For the artsy type, it’s the antidote to the snooze button: an early-morning talk led by an inspiring local (or two!), plus coffee, gourmet eats, and a chance for idea-swapping with fellow thinkers and dreamers. It’s no surprise, then, that since launching in 2014, CreativeMornings Charleston—the local arm of a global org—has been drawing at-capacity crowds to free monthly lectures held all over the peninsula.
It doesn’t hurt that the group, run by volunteers including ”host” Ivan Lima, a graphic designer, has partnered with super-cool venues (from The Cedar Room to the Gibbes Museum) and food-and-bev purveyors (like Counter Culture and Brown’s Court Bakery). And it’s signed on speakers as varied as Charleston Symphony Orchestra music director Ken Lam and COAST Brewing co-owner Jaime Tenny.
Each month, all 157 chapters worldwide are assigned the same theme—the January 20 event centers around “Mystery”—and encouraged to upload videos of their lectures to an archive at creativemornings.com. Cristy Jamison, the group’s community outreach coordinator, notes, “We’re having a discussion with cities around the world; each chapter speaks in its own language and expresses its viewpoints and cultural positions.”
