Incubating Creativity & Entrepreneurship: Sign up for Concentrate’s April 20th Speaker Series Event
In our growing culture of disconnected artists and 1099 workers community can be hard to come by. James Marks and Mike Kessler decided to do something about it, creating unique work spaces for creatives and entrepreneurs. Learn the how, why and what’s next for Ypsilanti’s Spur Studios and Ann Arbor’s Workentile Exchange at Concentrate’s next Speaker Series Event. Sign up now!
They’re incubating community, collective innovation and networking opportunities but don’t call them incubators. 
Spur Studios in Ypsilanti and Workantile Exchange in Ann Arbor are inspiring examples of do-it-yourself endeavors that have brought together a rich coalition of artists, writers, techies, designers, musicians, entrepreneurs, and craftsmen.
Concentrate has invited the innovators behind these two creative spaces —James Marks and Mike Kessler– to talk about how and why they got started, where they’re headed next, and what their spaces mean for the communities they are in.
The Speaker Series event will be held Tuesday, April 20th in The Michigan Theater’s Screening Room (located at 603 East Liberty Street).
The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited so you must pre-register.
The event starts at 5 p.m. with sign in starting at 4:45PM. The presentation will begin at 5:15 p.m. and run for a little over an hour. Refreshments (beer, wine, and bottled water) will be provided.
Discussion and networking afterward is encouraged.
Concentrate’s Speaker Series is sponsored by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority.
Like a mini Russell Street Industrial Center, James Mark’s Spur Studios has turned a vacant manufacturing facility near Eastern Michigan University into a creative hive of artists and small businesses.
It took just six short months for Marks to fill the 10,000 square foot space and already he’s looking for another.
WORKANTILE EXCHANGE
Since last June, Workantile Exchange has become home base for Ann Arbor’s geek culture, a space where 1099 professionals and small businesses work side by side. Though the storefront space on Main Street is filled with coworking freelancers and entrepreneurs, it has become more than just a place to rent a desk. The collective is branching out into training workshops, private functions, public meetings and networking get-togethers. Response has been terrific, with membership steadily growing.
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