CreativeMornings’ Blake Howard defines Atlanta’s creative class

How the monthly breakfast series is fortifying the city’s transformation

Are you a creative? The signifier is so ubiquitous nowadays; it can be hard to tell. If you work a nine-to-five, the likelihood is slim. Unless, of course, the boss is willing to excuse your tardiness once a month to attend CreativeMornings. In Blake Howard’s case, he is the boss. Three and a half years ago, the co-founder of the Atlanta-based branding firm Matchstic spearheaded the 11th chapter of the global breakfast lecture series, currently operating in 115 cities. The doughnuts and coffee are always bar none. But the themed talks presented locally by accomplished Atlantans — from former Scoutmob founder and startup guy Michael Tavani to City of Ink Tattoo and Art Gallery founder and guru Miya Bailey — are the real draw.

A Nashville native, Howard found himself drawn 12 years ago to Atlanta fresh out of the University of Tennessee. He worked as a Buckhead parking valet and slept on a friend’s couch while pursuing an unpaid internship. Today he’s a married family man living in Kirkwood whose role with CreativeMornings makes him a thirtysomething co-parent of sorts to Atlanta’s rising creative class. Howard spoke to Creative Loafing in the rustic, restored Grant Park headquarters of Matchstic about how said class is transforming Atlanta.

Let’s talk about this new energy in Atlanta. Part of it is the boom in co-working spaces inspired by startup culture. Then there are these creative dialogues focused on everything from personal to civic development. Do you see CreativeMornings as the predecessor?

There is an interesting parallel there. I would love to think that we actually tapped some of that inspiration to the surface. Atlanta’s such a hotbed of creative talent, but it was almost like an underserved market. And it was just primed for something to tap into it. I feel like a lot of the success of CreativeMornings hasn’t necessarily been due to anything that we’ve done. It was just a huge need in the community. So the response to it has been so great. It’s proof that there is a great creative community in Atlanta. It was just calling out for something like this. And we just happened to be the ones that met that need.

The term “creative” has been adopted by so many people that it’s become a little watered down to some. How do you define Atlanta’s creative class?

I think that “creative” does sometimes become synonymous with, almost like, “hipster.” It’s definitely not that. I kind of see the creative class, first, as creative professionals — people that have some sort of creative discipline they do for a living. Just like an NFL player is a professional football player, they’re a professional photographer. And so they value the craftsmanship in repetition and excellence and mastering that craft. But it’s probably, more than anything, a mind-set. The creative class probably prioritizes quality of products, quality of experiences, continued learning, getting better.

For the most part, that creative mind-set isn’t valued as widely just yet. But I think the more our city becomes known for things like Living Walls or We Love ATL or the Bitter Southerner, things like that, then it will. It’s like that attraction mind-set — as you do great things, more great things will come. City officials will say, “Wow this is really working.” And it’s almost like it becomes this rhythm and this ecosystem.

It feels like it’s starting to shape the next era of Atlanta’s identity, the way the hip-hop generation did before it. Does it feel like that to you?

I think it does. I hope so. That was a big part of the reason why we wanted to do CreativeMornings in the first place. I’m real competitive — I love sports — almost too competitive. But when I first went to that CM event in Chicago, they showed a map. At the time there were 10 chapters total, and I remember seeing cities on the map like London, San Francisco, Auckland, Amsterdam, Paris. There were these major cities known for being pretty creative. And I thought, I would be so honored if Atlanta was on that map. It felt like the first step to changing that perception of Atlanta, because at the time Atlanta wasn’t known as a creative city at all. And I do feel like we started to move the needle in that direction. So I really do hope that it is part of our identity in the future.

Atlanta is such a rich historical place, such rich industry here; such rich neighborhoods. There’s so much substance here that it seems like it’s primed in multiple ways to become something really special.

If you could ever give a CreativeMornings talk, what theme would you speak from?

