Hello CreativeMornings / DEN Community! 💜

This Friday’s CREATE gathering is going to be a little different… and we are SO excited about it.

Instead of a traditional speaker format, CREATE is an opportunity for our community to share what they’re working on! Whether it’s artwork, photography, fashion, music, products, zines, ideas, works-in-progress, passion projects, or creative experiments… we would love for you to bring your creativity into the room.

This morning is intentionally designed to be very organic and not overly structured. Think open studio vibes, creative collisions, conversations, experimentation, and community connection. ✨

✨ SETUP DETAILS ✨

If you are planning to share your work, you are welcome to begin setting up anytime after 7:30am so you are ready to go by 8:00am when doors open.

A few helpful notes:
• Conference rooms are first come, first serve and may be shared
• We highly recommend bringing your own table/setup materials just to be safe, as furniture availability may vary
• Feel free to keep things simple and scrappy... this is about connection and creativity, not perfection

PARKING DETAILS:

Turn right into the alley after you pass Elements and drive all the way to the back giant parking lot! If you are going to park off street, you MUST park here in A lot! 

If you are selling items, we would greatly appreciate a small donation back to CreativeMornings / DEN to help support future gatherings and our creative community. 💜

At 9:00am sharp, we’ll all gather together in the lecture area for a quick CreativeMornings program before reopening the space for more sharing, connecting, and exploring.

We cannot WAIT to see what this beautiful community brings into the room.

See you Friday morning!

With hugs, high-fives, and creativity,
Brandi + the CreativeMornings / DEN Team

At CreativeMornings Denver, we talk often about the importance of creative community. Not just the polished highlights, but the real, living ecosystem of artists, writers, musicians, photographers, designers, dreamers, and the people brave enough to create platforms for them to be seen.

That’s why today, we want to shine a light on one of our longtime community partners and beloved creative staples: Birdy Magazine.

For nearly 13 years, Birdy has remained artist-run, independent, and deeply human. They’ve published 148 FREE monthly issues, showcasing thousands of artists and creatives from Denver and far beyond. No paywall. No chasing algorithms. Just beautifully curated, tangible storytelling made with heart, grit, ink, paper, and a whole lot of late nights.

In a world increasingly ruled by scrolling, Birdy has remained a place you can actually hold in your hands.

Every issue is thoughtfully crafted by Jonny DeStefano and Krysti Joméi, two humans who have poured their lives into preserving analog culture and creating a screen-free creative space where artists can shine. Alongside a passionate volunteer crew of writers, artists, distributors, supporters, and advertisers, they’ve built something truly rare: a publication that feels like community.

But sustaining independent art spaces isn’t easy.

Birdy has grown into something that reaches tens of thousands of people, and the weight of carrying it can no longer rest on just a few shoulders. Right now, they’re asking the community they’ve championed for years to help keep Birdy alive and soaring.

And honestly? We know this community understands the value of that.

Maybe Birdy published your work.
Maybe you discovered a new artist through its pages.
Maybe a copy sat on your coffee table, your studio desk, your favorite café counter, or taped to your wall like a tiny paper rebellion against a disposable digital world.

If Birdy has ever inspired you, connected you, encouraged you, or simply reminded you that creativity still matters, now’s the moment to stand with them.

Because print is still here.
Print is undead. 🖤
But independent creative spaces survive because communities choose to protect them.

Please consider giving what you can, spreading the word, and helping keep this beautiful publication alive for future artists, writers, and weird little dreamers who need places like Birdy to exist.

A small collective act of kindness can keep Birdy soaring. 🤍

SUPPORT BIRDY MAGAZINE! 

What if your resume felt less like a list of tasks... and more like a reflection of your value, story, creativity, and strengths?

Join CreativeMornings / DENVER for a special FieldTrip experience designed to help you communicate who you are professionally with more confidence and clarity. Led by our own community member, Erica Conway, this workshop is all about learning how to authentically share your experience, strengths, and personal story in a way that connects.

Whether you’re job searching, shifting careers, freelancing, building your personal brand, or simply wanting to better express who you are professionally, this evening is designed to help you stand out in a meaningful and genuine way.

