Could Be Pretty Cool

Description: Calida Jones and Douglas Clayton left stable positions in corporate consulting to build something they couldn't find anywhere else: a support organization that actually questions the frameworks it operates in. As co-founders of Creative Evolutions, they work with arts organizations, nonprofits, and the people inside them to develop human-centered, adaptable approaches to strategy, hiring, and organizational design. In this conversation, they get into what that work looks like in practice, why language matters more than most organizations admit, and how their new multi-city convening series, Momentum, is trying to build the kind of collective thinking the field has been missing. Key Topics: What human-centered consulting actually requires day to day Why "best practices" can do more harm than good The problem with "mission" as a framework for nonprofit work Strategic pathways vs. strategic planning How Creative Evolutions' ownership model is different The origins of Momentum and why the conference model needed rethinking Building communal ideation with a tangible, publicly available takeaway Surviving vs. thriving in arts and culture right now Featured Guests: Calida Jones — Co-founder of Creative Evolutions; violinist; former board president of the Connecticut Arts Alliance; board member of El Sistema USA Douglas Clayton — Co-founder of Creative Evolutions; theater director and ballroom dancer; former performing arts service organization leader; producer with experience running opera companies in Los Angeles and Chicago Notable Quotes: "It takes a tremendous amount of work to be human-centered. It is a choice." — Calida Jones "We have more choices than we think we do. That is the fundamental thing that drives us every day." — Douglas Clayton Connect with our guests: Creative Evolutions: creativeevolutions.com Momentum: momentumrevolutions.com | Use code ECOSYSTEMBUILDER for a listener discount Instagram: @creativeevolutionsecosystem Facebook & LinkedIn: Creative Evolutions Follow Could Be Pretty Cool: @couldbeprettycool | couldbeprettycool.com | couldbeprettycoolnews.substack.com Keywords: arts nonprofit consulting, creative economy, human-centered design, organizational strategy, nonprofit innovation, arts advocacy, Momentum conference, board of directors, performing arts organizations, creative entrepreneurship, arts funding, nonprofit leadership, strategic planning Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Description: Anthony Frasier didn't come up through media. He spent nearly a decade in tech before making a deliberate move into audio storytelling, and the business instincts he developed along the way have shaped everything about how he runs ABF Creative. In this conversation, Anthony talks about what it actually takes to build sustainable creative work, how proximity and service opened doors that money couldn't, and why your media diet matters more than any single trend report. Key Topics: Bringing a tech and business development mindset into media production Building systems and workflows that scale without burning out The role of proximity in creative entrepreneurship Strategic generosity vs. unpaid labor: where the nuance lives Expanding beyond podcasting into audiobooks and emerging audio channels Developing emerging creators through the Audible partnership Curating an information diet to stay current in a fast-moving industry Featured Guest: Anthony Frasier — CEO of ABF Creative, a multicultural podcast and media production company based in Newark. His work includes kids and family audio content, Audible originals, and a mini pod series playing in over 200 New York City schools. ABF Creative won AdWeek's Podcast Innovator of the Year in 2024 and the NAACP Image Award for the podcast We Don't Always Agree with Sterling K. Brown and Ryan Michelle Bathe. Notable Quotes: "A lot of people get into this media game and they're not thinking about sustainability until it's too late." — Anthony Frasier "Service is the secret. When you put yourself out there and actually provide value for other individuals, that's the best networking secret you could ever have." — Anthony Frasier Connect with Anthony: Instagram: @AnthonyFrasier abfc.co Follow Could Be Pretty Cool: @couldbeprettycool | couldbeprettycool.com | couldbeprettycoolnews.substack.com Keywords: podcast production, audio storytelling, creative entrepreneurship, sustainable media, kids podcasts, audiobooks, emerging creators, multicultural media, media industry, tech to media, proximity, creative business Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Art school graduates are entering one of the hardest job markets in recent memory, and most of them are doing it without much of a spotlight. Could Be Pretty Cool: Just Launched exists to change that, one conversation at a time. Description: Lauren Knabel just graduated from SCAD with a degree in photography focused in fine art, a minor in fashion photography, and a minor in business management. She's heading to New York with a clear point of view, a body of work that pulls from postmodern literature as much as visual history, and a deliberate commitment to staying independent. This episode is the first in Could Be Pretty Cool: Just Launched, a series spotlighting recent art school graduates as they step into the field. Key Topics: Fine art photography as a big-tent practice that can hold fashion, documentary, and conceptual work What a postmodern literature class taught Lauren about making visual work Building narrative after the image, not before Independence as a creative value, not just a career stage The gap in the indie photo book publishing market Collaboration as a starting point, not a fallback Boredom as a creative condition worth protecting Featured Guest: Lauren Knabel — Fine art photographer and recent SCAD graduate; work spanning photography, writing, and