CreativeMornings: Your Stories
After three years, 33 events, and over 6000 attendees, we’ve been reflecting lately on the connections, collaborations and creative projects the CreativeMornings/Toronto community has pursued together.
We reached out to the community recently to hear what has transpired in your creative career as a result of a CreativeMornings event. If you have a story to share, get in touch with us at toronto@creativemornings.com.
To start us off is CMTO 14 speaker Dave Meslin, who reflects on his CreativeMornings talk:
"I had a great time speaking at CreativeMornings last year, but the traditional ‘speaker at a podium talking an audience’ is kind of disempowering for everyone, because it creates a hierarchy where one person has the mic, and the others are passive. So the part of CreativeMornings that I’m really excited about, is the part that begins as soon as the microphones are turned off: the collaborations that are conceived through the networking capacity of the event. You could call these projects the "offspring" of CreativeMornings. It’s been great to be a part of one of these offsprings, and the organizers of CreativeMornings should take pride in knowing that they created a space for that to happen."
Regular attendee Jay Wall took Dave up on his offer, and shared what happened next:
"At a CreativeMornings Toronto talk back in January 2013, my ears perked up. Dave Meslin was speaking about the role of visual communication in fostering civic engagement. As the creative director of a social impact graphic design studio, I felt that Dave was speaking my language – about something that I’d never really noticed: public notices.
"I knew about Dave’s track record of non-partisan community activism and I’d even read his work, but CreativeMornings was my first time hearing him speak in person. Dave talked about the need for creativity in the way governments engage citizens. Specifically, he showed examples of public notices – you know, those typically black and white “development proposal” ads and signs that often fail to engage citizens in making decisions about their cities.
"In 2012, Dave established the "Dazzling Notice Awards" to recognize municipal governments who are raising the bar and re-designing their public notices to better “dazzle” and engage the public. At that point, the awards were still a small, fledgling project. That day at CreativeMornings, Dave extended an invitation to the audience. He asked that if anyone was interested in being a part of the project, to speak with him after the talk. So I did.
"I told Dave why his talk had resonated with me. Although I hadn’t really thought about public notices before – perhaps because of their very invisibility – I saw the potential for design and visual communication to make an impact and to make an important civic process more accessible. Dave was game to have more hands on deck. And with that, my company STUDIO JAYWALL came on board as the design partner of the Dazzling Notice Awards.
"Over the last two years, Dave and I have worked together to create an identity and website for the awards and to scale the project with a Canada-wide call for entries and a national jury panel. Along the way, Spacing and the U of T Cities Centre have joined us as partners.
"We’re thrilled to present the 2014 Dazzling Notice Awards, December 17th at Toronto City Hall. This year, we are recognizing six Canadian municipalities who are actively encouraging public engagement through their notices.
"Looking back on that first morning when I heard Dave speak, I’m filled with gratitude for the way CMTO sparked this collaboration and ultimately contributed to building a more democratic city and country. My Toronto friends, you continue to inspire me. Thank you."
–Jay Wall, Creative Director/Designer, STUDIO JAYWALL
We hope that CreativeMornings has had an impact on you. We’d love to hear your story.
Kyle Baptista, Organizer
The 2014 Awards Ceremony is Wednesday December 17th, 1pm at Toronto City Hall Committee Room #1 100 Queen St. W. The awards are co-hosted by Josh Matlow, CMTO 14 speaker Dave Meslin, CMTO 32 speaker Matthew Blackett and Jay Wall. Click for more details.
