Buildycrunken equals collaboration
December 7, 2009
This is a guest post by Todd Willey about an event collexion, the local hacker co-op put on a few weeks ago. Unique and new events like this help juice creative thought and collaboration and can lead to the next new thing
It is important for a creative community to have spaces and associations that not only allow free expression, but encourage new modes of collaboration and community building. When people are in a comfortable environment with comforting people, they dare to find new modes of expression and prototype new ideas. When failure is tolerated and experimentation is encouraged, people will try bold, new things and people will have fun.
Buildycrunken is an event that hosts creative participants in a comfortable atmosphere. Buildycrunken #1: Hocus Focus was the inaugural event of a new outlet for creativity. Hosted at Third Street Stuff in Lexington, the event encouraged people to get the ideas they have floating around in their mind out into the world. Running from Friday evening into Saturday morning people were able to reclaim the time they usually spend in sleep or toiling in isolation to be part of making wonderful new things or completing pet projects they may have let fall through the cracks.
There was a diverse showing of people. The concept originated from Collexion, Lexington’s hackerspace, and was built from the ground up to accommodate as may people as possible. Other groups that made it an official gathering include ReBelle Stitch ‘n Bitch, National Novel Writers’ Month, and the Kentucky Ruby Users Group. There was a solid showing of people coming on their own, as well. The turnout was amazing, the coffee shop was at or above capacity until well past midnight.
By any measure it was a success. The sheer number of people turning out, the amount of work that got done, and the new connections and friendships that were built all point to the effectiveness and need for this type of event. Software, music, mittens, game scenarios, jewelery, books, and art were all created overnight, and the next morning new friends went to get breakfast together. Whenever the worst that can be said about an event is that it was hard to find a place to sit, it indicates that something good is happening.
There will be other Buildycrunken events in the future, because it seems people will always take advantage of an opportunity to be more creative. There are plans in the works now to start an event that will be interleaved with Buildycrunken events, a forum for people to demonstrate the skills they ply during their creative times, and teach those that are interested. With the cross-pollination and encouraging spirit of these events, grassroots growth and a legitimate creative culture are going to continue to grow in Lexington.