ghostwriting; based in Atlanta, heading to New York Notable Quotes: "Through fiction you can express more truth than you can sometimes through nonfiction." — Lauren Knabel "I'll find whatever realm will take me and let me use that freedom." — Lauren Knabel "In allowing for the narrative to be built over time, I really feel like so much luck and nuance can be found there." — Lauren Knabel Connect with Lauren: Instagram: @laurenknable Website: laurenknable.com Preferred contact: email (find it via her site) Follow Could Be Pretty Cool: @couldbeprettycool | couldbeprettycool.com | couldbeprettycoolnews.substack.com Keywords: art school graduates, fine art photography, SCAD, creative independence, indie publishing, photo books, postmodern art, documentary photography, creative careers, just launched, emerging artists, New York, creative economy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Description: Recorded live at Podcast Movement Evolutions during South by Southwest, this episode takes Could Be Pretty Cool on the road. Kacie sits down with two people who are making New Mexico a serious conversation for creative entrepreneurs- Eric Renz-Whitmore, an economic development specialist focused on media and startup ecosystems in Santa Fe, and Kristelle Siarza Moon, founder of Siarza (advertising and PR) and volunteer executive director of the Asian Business Collaborative. Together they make the case for why New Mexico's creative economy is having a moment. Key Topics: -How New Mexico elevated creative industries to a top-line item in economic development -The New Mexico Creative Industries Division and its statewide conference series, New Mexico Creative Con -New Mexico House: an official South by Southwest activation spotlighting the state's music, film, and tech scenes -The Asian Business Collaborative's economic impact and advocacy work -Why community and place still matter for creatives, even in a connected world -New Mexico as a landing spot for creative entrepreneurs in transition -Diversity-anchored economic development and cross-community collaboration Featured Guests: Eric Renz-Whitmore — Economic development specialist, City of Santa Fe; focused on media and startup ecosystems across New Mexico Kristelle Siarza Moon — Founder, Siarza (advertising and PR); Volunteer Executive Director, Asian Business Collaborative; co-organizer of New Mexico House at South by Southwest Notable Quotes: "Creativity is in its bones. Hundreds of years, many different cultures all sort of blended together." — Eric Renz-Whitmore "New Mexico has beautiful landscapes, beautiful diversity in its people, languages, and an accepting, lovable family attitude that really makes creative industries whole." — Kristelle Siarza Moon Connect with our guests: New Mexico House: newmexicohouse.org New Mexico Creative Industries Division: via New Mexico Economic Development Department Follow Could Be Pretty Cool: @couldbeprettycool | couldbeprettycool.com | couldbeprettycoolnews.substack.com Keywords: New Mexico creative economy, creative industries, economic development, South by Southwest, New Mexico House, Asian Business Collaborative, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, creative entrepreneurship, arts policy, cultural economy, indie music, film industry, startup ecosystem, community building Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While podcasting has matured as a medium over the last 15 years, the infrastructure supporting it is often still a work in progress. Aseloka Smith is changing that. A university database manager by day and a dedicated podcast listener by night, Aseloka realized there was no central resource to track the "cross section" of a show’s success across various awarding bodies like the Webbys, the Signal Awards, and the Ambies. This realization led to the creation of the Audio Awards Archive, a curated database designed to be a reliable historical record for the industry. This conversation explores the "spirit of the spark," which is the drive to build a solution for a community need even when starting from scratch with lean resources. KEY TOPICS The Missing Link in Podcasting: Why the industry lacked a single source to aggregate nominations and wins across different organizations. The Intersection of Data and Story: How Aseloka’s professional background in database management at a university informed her approach to creative information. Building Lean and Programmatically: Developing a technical resource without "enterprise level money" by finding efficient, scalable ways to connect the dots. The Power of Human Curation: Choosing manual oversight over AI and LLMs to ensure data reliability and prevent "hallucinations". Future Scaling and Sustainability: Plans to build out historical data sets and establish the archive as a self sustaining tool for the creative economy. The Importance of Process: Why structure is essential for long term sustainability in creative projects based on first hand experience. FEATURED GUEST Aseloka Smith: Creator of the Audio Awards Archive and University Database Manager NOTABLE QUOTES "I realized like there was no place for me to go and see like the cross section for a particular show... it was just wild to me that I couldn't go anywhere and find out this sort of information." — Aseloka Smith "As someone who works in technology, I know that [LLM] models lie, they hallucinate and I wanna make this reliable." — Aseloka Smith CONNECT Audio Awards Archive: https://aaainfo.link/cbpc⁠ Newsletter: https://aaainfo.link/cbpc-nl⁠ Follow Could Be Pretty Cool: @couldbeprettycool | couldbeprettycool.com | couldbeprettycoolnews.substack.com KEYWORDS Audio Awards Archive, Aseloka Smith, podcast awards, creative economy, podcasting infrastructure, data management, Webby Awards, Signal Awards, Ambies, Black Podcasting Awards, media database. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices