Monique Hartman of Popped Creative has a vision to bring together the brightest creative and business minds in our region, to share their insights and stories to connect, inspire and entertain with Hustle at Thom Gallery on Friday.
What is the concept behind Hustle?
The over-arching idea is to create a community in the local business world, where we can have honest conversations about our struggles as startups, entrepreneurs, and creatives.
There is a tendency to think that everyone is doing better than yourself when you’re trying to get a business or idea off the ground, but what this event series will show is that even the most successful people have failed and struggled along the way.
We want young residents especially to feel nurtured and that there is opportunity to grow ideas and viable businesses in their local region. We want to package the event in a fun, exciting way, rather than just the same old boring business lecture.
It is also our way of celebrating the people and businesses who have blazed trails and created opportunities for our region through their great ideas, concepts, and talent.
Is it going to be regular?
Yes, Hustle is a four-part event series. There will be three more scattered throughout 2018. Subscribe at www.poppedcreative.com 😉
How can events like this help the creative community reach more people?
Popped Creative likes to do things differently, and that gives us a competitive edge in that people tend to sit up and take notice of what we’re doing. All our events are community focused, and arts- and culture-centric, so we’ve found so far that all creatives who have partnered with us have received a great amount of exposure. We also create networking and collaboration opportunities beyond our events. We like to stretch the benefits as far and wide after each project as possible.
Creatives seeking new ideas to reach the wider community will benefit from these conversations held at HUSTLE. Learning from the best in the business will inspire all sorts of ways for them to get out there and reach audiences themselves as well. It is aimed to be an exercise in education and empowerment for the audience, as much as anything.
What is it that is unique about our arts scene, do you think?
It has become well known that the northern rivers has the highest population of creative professionals anywhere in Australia outside Sydney and Melbourne. It has made the region a tremendous breeding ground for artists of all kinds. Artists are encouraging and supportive of other artists, and the wider community embraces and consumes art in encouraging volume. We tend to give each other permission to explore our creativity more than most regions in Australia. The natural environment probably also has a lot to do with the inspiration we receive daily.
What is your relationship with Thom Gallery?
We stumbled across their pop-up gallery in town last year and loved what they were doing. The gallery is ideal for a Popped event because it is a beautiful space for art; it is a new, growing business, which we like to align with and support. Shelley and Alex are both just lovely people and we’re really enjoying working with them!
What do the speakers on this upcoming program have to offer local art lovers or practitioners?
HUSTLE likes to blend business with creativity so we have speakers who operate in a creative way – be it in fashion, journalism, media, design or other. The talks will illuminate the audience as to how important art and business are to each other. Artists need business acumen for viability, and business needs art to stay relevant and flourish.
Dr Jim Hearn will offer great insights into the world of a writer, and Elizabeth Abegg will discuss the creative way she approached Spell’s mammoth ascent.
The event is an arts-immersive experience, offering multimedia, music, art supplied by Thom Gallery, as well as shared ideas and performances; re-imaging a space and bringing it to life is a real-time body of art itself. We very much consider what we do is live art, and hope it inspires everyone who attends!
Hosted by Ilona Harker, with Elizabeth Abegg of Spell and the Gypsy Collective, Ali Klinkenberg editor of Monster children’s magazines, Andrew Crawley, co-founder of Jack Media, Dr Jim Hearn, chef and Creative Writing lecturer at SCU, Julia Ashwood, founder of The Vista Travel Blog and performance by DJ/producer Vinnie La Duce.
Friday at Thom Gallery 6 Fern Place, Byron Bay Industrial Estate, 5.30pm–late. Purchase tickets for $45 at www.poppedcreative.com/hustle.
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