Culture Report: Morning Becomes Creative

Mornings are pretty hellish for some people. I truly envy those who bounce out of bed at 5:30 a.m., throw on running shoes and jog for miles, come home and clean up and then go to work for a full day.

Many of us pre-lunch zombies would love the opportunity to learn from those who take charge of their mornings, and now we can. CreativeMornings San Diego is a new monthly breakfast lecture series specially catered to the right-brained community. At every event, a creative individual in our city will talk for 20 minutes about what they do and how they do it, giving some of our city’s biggest cultural influencers a chance to meet and learn from one another.

“I think the events are going to add a ton of value for the community, and be a catalyst for building the growing creative/startup/tech community,” said Greg Gibson, creative director at design agency Grizzly, and one of the minds behind CreativeMornings. “Not only will it offer a regular opportunity for creatives, entrepreneurs and the community at large to network, but the global profile of the organization means every month a well-known San Diego creative will have their message heard by a large audience, which raises San Diego’s profile.”

The kick-off CreativeMornings San Diego event gets started at 8 a.m. on Jan. 23 at Moniker Warehouse in the East Village. Leading off the series with the theme “Ugly” is Jason Russell, co-founder of Invisible Children. He will talk about how he embraces the not-so pretty parts of his personal history and the work he’s accomplished.

You’re reading the Culture Report, Voice of San Diego’s weekly collection of the region’s cultural news.

Utility Boxes, New Americans and More Visual Art News

• The National City Utility Box Project is under way. Paul Ecdao of Thumbprint Gallery teamed up with National City Community Development to beautify the streets with public art created by regional artists. Follow their progress on Facebook and Instagram.

• But wait, there’s more public art: The Paint Encinitas project is covering the empty walls of the North County town with vibrant works. Yay! (CityBeat)

• The Del Mar Pines School won a major art award for its mural depicting a sea turtle created out of children’s handprints. (KPBS)

• The New Americans Museum aims to tell the story of those who come to this country and made it their home. (U-T)

San Diego Rep in Music and Performance Goods

• The San Diego Repertory Theatre is bringing a world premiere to the stage that looks at the passionate activism of the 1960s. (KPBS)

Saving the Centennial and More Culture Bits

• The Balboa Park Centennial Celebration had a bumpy road. CityBeat and the U-T spoke to members of the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership about its plans to make the centennial year the best damn comeback story since “Rocky II.”

• The killings that occurred at the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris rocked people around the world. It led many creative types – writers, illustrators, artists and our own Scott Lewis – to chime in on the issue of free speech and where we should stand in the wake of this terrible event. The U-T’s editorial cartoonist, Steve Breen, shared his thoughts on the massacre. (KPBS)