Advance: A Week to Move Forward

cultivate:dsm is launching with a week dedicated to collaboration, inspiration and Moving Forward. A partnership of Impromptu Studio and Market Street Media Foundry and the brainchild of Dan Shipton, cultivate:dsm is dedicated to providing a platform for big thinkers to rally the support they need to act big.

Advance will be held July 20-25 with events at Impromptu and Market Street. All Advance events are free and open to the public. The program is designed for creative and business professionals alike with useful, casual events encouraging people to work together and get to work.

Wednesday’s events will anchor Advance week with conversation, learning, and socializing. Acclaimed author Tara Hunt (The Whuffie Factor) will lead a presentation and Q&A about using social capital to build your business. A social meetup with conversation and karaoke led by local and national coworking and arts leaders will conclude the evening. Other Advance: A Week to Move Forward events include the Ignite Des Moines Remix luncheon, Your Baby’s Ugly aesthetic critique night, Rewrite copywriting workshop, Freelancer Friday, Expert Mode, and Market Day.

Keep watching this site for more information and schedule updates. Individual event descriptions and RSVP’s are coming soon.

Detailed Schedule

Monday

• Event: Ignite Des Moines Remix luncheon
• Time: 11:30am-1pm
• Location: Impromptu Studio
• Description: Kicking off a week to move forward by taking a moment to look back. The best speeches from November’s Ignite Des Moines event will be shared and conversation will begin anew about where Des Moines is and where it needs to be heading. Lunch is provided.

Tuesday

• Event: Your Baby’s Ugly
• Time: 7pm
• Location: Market Street Media Foundry
• Description: Most people are too polite to tell you your baby is ugly. We’ll fix that. Bring your business baby – corporate identity, marketing collateral, websites, product packaging, logos, etc – and a team of working artists and designers will direct an aesthetic critique. No excuses and no pulling punches – find out if you’ve got an ugly baby.

Wednesday

• Event:  Presentation by Tara Hunt, author of “The Whuffie Factor”
• Time: 4pm
• Location: Impromptu Studio
• Description: Tara Hunt, author of “The Whuffie Factor” and one of the leaders of the Whuffaoke tour, will give a presentation and Q&A about using social capitol to build your business.
• Event: Whuffaoke
• Time: 6:30pm-10pm
• Location: Impromptu Studio
• Description: The evening will begin with conversations led by local and national coworking, arts and business leaders. Beer, socializing and networking (with a little Karaoke for good measure) will provide a relaxed atmosphere for sharing your thoughts on Moving Forward.

Thursday

• Event: Rewrite
• Time: 6:30-8:30
• Description: A collaborative copywriting workshop. Bring your artist statements, one paragraph business summaries, band bio, or any other short copy that you think needs a little spit polish. No computers. Bring a plain printout with a nice legible typeface. Red pens provided.

Friday

• Event: Freelancer Friday
• Time: All day
• Location: Impromptu Studio
• Description: Free coworking! Grab your laptop, sketchpad, iPhone, or whatever else you need to work and pop in to Impromptu Studio for some collaboration, conversation, and a fun work environment where the Wi-Fi AND the coffee are free

• Event: Expert Mode
• Time: 3pm-6pm
• Location: Impromptu Studio
• Description: A creative user group on ‘roids. This session of Export Mode will be Adobe-oriented with Illustrator and Photoshop on the table. Bring a laptop if you’ve got one or just a good old fashioned pen and notebook to take notes as we guide each other through tips, tricks and shortcuts to unlock the “Expert Mode” in our own inner designers. Beginners welcome.

Saturday

• Event: Market Day
• Time: 9am-2pm
• Location: Market Street Media Foundry
• Description: The third installment of MSMF’s hip and funky garage sale meets art gallery. Local vendors selling everything from original paintings to vintage Fonzie puzzles. It’s work from the people who actually do all that cool stuff you see on Make and Craft and Lifehacker or get to the thrift store before all the good stuff sells out.