The Skillery’s Nashville Creativity Summit

* disclaimer – Matt Dudley [founder/owner of The Skillery] and his lovely wife + sweet kiddo are not only neighbors of ours, but dear friends. That being said, if I didn’t believe with every bone in my body in the work he + The Skillery do, I wouldn’t be sharing this upcoming event with you. Scouts honor.

If you live in Nashville and haven’t heard about The Skillery, then you must live under a rock. Or in Spring Hill. [I kid I kid...but really. So. Far. Away!] Essentially what The Skillery does is offer a web-based venue for experts, from self-taught hobbyists to those that are professionally trained, to share their skills and experience with those of us who want to learn, or learn more. It is a wonderful way to connect local businesses, big and small, with their neighbors.

A recent glance at the calendar of upcoming classes showed those covering topics from cloth diapering and kombucha making to app building and freelance writing 101. If you don’t see a class offered that you might be interested in, you can nominate a topic. If your topic gets enough votes and a reputable teacher can be secured, your class idea will most likely become a reality!

Aside from checking The Skillery‘s website for new and upcoming classes, you should keep an eye on their content pages. They recently nabbed Nicole [from the currently inactive East Nashville, With Love website] and she’s been writing some great features on local artists, bartenders, business people, etc. Her writing makes you feel like you’ve just met a new friend. Some highlights of her features include :

-  stoke.d’s Parker Gates [geek]

- linen laid&felt’s Katie Gonzalez [grow]

- Little Chief Honeybee’s Kaelah Beauregarde [make]

- Nashville Kettlebell’s David Whitley [play]

- Holland House’s Jeremiah Blake [taste]

- author Susannah Felts [work]

So, since I’m already getting long-winded – let me get to the point of this post! The Skillery is hosting a two day city-wide Creativity Summit next month. The first day, Saturday February 9th, will feature keynotes, panels and workshops about branding, social media engagement, design thinking and other topics. Registration includes coffee, a light breakfast and lunch [along with some sweets by me, sweet betweens!]. Sunday February 10th features a packed schedule of à la carte classes taking place all over the city. You can see the detailed schedule for both days here.

Why don’t you show some support for a great new local business, spend a day with your thinking + networking caps on and join me and many of your neighbors for a great weekend of learning? Register here – and come back or send me a tweet and let me know you’re coming! Would love to see you at the Emma offices in a few weeks!

xo,

@

* side note – I’ve been going back and forth with Matt about teaching my own sweet betweens classes focused on baking [there's a very long text chain to prove it!]. if I did, what would you be interested in learning? cookie basics? layer cakes? DIY extracts and sugars/salts? comment below or send me a tweet and let me know!