Exploring Charlotte
Maybe you’re new to Charlotte. Or maybe you’ve been here for a while, but are still eager to get plugged in. We’re your guide to the surging creative energy of our city – the diverse neighborhoods, the colorful details, the must-see projects, the must-attend events, and the ways to get involved.We love Charlotte.
A little credibility here … our two founders, Matt Olin and Tim Miner have both lived in Charlotte since the late 80s. Porter Metzler, our social media guru, was born here and lived in the Queen City all his life.
So, we’ve seen a few things in our time. We’re proud of the past and excited about the vital role we believe the creative community has in creating opportunities and shaping the future of our city.
Charlotte Is Booming
Depending on who you talk to, more than 100 people are moving to Charlotte every day. In 2017 alone, Charlotte saw a net increase of 10,707 millennials. Each one of them is going to need a “Charlotte Sherpa” … someone to show them the ropes.
But, here’s the thing: Charlotteans are terrible salespeople for our city.
When you live in a place, it’s easy to take it for granted. You can get stuck in a routine and lose your sense of adventure. That’s where we come in. Charlotte Is Creative wants to instill a sense of wanderlust in every Charlottean, young and old. We want you to be excited about exploring your city, especially it’s vibrant creative scene. And, we’re giving you the tools to do just that.
Here is How We Help You Explore the Queen City:
Queen City Quiz Show
When it comes to learning things, we believe in the “Mary Poppins” method: A spoonful of sugar …
We love Charlotte history and current events, but too often learning can feel like going back to school. That’s why, with a generous grant from the Knight Foundation, we created Queen City Quiz Show in 2017. That’s right … you can get to know your hometown through a game show that’s baked with equal parts history, current data, sarcasm and laughs. We stage regular public events throughout the year, appear each month on WJZY to do new segments and bring the game to community events throughout the year.
If you are interested in bringing Queen City Quiz Show to your next event or gathering -- a public event or fundraiser, an internal training or celebration or an educational seminar -- click here to learn more.
CreativeMornings/Charlotte
Our co-founders, Matt Olin and Tim Miner, are proud to be the volunteer hosts and organizers of the Charlotte chapter of CreativeMornings, an international organization devoted to the simple mantras that “everyone is creative” and “everyone is welcome.” CreativeMornings boasts more than 200 chapters around the world. Each chapter gathers one Friday morning a month to uplift the creative spirit of their community by gathering creatives and giving them a chance to learn more about each other and the innovative and exciting work under way in their city. Each event features a keynote talk from a local member of the creative community. Every meeting of CreativeMornings is free.
The Charlotte chapter was awarded to the Queen City in 2015 and has gathered the first Friday of every month since November of that year. (Unless it’s the second Friday.) Each past keynote is captured by Charlotte Star Room and can be viewed here.
Tickets for CreativeMornings/Charlotte are free and released to the public (first-come, first-served) the Monday before the event at 9am. Visit the CreativeMornings/Charlotte web site.
If you are interested in sponsoring the Charlotte chapter or serving as a volunteer, click here.
980Fest
How do you become a “Charlottean?” Does it matter how long you’ve lived here … or what your title is … or where you live? No way. The mark of a Charlottean is how involved you are in the life of the city -- how open you are to exploring and meeting people in every corner of the community and whether you jump in with both feet.
To help “Crown” you, we host quarterly 980Fest meet-ups, where newcomers can lift a glass to their new home, learn about local creatives and nonprofits and get going on finding their tribe.
“Where Are We in CLT?” in The Biscuit
Each week on on our media channel, The Biscuit, we feature 5-7 new stops of our ongoing “Where Are We in CLT” section. We want to instill a sense of Crown Town wanderlust in our readers. Where Are We shares little details about a creative or notable location in Charlotte and shows you exactly how to get there to experience it for yourself.
See a map featuring all Where Are We locations we’ve covered to date.
If you have a location you think we should cover, click here.
The Biscuit CLT Podcast
Several times a month, we drop new batches of The Biscuit CLT podcast. Tune in to learn about Charlotte’s creative venues and events and the stories of the people and the passions behind them.