#cmakl

CreativeMornings/AKL reflections:

Everyone is creative. Everyone is welcome.

This is the first & final line in the CreativeMornings manifesto. And one I still truly stand by since the Auckland Chapter started in 2011.

From the early days of following SwissMiss (Tina Roth Eisenberg, founder of CreativeMornings) on Twitter, to the seed of an idea of bringing the CreativeMornings concept to New Zealand, pulling a makeshift team of talented volunteers together, skyping Tina & Kevin (The Original CMHQ team) and having them trust us with their baby as the 10th official chapter worldwide!

Now, 5+ years on, 180+ chapters worldwide and 60+ CreativeMornings/ Auckland (CM/AKL) events later. I’m stepping back from co-hosting & co-organising CM/AKL, but will always remain a part of this creative community. A community that is kind, that is generous, that is diverse & inclusive, that is extraordinarily creative and that, for a long time, felt like an extended family.

Over the years, there has been so many highlights and I’ve learnt so much from the speakers and the community alike, so thought I would take this time to share some key reflections:

Right from day one, I was constantly overwhelmed by the generosity & creativity of CM/AKL speakers, our partners, our team and of course our community!

If you create a safe, welcoming environment, amazing stories of failure, triumph and everything in between are shared, embraced and celebrated.

Hugs are a great way to greet people first thing in the morning!

On that note, not everyone is a morning person (even if they turn up that early) so a note to myself: respect personal space in the A.M.

Always humbled by the people we’ve met along the way, and their professional stories and personal perspectives shared.

CreativeMornings truly is a global community of interesting people who are always interested. I experienced this first hand at the  CreativeMornings Summit in 2016.

Trust, delegate and let go... As a self-confessed control freak, I found this particularly challenging, but it was the only way for CM/AKL to grow and flourish.

Last but not least, I’m immensely grateful to everyone that has trusted us and been on this creative community journey with us over the years... esp. the amazing team at CreativeMornings/HQ & esp. “mama bear” Tina.

Thanks to all the speakers that have shared their creative journeys with us, the ups, the downs and the lessons learnt along the way.

Thanks to all the partners that have generously supported us over the years, we really appreciate your financial, in-kind and in-person support.

Thanks to all the volunteers that have been part of the team over the years, we couldn’t have done it without you!

Thanks to our community of for registering so promptly, for showing up so early in the morning, for being curious, kind and no doubt creative.

And of course a huge THANK YOU to my wonderful co-host and friend Kaan Hiini. From photographer, to videographer, to co-host/organiser and every other unofficial role in between. I truly couldn’t have done it without you, and I know CM/AKL would not be the same if it wasn’t for your care, creativity and leadership. So again (without *tears* this time ;)) I would like to express my deep gratitude to you, for helping me grow, nurture and cultivate the CM/AKL community to what it is today. Thank you Kaan.

As we step back and handover the reigns and responsibilities to the new hosts of CM/AKL — Sarah Longbottom & Molly Parker, who both have a proven track record of putting on extraordinary creative experiences. I am equal parts: excited and jealous. Excited by all the amazing new ideas, energy and creativity they’ll bring to each event, and a little bit jealous about the wonderful convening of creative minds in our community who get to experience this every month.

I wish you both all the very best of luck (not that you’ll need it) but we’ll be waving from the sidelines, cheering you on as your number one cheerleaders, supporting the team as your biggest fans and creative advisors if/when you do ever need us. At the end of the day, CreativeMornings truly is a labour of love.

So this is not good-bye, more of a see-ya later with a different hat. And with that, I thought I’d leave you with the CreativeMornings manifesto:

Everyone is creative. A creative life requires bravery and action, honesty and hard work. We are here to support you, celebrate with you, and encourage you to make the things you love. We believe in the power of community. We believe in giving a damn. We believe in face-to-face connections, in learning from others, in hugs and high-fives. We bring together people who are driven by passion and purpose, confident that they will inspire one another, and inspire change in neighborhoods and cities around the world. Everyone is welcome.