📍 THRIVE Workplace Ballpark
📅 Wednesday, June 24
🕕 6–8 PM

✨ “Cake & Frosting transformed my resume and shot my confidence sky high.”
— Courtney Roggzewski

✨ “A total game-changer for sharing your true value with employers.”
— Tamara Kriese

✨ “I negotiated a 40% increase in compensation!”
— Seth Hill

This won’t be your typical resume workshop. Expect encouragement, practical tools, connection, conversation, and fresh perspective from fellow creatives and professionals navigating their own next chapters.

Come as you are. Bring your questions, your ideas, your experience, and maybe even that dusty resume file sitting on your desktop. 😄

We can’t wait to gather with you.

🎟 Save your spot!

At CreativeMornings Denver, we gather with coffee and conversation on the last Friday of every month, greeting the sunrise together and connecting over ideas, creativity, and community.

Earlier in the month, on a different night once the sun goes down, another beautiful gathering takes place in our city.

Meet Analog Salon.

We like to think of them as our nocturnal brother in Denver’s creative community. While we gather in the morning light, Analog Salon brings people together in the evening through storytelling, music, and shared experience.

Each month they create an intimate, thoughtful space where music becomes a bridge to conversation and storytelling. It’s the kind of evening where you settle in, listen deeply, and leave feeling more connected to the people around you.

Susan interviews Reiland Rabaka, Ph.D. Founder and Director, Center for African & African American Studies. Photo by Josh Hunter / Coarse Grinder

Analog Salon meets on the first Thursday of every month at their headquarters inside the Posner Center, and each gathering unfolds in three intentional phases that guide the rhythm of the night.

🎧 Social Mixer & DJ Sets (6:00–7:00 PM)

The evening begins with a social mixer set to the warm crackle of vinyl. Local DJs spin genre-crossing, vinyl-only sets while guests arrive, grab a drink, and connect with fellow creatives. The room fills with good energy, curiosity, and conversation.

🎶 Storytelling Through Music (7:00–8:00 PM)

Next comes the heart of the evening. Analog Salon welcomes a featured guest—someone with a story to tell and a song to match.

Through music and conversation, they share the songs that shaped their life. Each track opens a window into their experiences, memories, and influences. It’s storytelling through soundscape, reminding us how deeply music is woven into our personal and collective stories.

🛍 Chill Vibes & Analog Marketplace (8:00–9:00 PM)

As the night winds down, guests mingle and explore the Analog Marketplace, where local creators showcase books, vinyl, zines, art, and other creative treasures. It’s a chance to continue conversations and support the artists and storytellers in our community.

DJ Neon Brown. Photo by Josh Hunter / Coarse Grinder

The next Analog Salon gathering is coming up soon!

📅 Thursday, April 2nd
📍 Analog Salon HQ at the Posner Center

If you’ve never experienced an Analog Salon evening, we highly recommend it. It’s thoughtful, inspiring, and deeply rooted in the same spirit of connection that fuels our CreativeMornings gatherings.

We are so grateful to have Analog Salon as a CreativeMornings Denver community partner. Denver’s creative community is richer because of spaces like this—places where people come together to listen, share stories, and celebrate creativity.

So if you love CreativeMornings in the morning, you might just fall in love with Analog Salon at night. 💜

👉🎟️ Snag your tickets and join the next Analog Salon gathering!

Creative entrepreneurship is a beautiful adventure… and sometimes a confusing, chaotic, “how did I get here?” ride.

There are the moments no one warns you about.
The client curveballs. The tech meltdowns. The pricing puzzles. The “wait… is this normal?” moments that show up when you’re building something creative and meaningful.

So we thought… why not talk about it?

On Thursday, March 19th, in partnership with Collective Mind Technologies, the CreativeMornings / DEN community is gathering for a special evening workshop designed for the real-life moments behind the creative journey.

We’re calling it:

Creative Fixes for Real-Life WTH’s?!?!?!

Because every creative eventually runs into a few of those moments.

We’ll kick off the evening with time to mingle, grab a drink and snacks, and connect with fellow creatives. Then we’ll move into guided breakout conversations where small groups will explore common creative challenges together.

