The Mid-Michigan Creative Alliance just concluded its first studio crawl, and it was a hit among the Lansing area's creative talent, including local businesses and college students who are interested in pursuing creative careers.
Twelve of the area’s top creative firms—including video production studios, photographers, advertising agencies and design companies—opened their doors to the public, giving each participant a punch card to mark their progress on the studio crawl. At the end of the progressive tour, visitors who turned in their studio cards were added to a raffle for a free iPod.
Studio crawl organizer and Vision Creative owner, Camron Gnass, says he doesn’t know how many people attended the crawl, but it definitely opened people’s eyes to the area’s thriving creative community.
“It gets warm bodies through our studios and lets them see the work that’s done in this market,” Gnass says.
One student even walked away from the crawl with a job offer.
“This being the inaugural event, we learned so much,” Gnass says. “We saw that this could really go anywhere and had so much success. The community was pouring through the doors and we thought, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’”
The 12 stops on this year’s tour certainly show the Mid-Michigan creative community is alive and well, but those listed on the tour guide are just the tip of the iceberg. Gnass says he hopes several more businesses, such as Studio Intrigue and Redhead Design Studio, will be included in future crawls.
“Ideally every creative place in town could have their doors open,” Gnass says.
Source: Camron Gnass, Mid-Michigan Creative Alliance
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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