Creative Exchange

📣 Join us for the second annual Creative Exchange— A one-day professional development experience designed to strengthen the capacity, sustainability, and economic mobility of artists across Northeast Ohio.

✅ Light breakfast and full lunch included.

THE WORKSHOPS

• Art Activates Change

Discover how art fuels resistance and drives social change. This dynamic session explores protest imagery, powerful slogans, and storytelling rooted in lived experience. Participants will collaborate to craft a bold, unifying message with the potential to be featured on Akron Black Artist Guild merchandise.

• “Am I a Business?”

Turn your creativity into a sustainable business. Led by a small business counselor, this practical session breaks down LLCs and sole proprietorships, budgeting for artists, tax write-offs, and studio setup options. Walk away with clarity and a simple 6-month financial action plan.

• “What Does Your Portfolio Say About You?”

Make sure your work speaks before you do. This interactive session helps artists evaluate their portfolio through a curator’s lens, strengthen their artist statement, refine their brand message, and craft a confident elevator pitch. Leave with a clear checklist to elevate your presentation and impact. Upload selected work to [email protected] by May 15, to review during class.

• Rest Is Resistance

Recharge your creativity and embrace rest as a powerful act. This wellness-focused session teaches grounding techniques, helps recognize burnout, and guides artists in building sustainable creative habits and personal affirmations for resilience.

• Bringing Your Character to Life

Build characters that feel real and stories that resonate. This engaging workshop guides writers through character development, world-building, conflict creation, and authentic dialogue equipping you with practical tools to strengthen narrative consistency and bring your stories to life.

• Panel: Creative Exchange Design Showcase: “Meet the Artists!”

Step inside the creative process. Meet the Design Challenge teams as they share how they transformed blank spaces into immersive artistic experiences. Learn about collaboration, sourcing, and execution while connecting directly with artists and exploring future partnership opportunities.

Info: Light breakfast available.

Info: Kick off the day with a welcome and opening remarks, followed by conversation with Sneaker Academy Founder & Executive Director, Dominique Waters on Culture, Commerce & Creative Ownership. Where culture meets business. This high energy plenary explores how fashion, streetwear, and design shape economic ecosystems and build powerful brands. Discover how to monetize your creative identity without losing authenticity, turn everyday objects into storytelling platforms, and move from idea to product to distribution. Leave inspired to see your creativity as both cultural influence and economic power.

Info: Session 1: Explore, Engage, and Elevate
Kick off the Creative Exchange with three hands-on workshops offered simultaneously, led by experienced artists and creative professionals. Workshops feature collaborative art making, business assistance, plus portfolio reviews to get direct feedback and strengthen your work.

Info: Session 2: Deepen Your Practice and Expand Your Vision
Continue your creative journey with another set of three concurrent workshops focused on skill-building and exploration. This session includes a panel on artistic sustainability and collaboration, writing and world building and ways to just rest as a creative!

Info: Lunch & Networking: Connect, Explore, and Celebrate
Take a break and fuel up while connecting with fellow creatives! Enjoy a lively networking lunch featuring local vendors and resource tables from organizations supporting artists and creative businesses. This is your chance to exchange ideas, discover new opportunities, and celebrate the day’s creativity. Don’t miss the excitement of voting for the Design Challenge winner as we highlight innovative projects and honor the artists bringing bold ideas to life.

Info: Commerce & Trade: Scaling Your Creative Business Globally
Join Keynote speaker Michel Nouafo for a dynamic session centered on the power of commerce and trade in the creative economy. Drawing from his expertise with the U.S. Commercial Service at the International Trade Administration, we will explore how artists and creative entrepreneurs can leverage global trade to expand their reach and revenue.
This conversation will highlight practical pathways for entering international markets, building cross-border partnerships, and thinking beyond your local community. Attendees will gain insight into how a strong understanding of trade and commerce can transform creative work into sustainable, scalable businesses with global impact.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Bounce Innovation Hub, 526 South Main Street, Akron, United States

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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