Bring your questions, your current creative puzzles, or simply your curiosity. Whether it’s pricing, boundaries, momentum, marketing, burnout, or figuring out your next step, this will be a space to share ideas, exchange wisdom, and learn from the people sitting right next to you.

Think of it as a community brainstorming session for creative humans.

Expect thoughtful conversations, practical insights, and the kind of honest sharing that happens when creatives gather around the table together.

✨ Light refreshments and bevvies will be provided, because good conversations are even better with snacks.

Event Details

📅 Thursday, March 19
🕕 6:00–8:00 PM
📍 Thrive Ballpark
1415 Park Ave West

Come ready to listen, share, and connect with fellow creatives navigating the beautifully unpredictable world of making things happen.

Because sometimes the best creative fix… is simply talking it through with people who get it. 💜

This event is free and open to our CreativeMornings / DEN community! 

Register here!! 

Did you know CreativeMornings builds a playlist for every theme? 🎶

February’s theme is CAMINO — path, way, journey, movement. And this time, we’re not curating it alone. We’re inviting our global community to help shape the soundtrack.

Add a song that reminds you of a path you’ve walked, a road you’re on, or a direction you’re dreaming about.

Head to the CAMINO playlist on YouTube Music and drop your track in. Let’s build a journey you can press play on.

There are certain corners of the internet that feel like a scrapbook you didn’t realize you were keeping.

This week, I found myself scrolling through our CreativeMornings/Denver Flickr account… and wow. What started as “let me just peek for a second” turned into a full-on time travel session. (You know the kind. One minute you’re looking at one photo, and the next thing you know you’ve emotionally moved into 2016 and you’re living there now.)

Page after page, album after album, I watched years of our creative community unfold in snapshots.

The faces. The hugs. The tiny moments.

There are photos of people arriving early with coffee in hand, name tags being scribbled on with care, speakers stepping up with brave hearts, and friends greeting friends like they’ve known each other forever.

There are rooms full of creative energy and those quiet moments where someone is clearly thinking, clearly feeling something deep.

And then there’s the in-between magic… the laughter. The candid glances. The group photos where everyone is smiling like they’re part of something bigger than an event.

Because they are.

The themes were never “just themes.”

If you’ve been with us for a while, you know the themes have always been more than a prompt. They’ve been tiny invitations.

An invitation to show up inspired.
An invitation to be curious.
An invitation to reflect, grow, try again, tell the truth, laugh harder, love people better.

Looking back, it’s wild how certain themes match what we were all going through in those seasons, even when we didn’t realize it at the time. Like the universe was quietly nudging us forward… one CreativeMornings Friday at a time.

The venues were characters in the story.

Scrolling through old albums also reminded me how the spaces helped shape the experience. Every venue brought its own personality: the echoes of a big room, the intimacy of a smaller gathering, the way a stage made a speaker feel like a rockstar, the way a bright lobby made the whole morning feel like a celebration.

It made me realize something: CreativeMornings isn’t tied to one location. It’s tied to the people inside it.

The community is the legacy.

If you’re new around here, welcome. Truly. 💜

And if you’ve been coming for years, I hope you know this: you’ve helped build something special.

CreativeMornings/Denver isn’t just a lineup of talks. It’s a living, growing community. A patchwork quilt of artists, entrepreneurs, designers, students, dreamers, doers, introverts, extroverts, and everyone in-between.

We’ve seen each other through career shifts, heartbreaks, launches, new beginnings, hard seasons, big wins, and quiet reinventions.

And the proof is right there… album by album.

So here’s my invitation: go look.

If you ever want a boost of encouragement, a shot of inspiration, or a reminder that you’re not doing life alone, take a scroll through the Flickr archives.

Find a photo from a year you forgot.
Tag a friend you haven’t seen in a while.
Spot yourself in the crowd.
Smile at the familiar faces.
And maybe let it remind you that showing up matters.

Because every time you’ve walked into CreativeMornings, you’ve been part of the story we’re telling together.

And we’re still telling it.

💜✨
See you at the next one.

