Announcing Anomaly 2016
Have you got a burning question on running a creative business? Ever wondered what happens behind the Instagram feeds of your favourite creative ladies? Well, here's your chance to talk to four creative business owners from different corners of the industry about how they really do it. CWC's upcoming panel event Run a Successful Creative Business is part of the Anomaly 2016 conference, on Saturday 20 February at Billy Blue College of Design in Melbourne. The event will be moderated by designer and author Tess McCabe, founder of Creative Minds Publishing and president of Creative Women's Circle, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge in running a creative business.
Here's a sneak peek of our fabulous panellists...
Anika Cook, fashion designer and illustrator
Anika is the designer behind The Gently Unfurling Sneak, a small Melbourne label producing printed clothing, artworks and cards. All products are based around Anika’s surrealistic illustrations, and must be strange, beautiful or amusing (or a combination of all three) to make it out of the studio. The Gently Unfurling Sneak's designs are sold through local boutiques, online and in a new bricks-and-mortar shop in North Melbourne.
Facebook - Instagram - Website
Proudest moment: Opening my little studio shop in North Melbourne in October last year. It was a huge amount of work to get the shop renovated and open in a small amount of time, and I couldn't pay anyone to do it. It was mostly me, my assistant Josie and my dad, and some lovely volunteer friends. Now when I'm in the shop I feel very proud that we built it all together.
Monique Woodward, architect
Monique Woodward is co-founder of award-winning Architecture and Interior Design practice WoodWoodWard Architecture, Lecturer at Monash & RMIT University, designer of WOWOWA's Monroe 'Rough Night' & 'Glamour' pendant lights and an advocate for apartment amenity guidelines and the compulsory use of architects on multi-residential development.
Describe yourself in five words:
Colorful passionate experimental
Best business tip you've heard: If your brand is talking to everybody, you're talking to nobody.
How do you keep your creative fire burning: Architectural pilgrimages...... aka holidays!!
Proudest moment: The day our big gold WOWOWA letters went up on our new shopfront studio window.
Camilla Molders, interior designer
Camilla Molders has been designing and creating beautiful interiors for over 20 years. She is known for clean lines and fuss free spaces, with a pop of something extra special. Camilla’s hallmark is bold, original designs that balance creativity with practicality and her work has featured in a host of Australian and international publications, websites and blogs.
Website - Instagram - Twitter - Facebook
Describe yourself in five words: Creatively adventurous, curious, passionate: all which describe me - but also could be used to describe my work! And then something not many think of me as - introverted. And what many who know me would agree with- opinionated!
Best business tip you've heard: Nothing particularly comes to mind that has had me really holding tightly onto. But I'm always listening. Everyone, no matter how experienced they are, has an interesting story or advice to offer that I can take on board. This is why I love speaker events - CWC events especially! Listening to someone talk who is passionate about what they do is awe-inspiring and never fails to leave me with an inspiration hit.
How do you keep your creative fire burning: Often a lot of the creative ideas happen on site with my clients when we are workshopping ideas. I take the time to really try and understand what the clients want and get a clear picture of their vision. This is why each project I work on is different to any other. I don't want to be known for doing the same thing or having a "look" - that just doesn't interest me creatively at all. I aim for each project to be a representation of the people who live in the space and that does justice to the architecture and surrounds. Sure, I might push my client's comfort levels a little (which is fun!), but that's my job. That's what makes it exciting and really keeps the creative fires burning!
Proudest moment: Seeing anything that I have designed from scratch is so exciting! But seeing the first sculptured rug that I designed was a total life moment. It was a concept that I had been brewing up for a while and discussed with a very open minded client. It turned out to be a success and the start of my bespoke rug collection.
Run a Successful Creative Business
1.00-2.30pm, Saturday 20 February, Billy Blue College of Design 595 Little Collins St, Melbourne
Tickets can be purchased via the AGDA website.
