“I know Ann Arbor is teeming with brilliant creatives, but I can’t find the place where they connect and support one another. Are there any regular gatherings in town where artists, writers, or designers meet consistently just to talk shop and get plugged into the scene?”
This month’s question comes from Brenda Marshall of the local online magazine Life in Michigan. I interviewed Brenda and her husband, Chuck, as my local experts for December’s column.
Brenda’s question provided me with an opportunity to address a common refrain I hear from friends and acquaintances, creative and creative-curious alike: Where are my people at?
The Ann Arbor community has long valued and supported its artists; it’s baked into our cultural DNA. We’ve got university programs, Creative Washtenaw, the Ann Arbor Art Center, independent patrons, and galleries galore. And yet somewhere along the way, we seem to have deprioritized something essential: connection without agenda.
It can feel like, in our ongoing effort to promote career and business support for artists (exacerbated by what writer Derek Thompson has called the “Anti-Social Century”), we’ve inadvertently devalued the simple act of talking shop. No networking. No seminars. No facilitators or endgame.
There are, of course, a variety of local social clubs worth exploring, which can be found in the Observer’s meticulously researched City Guide (in print and online). The lion’s share of these clubs, however, are either specific to a shared art or craft medium, or are nonprofit organizations designed to advocate and assist. Those regular, low-stakes, shop-talking meetups? If they’re happening, they’re not easily found in print or on social media—in other words, I haven’t had much luck either.
Related: Groups & Clubs
And maybe that’s okay, even encouraging. Maybe your people are already out there but are watching and waiting for the bat signal. Maybe, like you, they just don’t know where to start.
Local writer and filmmaker Liz Barney has been there. Liz was looking for that same gathering of creative folks, so in 2024 she signed on as the local chapter host of CreativeMornings, the international “breakfast lecture series for creatives.”
“I met a lot of amazing people,” Liz said, “but it also gave me an opportunity to discover some things I could take from that to start my own event that fit me.”
Working within a prescribed framework ultimately felt misaligned with the more organic alliances Liz craved, so she handed off that particular baton to start her own monthly meetup: a gathering for “community collaboration and creative connection” she calls the Open Spoon.
Essentially, Liz started from scratch what she couldn’t cook up using anyone else’s recipe. Her group now ranges from ten to twenty local creatives; more information is available at rootcampcollective.com.
Groucho Marx famously joked he’d never join a club that would have him as a member. I happen to think he might have encouraged you, dear reader, to also start your own.
Send me your Ann Arbor-ish questions at [email protected].