No Postage Needed: Giant Holiday Cards Delivered to Trade & Tryon
Eat Your Heart Out Hallmark:
Uptown Charlotte is the Place for Holiday CardsTo add a little more holiday cheer to the Square of Trade and Tryon Street, Charlotte Center City Partners and Charlotte Is Creative teamed up with five local artists with very different styles — Lo’Vonia Parks, Julia Valle, Eraklis, Caroline Simas and Elle Walsh — to create and install giant holiday cards in Polk Park. So, grab your camera, head uptown and check them out. And while you are at it, take a few snaps in front of them for your holiday card. They will be on display through December and are designed to be a colorful backdrop for holiday pictures with family and friends. The cards are cheerful and cool, but so are the five creatives behind them. See more and learn about the artists behind the art. 
Energetic Art for an Energetic Organization: Work for Your Beer“The pandemic has helped us recognize the extreme importance of wellness. Pairing mental and physical wellness allows us to live a healthier, happier life, which is what we all want for ourselves (and one another), right?” – Mel Fox, Co-Founder of Work for Your Beer
In 2015, Melanie Fox and Alicia Valenski started attending beer yoga classes together in Charlotte. They were instantly hooked — a group activity that combined two things they loved, exercise and exploring craft beer after class (and sometimes DURING class). Thus, Work for Your Beer (WFYB) was born — a group with the mission of bringing together people who strive to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle without sacrificing the things they love, like craft beer. WFYB was an immediate hit, powered by the vibrant and infectious personalities of Fox and Valenski. And, that’s why — to create works of art that embodied their mission — we asked the most exuberant and colorful creative we know: Caroline Simas. She created painted beer goblets just in time for the release of a WFYB’s fifth anniversary and a new custom beer brewed for them by Divine Barrel Brewing.
The Partnership Pairing series is sponsored by OrthoCarolina.
ONE: Podcast Pros Share Their Prowess Next Week What happens when your first-ever podcast festival garners nearly 14,000 podcast-infatuated and podcast-curious attendees from around the globe? You do it again, that’s what! Named one of 2020’s “best podcast conferences” by Buzzsprout, the Charlotte Podcast Festival, created by WFAE, returns Nov. 30 through Dec. 4. With support from OrthoCarolina, all festival events are virtual, free and open to the public! Advice from the Best in the Business Those interested in learning how to record, edit, host and market a podcast will learn that and more through virtual networking opportunities, panel discussions and seminars with nationally recognized podcasting experts such as Sarah Delia (She Says, The List), Tommy Tomlinson (SouthBound, On My Mind), Kelly McEvers (Embedded), Shereen Marisol Meraji (Code Switch) and Ian Chillag (Everything is Alive). Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hank Klibanoff of the Buried Truths podcast, who has won everything from a Peabody to the Edward R. Murrow and American Bar Association Silver Gavel awards, is a festival headliner. Creating a Community of Podcasters “Podcasting is an essential way in which our journalists can tell deeper, more complex stories, but it also allows us to support the community in telling their own stories,” said Ju-Don Marshall, executive vice president and chief content officer at WFAE. “That’s why we do so much to train people on how to do their podcasts well — giving people the information they need to produce, distribute and monetize their own podcasts.” ** WFAE is a media partner of The Biscuit. OrthoCarolina is a content sponsor of The Biscuit, as seen in the “Partnership Pairings” story above.
TWO: Arts and Culture Advisory Board Members NamedThe City of Charlotte has named all 18 members of the new arts and culture board selected to assist Priya Sircar, the City’s arts and culture officer, develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the arts in Charlotte. The Board will also work with Sircar to allocate approximately $4.4 million in funds from the 2022 fiscal year to support arts, culture, and artists and $12 million respectively in the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. Each board member below will serve a three-year term. Tim Miner, co-publisher of The Biscuit, is among them. The Board will meet for the first time in December. Cyndee Patterson was appointed Board Chair by Mayor Vi Lyles. Appointed by Charlotte City Council - Carla Aaron-Lopez, Independent Artist and Arts Educator
- Aisha Dew, Artist/Arts Administrator and Community Activist
- Tim Miner, Co-Founder, Charlotte is Creative
- Shefalee Patel, Independent Artist and Community Volunteer
- Kevin Patterson, Arts and Community Board Member
- Nick Tosco, Musician and Local Government Attorney, Poyner Spruill LLP
Appointed by Mayor Vi Lyles - Irisol Gonzales, Fine Artist and Muralist
- Lex Kimbrough, Filmmaker, Brave Boy Media
- Corey Mitchell, Arts Educator and Founder/Artistic Director, Theatre Gap Initiative
Appointed by Foundation For The Carolinas - Cyndee Patterson, President, Lee Institute/The Duke Mansion
- Sandra Fernandes, Global Returnship Program Director, Glide – Relaunch, Wells Fargo
- Su Ping Lu, General Counsel – Securities, Governance and Corporate Finance, Honeywell
- Anna Spangler Nelson, Chair, Spangler Companies, Inc.
- Grace Nystrum, SVP – Strategic Marketing Executive, Global Banking and Markets, Bank of America
- Marisa Thalberg, EVP, Chief Brand and Marketing Officer, Lowe’s
- Charles Thomas, Program Director – Charlotte, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
- April Whitlock, Head of Corporate Citizenship, LendingTree; Executive Director, LendingTree Foundation
Appointed by the Arts & Science Council - Philip Thomas, Civic Leader
THREE: Dean’s List Names Charlotte’s 20 Inspiring Leaders Under 20You’ve heard of the awards “40 Under 40” (The Business Journal) and “40 Over 40” (The Charlotte Ledger), but there’s a new award in town for local leaders, one that embraces Charlotte youth movement. To recognize community leaders aged 14 to 19, Charlotte branding agency, The Dean’s List, launched the “20 Under 20” Awards earlier this year to encourage the public to nominate young creatives, innovators and philanthropists working in arts and education, scholastic achievement and community leadership and impact. This week, the group announced its inaugural class. They will be honored at a private ceremony in December. - David Buckner
- Maia Campbell
- Smera Chandan
- Parker Cook
- Mongai Fankham
- Jack Feldstein
- Alexander Fultz
- Sidney Griffin
- Lexi Haas
- Evan Jean
- Tre Moore
- Spoorthi Munnangi
- Laura Saavedra
- Gerard Sanchez
- Esha Singaraju
- Kai Spence
- Jerry Stamatelatos
- Shayna Strasser
- Kierra Sunris
- Samantha Torres-Rosado
Charlotte Is Creative is proud to help sponsor “20 Under 20” with a $1,000 Bear HUG micro-grant powered by the LendingTree Foundation.
FOUR: It’s time to #DoGood!Black Friday is exciting. And, Cyber Monday may set the internet ablaze. But, our favorite is Giving Tuesday (Nov. 30) — a global day of generosity. We at The Biscuit want to encourage you to support nonprofits in the Charlotte area by celebrating #GivingTuesdayCLT, an effort spearheaded by SHARE Charlotte. You can support a local nonprofit by giving time, money or goods, any of which would be greatly appreciated. When we all come together through the power of generosity, we can make a huge difference in our community. While we would certainly welcome donations to our HUG micro-grant program to help us drop a “love bomb of cash” on a local creative, we’d be just as happy if you supported our friends such as the Do Greater Foundation, Hope Vibes, She Built This City, Prospera, ArtPop Street Gallery, Fashion & Compassion and many more you can find in SHARE’s directory.
Ready to Get Out of the House? Take a Creative Tour in the Charlotte AreaLet’s face it, after celebrating around the table with family and friends on Thanksgiving … it’s time to get out of the house. Lucky for you, we’ve done the work ahead of time, exploring Charlotte-area communities ranging from Matthews and University City to Rock Hill and Fort Mill thanks to our friends at OrthoCarolina. We’ve assembled them all in one place, so you can head out on a creative excursion this weekend.
Buy from Local Makers and Creatives This WeekendInstead of going online or hitting the big box stores this weekend, we encourage you to indulge in Small Business Saturday by patronizing Charlotte creatives and makers. There are tons of local arts and crafts markets popping up all over Crown Town this weekend, so you’ve got no excuse not to #shoplocal. Here are a few of our faves: If you know of other local creative and maker markets planned in December, please let us know about them here!
It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving and Friendsgiving have come and gone for another year. But, we’re still incredibly grateful for the creative community in Charlotte. We took to Instagram to share our feelings and you can read the full, four-slide post here or by clicking the image below. 
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