The Resolution Project
Hands up who makes new year's resolutions every year, then ditches them by February? Yep, us too. Well, achieving our creative and business goals just got a lot easier, with CWC’s The Resolution Project. It’s an affordable and supportive goal-setting program that keeps you accountable and motivated throughout the year. The best part? Along with workshops and online tools, you get heaps of resources, including a tailor-made TRP workbook to keep you on track. Our private facilitated Facebook group is up and running and participants are sharing stories, tips and resolutions. They have described the workbook as "a truly valuable tool for reflection" and "a great way to gain clarity and perspective". It's already clear this is a special community of ambitious and inspired women.
The Online program is open to anyone, anywhere, and includes all the valuable resources and materials that the Workshop program offers, including access to the private Facebook group and opportunities to ‘ask the experts’ and connect with a wide community of creative women.
Our Workshop program includes all of the above, plus three workshops and follow-up materials throughout the year along themes including Connect and Clarify, Recap and Reset, and an end of year Wrap Party (open to all participants!) to celebrate our successes. Each workshop includes hands-on coaching sessions and discussions with renowned experts to set you firmly on the path to achieving your creative goals.
Numbers are strictly limited. It’s not too late to join - check out The Resolution Project for more information.
Meet the CWC Board!
If you've been following CWC in 2015, you may have heard we've made a few big, exciting changes behind the scenes. In July, Creative Women's Circle became an official non-profit national association, complete with a governing Board and committee of over a dozen ladies representing a multitude of creative industries and professional passions. These women all volunteer their time, effort and expertise to make CWC an organisation that supports, champions and connects women in creative industries across Australia.
The first year of any association is one of laying the groundwork (read: getting all the administration side of the setup sorted... a long and arduous process!) ahead of our first Annual General Meeting (AGM) in mid-2016. But alongside the boring paperwork stuff, we're also busy identifying the Board's roles and processes, and developing an overarching mission statement and strategy for CWC that will make it as impactful as it can be for you as Members, and the wider community in general.
But who are the hardworking ladies dedicating their time and brains to the cause? Well, today I'd like to introduce the first Board of Creative Women's Circle to you all...
First row, L-R Tess McCabe, President Martina Gemmola, Vice-President Yasmin Naghavi, Secretary Shannon Rowe, Treasurer
Second row L-R Phoebe Miller, Membership Manager Julia May, Marketing, Strategy and Ideas Manager Rachel Bucknall, Events Host Manager Zelda Tupicoff, Website Manager
Third row L-R Annette Wagner, Social Media Manager Bec Mackey, Partnerships Manager Emma Clark Gratton, Blog Editor Madeleine Dore, Melbourne Events Manager
Fourth Row L-R Diana Scully, Melbourne events team Yvonne Meng, Melbourne events team Felicia Semple, Melbourne events team
Visit our Board page to read more about each of their roles and the professional backgrounds of these excellent women! And why not say hi at our next Melbourne event, or via their social media pages? We'd love to hear from you so CWC can be THE organisation that supports, champions and connects creative women across the country now and well into the future.
Join the CWC Board of Directors!
Hey everyone - great news. After a unanimous decision to incorporate CWC into a registered non-profit association (thanks to all the Members who placed their vote!), we're now ready to build our Board of Directors and push CWC into an exciting new era!
To kick things off, we're holding our first Board meeting from 10am-4pm on Saturday 1 August 2015 in Melbourne. We'd love as many Members as possible to attend and help us plan a roadmap for CWC going forward.
If you're enthusiastic about CWC and building it into an even better organisation for creative women across the country, and want to be a part of the Board of Directors, we'd love you to come along. Women from all industries (especially marketing, comms, graphic design, web design, small business management, admin, social media, PR, event coordination) and with all sorts of skill sets will be welcomed with open arms!
For more info, and to register your interesting in attending the meeting on 1 August, email Tess at admin @ creativewomenscircle.com.au by 22 July 2015 and tell us a little about yourself, your background, and what you think you could bring to the CWC Board.