Hi Denver! We’re so glad you’re here. 💜

CreativeMornings is a global creative community that gathers once a month for coffee, connection, and a short inspiring talk. And here in Denver, we keep it simple: show up as you are, grab a cup of coffee, meet a few friendly humans, and leave feeling more inspired than when you walked in.

Whether you’re an artist, designer, entrepreneur, student, parent, nonprofit leader, side-hustler, dreamer, or simply someone who loves being around creative energy… you belong here.

What happens at CreativeMornings?

Our events are held once a month and include:

☕ 8:00–9:00am | Coffee + Connection
This is the relaxed, mingle-y hour. Come say hi, meet new people, reconnect with familiar faces, and settle in.

🎤 9:00–10:00am | Program + Speaker
We kick things off with quick community pitches and then hear from a featured speaker who brings a fresh perspective, a good story, and a little spark to carry into your day.

What makes CreativeMornings / Denver special?

Honestly… it’s the people. 💜

Our community is made up of folks from all walks of life who show up to learn, share, connect, and support each other. You’ll find:

• New friendships
• Creative momentum
• Business collaborations
• Encouragement when you need it most
• A reminder that you’re not doing the “building a life” thing alone
• We’re 100% volunteer-run

CreativeMornings / Denver is made possible through the generosity of our volunteers, venues, and community partners. This is truly a “Denver showing up for Denver” kind of thing… and we’re so grateful.

New here? Start simple.

If it’s your first time, here are a few easy ways to jump in:

✅ Come early and introduce yourself
✅ Bring a friend (or come solo… you’ll be welcomed)
✅ Say hi to a volunteer
✅ Stay after to chat with someone new
✅ Follow us on social so you don’t miss event announcements

See you soon ☕💜

We can’t wait to meet you at an upcoming event. Thanks for being here, thanks for showing up, and thanks for being part of what makes Denver such a creative, welcoming place.

A year of brave ideas, big feelings, and the sweetest kind of togetherness. 💜 From venue to venue, story to story, we kept showing up, connecting, and remembering what community is supposed to feel like.

That’s 2025.
That’s CreativeMornings / DEN. ☕✨
Created by our longtime video partner Corey Clark

Click to view!

As we wrap up 2025, our hearts are so full.

CreativeMornings Denver continues to be a living, breathing reminder of what happens when curiosity, creativity, and community show up for each other—month after month, room after room, cup of coffee after cup of coffee.

To our incredible community: thank you for coming early, staying late, sharing your stories, asking brave questions, and making space for one another. Every gathering feels richer because of the people in it, and this community continues to grow in the most beautiful way.

A Love Letter to Our Venues 🏙️✨
One of the great joys of this year has been traveling all around Denver, gathering in some of the city’s most inspiring and unexpected spaces. A huge thank you to the venues who welcomed us so generously in 2025:

Alphabetical order:

Ballyhoo
Bierstadt Lagerhaus
Denver Botanic Gardens
Invisible City
Mile High Spirits
Prismajic
Reynard Social
Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
SPACE Gallery
Wonderyard

Each space brought its own energy, texture, and magic—and together they reminded us how creative this city truly is.

The Partners Who Make It All Possible 🤝☕
CreativeMornings doesn’t happen without support, and we are endlessly grateful to the partners who showed up for us this year:

Thank you to Ad Club Colorado, Thrive Ballpark, RDG Planning & Design, Dogz Brew Coffee, BRIDGE, and Hollow Head Coffee + Ponder Coffee for fueling our mornings—literally and figuratively.

Behind the Lens 🎥💫
A special thank you to our amazing media team, who help us capture the heart of CreativeMornings so it can live on beyond the room:

Corey Clark, Mio Sison III, Fa'al, Bahar Samani, Jim Darling, and L. Stop Media—thank you for telling our story with such care and creativity. 

Looking Ahead ✨
As we step into a new year, we’re filled with excitement for what’s ahead: new themes, new voices, new spaces, and deeper connections. CreativeMornings Denver continues to be a place where ideas are shared freely, creativity is celebrated loudly, and everyone is welcome at the table.

Thank you for being part of this journey.
Here’s to another year of showing up, staying curious, and creating together.

With Hugs & High-Fives
The CreativeMornings Denver team 💜