Rebooting Creative Networking in Glasgow
If you’ve known me for a long time, you’ll know that I am a passionate believer in community, and the power of people who are passionate to come together and create (or do) great things.
Way back in the depths of time (well, circa 2008/9), when I first started getting into portrait photography, I had to find faces (and places) to shoot. And the truth is, despite trying a few of the networking sites for models/photographers etc, I never really got much from it – I’m much more about connecting with people face to face (despite being a massive introvert).
I posted a suggestion for a local meet-up on a photography portfolio site forum, and thought I’d see what happened.
I think about 25-30 locals turned up, which was way more than I ever expected. I got a couple of shoots lined up because I had made the time to meet people, actually break the ice in-person and that kick-started something that became a regular thing in my life for over a decade. Monthly meet-ups for photographers and associated folks became a thing we did. I’ve met a whole bunch of fantastic creative people in that time, and the most important of them are still my nearest and dearest friends in the industry to this day. I’m looking at you, Barrie & Fiona Spence.
A bunch of us became regular friends and the thing that was shortly thereafter named the ‘Scottish Creative Network’, or more commonly just SCN – was now a ‘thing’.
We had a few events besides monthly meet-ups, some portfolio building days at some top hotels, some more abstract locations and a bunch of other stuff. We maintained a long-running Facebook group, now with over 5,500 members. You can find it here – but if I’m honest, I find FB groups are losing a lot of traction, and people lose interest.
All in, I think we had over 120 meet-ups over nearly 12 years.
We had to give up, as we all did, when COVID-19 hit – and we never got back to networking again face to face. Venues had closed, our lives were different – people were doing different things, at different times or places and it’s just kinda become a ‘we used to do that’ thing.
But, I’ve been feeling for a long time now that it needed to come back in some shape or form.
So, that’s what I’m doing. I’m bringing SCN back, at the very least for a trial meet-up and to see what happens.
I’m opening it up to any Scottish creative in the visual space – photography, graphic design, film/video, acting, animation, illustration – whatever you like – I’m open to expanding it further too, if the demand is there.
We’ll be meeting on December 19th at 7.30pm in a new venue – and my second home (where I have a coworkers desk) – The Social Hub, Glasgow.
There’s an Eventbrite page here, so if you’re at all interested, please book a free ticket and come along to see who’s there and what connections you can build.
It’s likely, if we start again in January, that meet-ups will be a paid-for ticketed event. The first event is free so we can test the water, but I’m not able to blag free venue hire every month. So, I’ll be factoring in those costs plus hopefully a welcome drink on arrival for every ticket.
There’s no intention to make profit here – but as I’m sure most folks will understand, I can’t bankroll this for the community on my own.
So, with that said, I’m incredibly excited about bringing this back, and seeing what works. I’m very, very open for ideas. But be honest – if you have a great idea for how we can connect the local creative community, expand reach (and locations) – I’ll be looking for you to help bring your ideas to life – one person can’t do it all.
See you there, hopefully!
