Last week, a group of people working on a variety of amazing projects in Philadelphia got together for an event called Ignite Philly. The concept of Ignite, originally created by Brady Forrest and Etsy's own Bre Pettis, is nice and simple: presenters have 5 minutes and 20 slides that rotate automatically after 15 seconds while presenting on any topic.

I took this opportunity to present a project that I have recently been talking about with other amazing, socially-minded and innovative members of Philadelphia's creative community. Philadelphia has great collaborations right now — a successful coworking space called Indy Hall, a monthly meeting of the minds known as the Junto, the Philadelphia Sewing Collective, which holds classes and hosts fantastic events like the Swap-O-Rama-Rama, plus a host of great little art centers around the city. Aside from thinking about small arts-based businesses, my other passion is improving the neighborhood and city where I live. I'd love to see a productive space where people in Philadelphia can go to use crafting equipment that is either too big or too expensive for them to keep in their living space. Ideally they would have access to physical resources that would help them run their small creative business (fax machines! postal scales! paper cutters!) or simply use big, fancy, expensive machines (spinning wheels! sergers! wood working machines!) that they might not otherwise splurge on for a hobby they enjoy. 

As much as I love talking about ideas on how to enhance the creative community in Philadelphia, the best part of Ignite Philly was hearing what the wide range of presenters had to say and seeing all the brilliant things happening in the city I love. Visit Ignite Philly's website to see more videos from this event!