On Wednesday 29th October, we enjoyed a wonderful time at CH Live! in our new venue -the Red Herring, London.
Arriving at our new venue with much anticipation it felt like we’d shifted up a gear. The setup at The Red Herring is more professional whilst keeping the informal creative buzz we like. There were many new faces to be welcomed as badges were handed out with symbols to become clear later.
Member Interview: Deborah Henry-Pollard
One of the key reasons for running the CH Live! events is to give a glimpse into our minihubs, the monthly accountability groups, as I often get asked ‘can I try a minihub before committing to it?’ The answer is always ‘no’. Only because each groups members build trust with each other and have shared in each others stories that it can be disruptive to introduce a new person every so often where the dynamics may change and you have to explain everything again as they don’t know the back story to each members ideas.
This time I invited Deborah Henry-Pollard, creative coach and one of our founding minihub members to share with us what she’d gained from being part of a hub for the last two years now. I quizzed her on all aspects of mini-hubs and here’s some of what she had to say.
“I got a lot out of it as I got my project done, but I think the thing I like about it is that you see everybody else’s projects. You see them going from a little idea, right through to [the final thing]. It’s lovely having that support and it’s lovely giving that support as well.”
Deborah also shared with us about her recent project ‘This is Not a Film About Tango‘, the idea of which came to her during a minihub meeting. It is a video that beautifully explains coaching using another one of her passions -the Argentine Tango. And, very good it is too.
Crowdfunding for Creatives
The key speaker for the evening was Anthony O-Thomas founder and CEO of GoodFruit crowdfunding platform. I’d been wanting to get Anthony to speak at CH Live! ever since we’d been put in touch by a mutual friend, met up for a coffee and got chatting about creativity, shared values and dreams. Anthony’s passion for helping creatives thrive, or in his language, ‘dreamers and co-dreamers passionate about culture bring projects with integrity and purpose to fruition’ is aligned with Creatives Hub, so it was a pleasure to hear him talk to us. We weren’t disappointed. For the first time we recorded the talk –well most of it. So you can have a look for yourself. You can also listen to the Insight podcast episode where I spoke to Anthony in more depth.
Creative brainstorming
The second half of the evening is given over to helping creatives get unstuck on projects or just put ideas forwards to receive feedback. The symbols on the badges referred to earlier indicate which groups attendees ar in and our new venue allows us much more space to spread out.
There was a real buzz as usual and it’s difficult to get people to stop talking and change groups! That’s a good problem to have. Although I don’t get to speak to everyone afterwards I certainly heard of good collaborations that are taking place due to the connections made.
Around 9pm in the last few minutes we discussed in more detail how the mini-hubs work, explained the investment involved and the discount that applies if you sign up on the night.
I always love getting creatives together and many stayed well after the official end to continue connecting. A very good evening.
I would love to see you at our next one in January so keep a look out for details and booking coming soon.
