to be free, with volunteer labor and meeting space, food and coffee all donated.
"That's kind of the beauty of it," Skiles said. "Chapters aren't run as profit-making machines, and there's not this underbelly of having to raise money."
The idea is for the meet-up to be in a new place each month, at least at first, though Skiles said it might evolve into having "a go-to place sprinkled in with other locations."
Wilmington's second Creative Mornings meet-up will be 8:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 25 at the Cameron Art Museum and feature filmmaker Christopher Everett, director of the 1898 documentary "Wilmington on Fire" and co-founder of Wilmington's Three Chambers Festival, which has a combined focus on film, hip-hop and martial arts.
"I've always been a fan of Creative Mornings. It's like Ted Talk for creatives," Everett said. "I plan on talking about creating a vision for a creative future. This story is important to me."
Skiles said that, as speakers, Tritten and Everett "appealed to me in different ways. They had an idea and they wanted to bring it to life, and that's just inspiring."
The crowd, which included musicians, actors, visual artists, arts administrators and even a few people who claimed not to have a creative bone in their bodies, was lively despite the stormy weather and the 8:30 a.m. hour, chatting as they enjoyed free coffee and doughnuts, and commenting on each others' answers to a question on a name tag handed out when they arrived: "What advice would you give to your younger self?"
After 30 minutes of socializing and opening remarks by Creative Mornings chapter host Kerry Skiles and Thalian Hall director Shane Fernando, it was time for the main event: A Ted Talk-like presentation by James Tritten of Wilmington label Fort Lowell Records on the topic of "reflection."
"People in creative fields or who are doing creative projects, there's always something you can learn from them," Skiles said during an interview a week or so after Creative Mornings made its Wilmington debut. "It's really about just connecting with people in the community. We want this to reflect what the community needs."
The Creative Mornings motto? "Everyone is creative."
Skiles, a native of Edenton, lived in Wilmington in the early 2000s before moving to Raleigh, where she lived for about two decades before returning to Wilmington a couple of years ago.
During her time in Raleigh she attended monthly Creative Mornings meet-ups for close to a decade, and "every time I left one, I was like, 'I'm so inspired,'" she said.
When she looked for a Wilmington chapter of Creative Mornings and found there wasn't one, she decided to start her own. Founded in Brooklyn in 2008, Creative Mornings now boasts some 238 chapters in 69 countries. According to its website, about 70,000 people attend a Creative Mornings event worldwide each month.
Events are typically held on the last Friday morning of the month, with all chapters hosting a speaker who expounds on a common theme. In September, it was "reflection."
Aside from a minor technical glitch that cropped up when slides she had prepared didn't project properly, the inaugural event seemed to go swimmingly.
"It became bigger than we expected," Skiles said, "And that was just from word of mouth."
September's speaker, James Tritten of Fort Lowell Records, told the story of how the label he runs with wife, the singer Tracy Shedd, started in Tuscon, Arizona, and responded to a tragic shooting there in 2011 by trying to put positive energy back into the community via a compilation album of local bands that raised money for anti-violence causes.
The label has released 76 albums since its founding 2009, the majority of them since Tritten and Shedd moved to Wilmington in 2018. In 2020, inspired by the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests, Fort Lowell released a compilation album of Wilmington bands called "GROW" that has funded scholarships for a half-dozen students through the Wilmington chapter of the NAACP.
That project, Tritten said, "helped us realize the beauty of what was here," and he also talked about the label's "This Water Is Life" series of albums that pairs Wilmington indie rockers with local hip-hop artists to raise money for environmental causes.
"We took it as an opportunity to share the story of Fort Lowell. To reflect back, but also creating this idea of, 'I just want to shed light on the things around me,'" Tritten said. "I went at it wanting to ensure that there was an opportunity for inspiration to be had."
In talking with people after his talk and "having people tell me, 'That really was inspiring,' I definitely left feeling good," Tritten said.
When Skiles first asked him to speak at Creative Mornings, Tritten said, "My first question was, 'Where's the money?' If anyone was making money off this, I was going to have a problem with it. I quickly recognized Kerry is doing exactly what I'm doing, which is trying to shed light on our peers and our community."
After talking with her, he said, "I realized, I have to be involved with this."
Skiles said that Creative Mornings meet-ups are required by the national organization to be free, with volunteer labor and meeting space, food and coffee all donated.
"That's kind of the beauty of it," Skiles said. "Chapters aren't run as profit-making machines, and there's not this underbelly of having to raise money."
The idea is for the meet-up to be in a new place each month, at least at first, though Skiles said it might evolve into having "a go-to place sprinkled in with other locations."
Wilmington's second Creative Mornings meet-up will be 8:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 25 at the Cameron Art Museum and feature filmmaker Christopher Everett, director of the 1898 documentary "Wilmington on Fire" and co-founder of Wilmington's Three Chambers Festival, which has a combined focus on film, hip-hop and martial arts.
"I've always been a fan of Creative Mornings. It's like Ted Talk for creatives," Everett said. "I plan on talking about creating a vision for a creative future. This story is important to me."
Skiles said that, as speakers, Tritten and Everett "appealed to me in different ways. They had an idea and they wanted to bring it to life, and that's just inspiring."