Well, we chose the “bravery” theme in 2013 and I still think I would talk on something like that if I had to right now. There’s this idea in my head that only the brave prevail. I think one of the most impressive character traits is bravery. Really believing in a vision and knowing there’s going to be turbulence along the way and it’s going to be really hard, but then intentionally having the willingness to move forward and pursue that vision — even though you know you’re gonna be scared and it’s gonna be hard. Bravery is not the absence of fear, it’s the willingness to move forward in the face of fear. I love that thought and it applies so much in the creative world.

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When has that applied most in your professional life?

Starting a business took a lot of courage. At the time I didn’t have a lot to lose, though, sleeping on my buddy’s couch laughs. I had a little cheap piece-of-junk Ford Ranger that was paid for. But even now to this point, where we have 15 people that work here at Matchstic. We have to make brave decisions all the time, like who are we going to be. And how do we make decisions to move forward to get us to where we want to be. Sometimes that means saying no to certain projects. That looks like not hiring someone or having to let someone go because they’re not living out what this brand is all about. Even starting the CreativeMornings chapter was a little bit scary, because I don’t have a lot of experience in the event world. When you plan an event, you just kind of hope people show up. So you’re kind of putting yourself out there. Like, what does it say about who I am as a person if no one shows up to this? It takes a little bit of a bravery mind-set to say, “I saw this model in Chicago, I think this is a really great thing. I’m just going to go for it and hope it all works out.”

And it took off immediately in Atlanta, right?

It did, yeah. For our first event, we had 75 people here in this office. And the registration booked up in like 10 minutes. So we were pretty pumped. That is really one of the great things about CreativeMornings is it already had a brand and a reputation. So people were just excited that it was coming to Atlanta.

The city is changing so fast. What do you hope Atlanta is becoming?

I personally would hope that as the creative class rises and people see the value in things like arts and greenspace in general, the city will learn to embrace that more. And that the Beltline will come to life in this beautiful way where our public transportation issues are solved a little bit by being able to have a better bikeable or walkable city. I really think things like that add to the culture of a city. I would love to see more justice in the city. I’m involved with Atlanta Mission as a member of the board and it just breaks my heart to see the homeless that they serve there, to see so many people that are fighting addiction. I’d love to see more justice for those folks so they can break out of that cycle of living and be able to get back on their own feet and have the support and structure they need.

I also live in Kirkwood, just east of here. It’s a great neighborhood. I love it. Lots of families there, lot of history there. I love the diversity of it. In our neighborhood, we’ve got this family on the corner that’s been there forever. And then across the street you’ve got these big huge infill homes. Some people have a problem with the infill homes, but I think it’s really cool to see that diversity. I’d love to see more diverse conversations built around this platform of trust and respect. The diversity of Atlanta is pretty special, but it’s also probably a big challenge. So I’d love to see there not be such a racial divide. People used to say south of Ponce de Leon Avenue is more so the black community, north of Ponce is the white community. I’d love to see that not be true.

Atlanta has such a rich history in terms of that kind of stuff — justice and civil rights legacy. But sometimes I wonder if Atlanta is becoming more or less inclusive.

I think it’s part of the identity of Atlanta and it should never be lost. There are some great organizations out there that help preserve history in the right way and I think the identity of Atlanta will always be preserved. Since I’m a branding guy, I would love to see the city embrace some branding work and actually think about what our essence is, what makes our city really special? We do have this history of the Civil Rights Movement and justice. We’ve always been this figurehead of the black community, and then there’s all this change that is happening. So what does that new identity look like? I would love to help them figure out the essence of Atlanta and how we express that, how we talk about that. How do we market it to the rest of the country and the rest of the world so people really get what Atlanta’s all about in a compelling way.

Next month’s CreativeMornings event takes place Fri., June 26, at the Center for Civil and Human Rights where the center’s director of exhibitions and design, David Mandel, will speak on the theme “revolution.”