{"id":158552,"date":"2026-04-06T14:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/158552\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T14:37:08","slug":"collab-networking-for-creatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/158552\/","title":{"rendered":"Collab, Networking for Creatives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A year ago, Deja Lewis, a graphic designer at Triple Bottom Brewing, was feeling isolated. When Lewis joined the Spring Garden brewery, she admired the Spring Garden brewery\u2019s do-good mission,<\/a> but was working hybrid, the only employee in a fully creative role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt alone and lost \u2026 by myself on an island creatively,\u201d she says. Maybe Philly wasn\u2019t the place for her, she thought. Maybe she should move to New York City.<\/p>\n

But then a fellow graphic designer and friend gave her an idea: What if Lewis herself grew the community she was seeking? What if she hosted her own mixers? After all, she already worked at a popular brewery known for caring about all kinds of people and causes in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

In the summer of 2025, Lewis founded Collab, a social and networking club for both seasoned and just-starting-out creatives \u2014 and has held at least one event per month since. Along the way, she\u2019s helped make connections between photographers, designers, musicians, writers, fine artists \u2014 about 300 people since she began organizing the gatherings. What\u2019s more, she doesn\u2019t feel lonely anymore.<\/p>\n

A growing need for creative connection <\/p>\n

Collab is not Philly\u2019s first social or networking club. Recent years have seen the emergence of interest-centered, get-out-of-the-house-and-get-together locally-based app Playdate<\/a> and the pop-up gather-and-craft girly groups Dessert Before Dinner<\/a> and Let Me Know,<\/a> to name a few. Social clubs have been rapidly rising in popularity<\/a> across the nation over the past few years in response to a rampant post-Covid loneliness epidemic.<\/p>\n

But clearly, there\u2019s a need for more. The 2024 U.S. Census found that 40 percent of U.S adults<\/a> felt lonely. But making like-minded friends in adulthood hasn\u2019t ever been easy \u2014 especially not for creatives, who, after leaving school settings, often work alone and struggle to find both jobs and friends. Lewis remembers returning home to Philly from college, and \u201csomething didn\u2019t feel right.\u201d She was hanging out with acquaintances just to hang out, not because she felt close to them, or because they helped each other creatively or professionally. \u201cI didn\u2019t really have anyone,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Worsening the situation for local artists and artist types are the recent closures of University of the Arts and the creative coworking space RecPhilly<\/a> \u2014 and the cost of renting a studio or joining a communal workspace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe true, true spirit of community is leaning on each other.\u201d \u2014 Monique Means<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are gaps to be filled in a lot of ways,\u201d says Ariel Shelton, c0-executive director of external relations and community impact at CultureWorks,<\/a> a grant-funded, accessibly priced Center City co-working space founded 15 years ago aimed at emerging nonprofits. Shelton believes the City of Philadelphia and large funders should do a better job funding smaller arts initiatives. Organizations like hers, and dedicated spaces for emerging artists such as Forman Arts Initiative or the Bok building, can do only so much on their own.<\/p>\n

Local visual artist Rachel Headlam agrees. Headlam is an animator, a career she finds to be \u201creally insular and isolating in Philadelphia.\u201d Although three bookstores in Philly carry her coloring books, she, like Lewis, still found herself struggling to find her people.<\/p>\n

A gathering space for all creatives <\/p>\n

Luckily, people know people \u2014 after all, we\u2019re basically ground zero for six degrees of Kevin Bacon. To create Collab, Lewis reached out to creative-minded contacts she\u2019d made through the past few years. Everyone seemed interested. And, she had examples to follow.<\/p>\n

Monique Means, founded the Let Me Know Club,<\/a> which puts on moveable crafting workshops in 2024. Let Me Know partners with small artists to teach the workshops and small businesses to host them, often in independent coffee shops with an extra room. The partnership almost always pays off: Local venues tend to be less expensive, attract more artists, and just feel more meaningful, and, somehow, more real places to make connections.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe true, true spirit of community is leaning on each other,\u201d says Means. Another word for leaning on each other: collaboration. (Hence the name: Collab.) Lewis already had the friendly venue: Triple Bottom Brewery. She just needed to work on expanding her contacts.<\/p>\n

For that, she\u2019s been intentional about including a broad swath of creatives from different fields and levels of experience, so people have something to give each other, be that knowledge, direction, opportunity or inspiration. You\u2019ll find students looking for work, but also established professionals, folks who work alone and others who work in teams, people who throw pottery, boutique owners, and corporate graphic designers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something about learning from people that don\u2019t do just what you do that is really inspiring to me and being able to start finding the people you can network and rely on,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

And with Collab\u2019s frequent events, connections have started to grow. At the first ever Collab mixer, Lewis met Ryder Griffith, a local photographer and videographer and brought him the idea of doing a \u201cphoto walk,\u201d taking people to different sights around the city for them to photograph. They are currently working on their first such event, with Griffth as a guide.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as you know there\u2019s someone out there who can help you and support you, as long as you have community, you can grow and make this happen together.\u201d \u2014 says Deja Lewis<\/p>\n

Madasyn Andrews, also a photographer, met a model at a Collab event for a photo shoot. So far, Collab participants have gone to each other\u2019s gallery openings, pop-ups and DJ sets.<\/p>\n

Moreover, there\u2019s an ethos of support. \u201cI promise \u2014 I promise,\u201d Lewis says in an Instagram post promoting a Collab event, \u201cit will not be clique-y. It is always so welcoming. \u2026 I\u2019ve gone to other networking events, they\u2019ve been quite clique-y and just unwelcoming. We do not play that at Collab.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collabing <\/p>\n

Each event is laid back, but there is a structure. Lewis stocks a table with printed-out, to-the-point conversation starters, such as: What\u2019s a creative project that you\u2019re working on right now that excites you? And: Is there a type of collaborator you\u2019re looking for right now? And everyone wears a name tag.<\/p>\n

In advance of the winter holidays, Collab upped its game with a pop-up market. So, in addition to networking, people got some shopping done.<\/p>\n

In February, Collab hosted a market called \u201cBy Any Means,\u201d referencing the Malcolm X quote, \u201cby any means necessary,\u201d paying homage to Black artists during Black History Month. On this particular afternoon, Triple Bottom Brewing was packed. The brewery\u2019s walls displayed paintings by Collab participants. Shelby Brisbane, owner of Sankofa Floral Design,<\/a> was there, selling lush little arrangements. Jordan Plain<\/a> displayed his colorful abstract prints featuring his poetry. Frederick Scott<\/a> was there with his signature boxy, striped rugby shirts.<\/p>\n

Once again, connections were made Olive Adams, the founder of the Analog Lovers Club<\/a> signed up for Join Philly, a social club connector. Guests approached Lewis about using their spaces to host future Collabs.<\/p>\n

\u201c[To] further uplift each other \u2014 that\u2019s what progress is. It\u2019s not just about how high can I get but about: How can I bring the community up with me? Even if I don\u2019t sell a single stem, making the connections I have already is already worth it,\u201d says Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as you know there\u2019s someone out there who can help you and support you, as long as you have community, you can grow and make this happen together,\u201d says Lewis, \u201cAs someone who was born and raised here in Philly, I truly believe that Philly creatives should not have to leave and go to New York or L.A. to fulfill their dreams \u2026 We\u2019ve got the grit, we\u2019ve got the talent, and we have the drive to build something powerful right here at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adds Headlam, \u201cGoing out to the community and meeting people \u2026 it\u2019s very healing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" MORE BUSINESS FOR GOOD<\/p>\n

Deja Lewis, founder of Collab.