Interstate members or those unable to attend but who want to be involved, please get in touch as well :)
Vote for the future of CWC
As you may well know, Creative Women’s Circle (CWC) has been independently run for over 10 years, the majority of that time by myself, Tess McCabe, with the assistance of a host of talented creative women across Australia contributing to the running of our events and blog.
Over that time CWC’s presence and importance to the Australian creative community has grown, as has its official Membership database.
Now, to ensure the sustainability of CWC and its continued growth into the future, the time is right for the structure of CWC to change from a largely ‘one-woman’-run micro-business, to a registered incorporated association.
What does that mean for CWC?
An incorporated association structure will allow Members to be more involved in the future direction of CWC and how it can best serve their needs via our events, website, Member services and more. Profits from CWC will continue to go back into the organisation to fund it, and the association structure will also make CWC better placed to apply for funding for special programs and projects to benefit Members.
Who will run CWC?
The association will utilise the skills, experience and enthusiasm of a Board of dedicated creative women to steer CWC into the future. This Board will ensure the sustainability of CWC as an entity that serves its Members and the creative community as a whole. All current CWC Members will have the opportunity to volunteer to be a board member once the registration and incorporation process is complete.
What can I do to help?
To start this exciting new chapter, we are asking all current CWC Members to vote to incorporate CWC. With the majority of you supporting this decision we can begin the formal process of becoming a registered non-profit association.
Please review the proposed ‘model rules’* of the association, LOG IN, and cast your vote to incorporate CWC here. (Votes are due by 18 June 2015. VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED - THANK YOU!)
Thanks for your support as we take this big step together!
Tess McCabe
P.S. If you're not currently a Member but would like to vote, you can join here.
*The Model Rules are a standard set of guidelines for registered associations, set out by Consumer Affairs Victoria. Questions can be directed to admin@creativewomenscircle.
Owning It: A Creative’s Guide to Copyright, Contracts and the Law - pre-order now!
Today is the day, ladies! The HIGHLY anticipated Owning It: A Creative's Guide to Copyright, Contracts and the Law by lawyer and former CWC speaker Sharon Givoni is finally available to order.
What a massive project this has been and you - the CWC audience - have been overwhelmingly supportive throughout the whole process.
I'm excited to share with you here some images from within the book, featuring the works of many female creatives such as Hours After, Fromage La Rue, The Gently Unfurling Sneak, The Bell Jar, Nancybird, Marnie Hawson. In fact, there are over 140 images by local creatives within the book, which makes it as much a delight to look at as it is informative to read.
Much more detail about what is inside this 560-page tome can be found at the Creative Minds website, and for a little more insight into how it all came together, you can check us out on The Design Files today... thanks Lucy and Lisa for the feature!
The book is available to pre-order through our shop from today, and copies will be posted out from 9 April 2015. Join our mailing list or stay tuned to our social media for details of the upcoming book launch too - you're all invited!
High Five launches just in time for International Women's Day 2015
To coincide with International Women's Day (this Sunday, 8 March!), we've launched a new page on our website: High Five.
It's aim is to become a directory of guilds, associations, non-profits and other informal collectives that support, advocate for and promote the work of women in specific creative industries. We're starting small, and in the directory it you will find details about Parlour, which discusses issues and promotes women in Australian architecture; Women of Graphic Design, an international project focused on exhibiting the contributions of women in graphic design and exploring issues of gender-equality in education provided by design institutions; LISTEN, which exists to spark and cultivate a conversation around women’s experiences in Australian music; and others.
Check out the directory here and help us grow it by suggesting other industry-specific organisations aimed at promoting the work of women and inspiring debate about gender equality.
And don't forget to show the world how you are celebrating International Women's Day 2015 this weekend via your social media - hashtags include #seemejoinme and #iwd2015.