CreativeMornings with Joyce Campbell Friday 25 November, 8.00am - 9.30am The Idea Collective at MOTAT

The realm of fantasy is a space for us to imagine possibilities that seem beyond our reach. Fantastical ideas are exciting and tantalizing, especially to artists. Imagining something new and outside the constructs of the real world is liberating. It can also be used as a clever vehicle for the expression of controversial or subversive topics through allegory. And as we enter into a tumultuous and uncertain period, this approach may be needed more then ever.

Our speaker for November is someone very familiar with this technique. Joyce Campbell is an interdisciplinary artist whose work utilizes anachronistic photographic techniques such as daguerreotype and ambrotype, as well as conventional analogue and digital photography, video, film and sculpture. Using these tools, Joyce examines the collision of natural and cultural systems, and explores the play of raw perception against interpretation.

During the past 20 years, she has made projects in Antarctica, Los Angeles and her hometown, Wairoa, culminating in her nomination for this year’s Walters Prize, New Zealand’s largest contemporary art prize, for Flightdream II, a work fusing science fiction and video to reflect on people’s interaction with volatile and hostile environments in the process of transformation.

A dual citizen of the United States and New Zealand, Joyce feels the volatility of the current political moment more intensely than many of us here in New Zealand. And with a residency in California on the cards in the near future, she is fully grounded in the many issues that have been thrown up by the recent election, and wonders how to best deal with these issues. She with a questions whether the current preference for artists work to have a positive, ultimately redemptive arc is valuable. Or is it better to lean in to the darkness, and just maybe stir up a revolution?

Join us on Friday 25 November for a discussion about fantasies of the future, and what they contribute to the larger dialogue when they’re optimistic or pessimistic.

Morning Person: Alain Brideson

Semi-Permanent is back, returning to Auckland on 12-13 August 2016 at the Aotea Centre. As ever there is a packed line-up of speakers, but alongside the main event will be interactive and inspiring workshops, film screenings and for the first time this year, panel discussions on the Future of Business and the Future of Content and much more. This is one gathering you don’t want to miss!

To get us in the swing of things we had a quick chat with one of the programmes speakers, Alain Brideson, to to find out what makes him tick. A regular CreativeMornings attendee and active member of the Auckland creative community, Alain is a kiwi industrial designer who has recently returned from 8 years immersing himself in the European design scene. 

For the last 3 years he has been contracting for various companies in Europe and Asia; getting involved in projects ranging from ski-grips to show-cars. Most recently he was based in Northern Italy with a stint in Amsterdam. Before that, Alain spent 6 years in Germany and Switzerland delving deep into the field of transportation design. While studying his Masters degree at Pforzheim University in Germany he picked up vital skills which he now credits as shaping his current creative design process. 

Upon graduating, he teamed up with a couple of engineers at Rinspped, a start-up in Switzerland for the design and prototype of electric vehicles. Since being back home, Alain continues to design vehicles and products from his studio in Auckland, while also teaching design at AUT. Above all he is thoroughly enjoying being back in NZ and is excited to be involved within the creative community. 

Who are you? Alain Brideson

What gets you up in the morning? Breakfast

Explain what you do in five words or less… Industrial designer who draws heaps

What’s a surprising fact about you? I was a karate kid

Best piece of advice you’ve received? Don't compare yourself to others, compare yourself to yourself one year ago

Who would you love to hear speak, alive or dead? Nikola Tesla

When you get stuck creatively, what is the first thing you do to get unstuck?  Go for a leisurely stroll and soak up my surroundings

What’s your Secret Superpower? Synaesthesia

What’s the most recent thing you learned? How to prune a fruit tree

Love is.... When you don't have to think, you just know

We’re really excited to hear more from Alain at Semi-Permanent in August, and will be keeping an eye on what he does in the future. 

Check out the full speaker lineup and their programme overflowing with side events at https://beta.semipermanent.com/events/semi-permanent-auckland-2016.