Finding your people

Feeling screen-fried or Zoom-zosted? Some IRL NYC events to serve as a tactile tonic for the terminally online and digital corners to explore.

May 17, 2024

Remember pre-pandemic New York? It was a whirlwind of creative ferment. You couldn’t throw a tote bag in Dimes Square without hitting a designer, writer, or artist noodling on the next big thing. Then COVID hit and the IRL scene shattered. Zoom became our social square, and the vibes were terrible. Four years later, I keep hearing: where’s the creative community? Has it entered the metaverse for good? Or are we all just ready to log off and touch grass?

The hunger for IRL connection is real. Designers are emerging from their WFH cocoons, blinking in the sunlight, eager to find their people again. There’s an almost giddy excitement in the air—but also a sense of dislocation. The old haunts and networks have disappeared or morphed. We’re all relearning how to make friends.

At the same time, the digital tools for finding community have never been better. Discord servers, virtual co-working, and apps like Geneva are connecting creatives across time zones. The promise of web3 and AI is sparking fresh experiments in collaboration.

The future of creative community is neither fully URL or IRL—it’s blended. The most vibrant spaces will bridge the digital and physical, leveraging the reach of the internet while still anchoring in local scenes. They’ll be more like a garden than a walled city, a place to hang out and cross-pollinate. Intimate enough to spark real talk and spur-of-the-moment collaborations.

So how do you find—or build—those spaces in 2024? Read on for a roundup of online spaces, in-person places, and some design events to check out this week.

Digital watering holes

Are.na, social bookmarking meets knowledge-based networking
Discords like Index, The Spot, Design Buddies
FWB, members-only social club for the web3 curious
Geneva, find and plan IRL hangs with folks who share your interests
HTML Energy, code and vibe over virtual free-writes
hyperlink.academy, an internet school where you learn by doing, together
The Lot Radio, tune into this internet radio station for sonic inspiration
Out of Office, a Slack community and newsletter guiding you to an inspired life
Poolsuite, slip into this retro-themed social network for a dose of nostalgia
special.fish, a community word processor for poetic play
Sunday Sites, a club for expressing yourself through the web, no coding skills required

IRL meetups and spaces on the rise

Sorry, to my non-New Yorkers. This one skews NYC-centric.

AIGA NY is still swinging with a lineup of insights and best practices
Bótani, a Bed-Stuy plant and coffee shop that moonlights as a community hub
Colbo, where fashion, art, music, home goods, and good convos collide in the LES
Field Meridians, an artist collective celebrating Crown Heights’ food cultures; their Nature School looks excellent

forecast, a retail concept space connecting urban, outdoors, and cultural life
Index Space / garden3d, peer-led programming and co-working in Chinatown—loved attending one of their pockets events!
Salon 21, hosts rotating art and design exhibitions, complemented by an array of captivating programming
Salotto, a hub run by Italian creatives making moves in NYC
SFPC, an experimental school for art, code, and critical theory
Your local bookstores and publishers: Triple Canopy, Inventory Press, Head Hi, Friends Editions—for readings, workshops, and more
Also check out
coolstuff.nyc
for their superb roundup of local happenings

Honorable mentions from my Twitter: “the santander co-working space on n6th next to the nike store”—@matthewfamularo & “capitol one cafe” —@patrickmcc_rthy. Thank you, both.

I looked through the NYCxDESIGN calendar, so you don’t have to

After years of Zoom fatigue and digital drift, the New York design scene is ready for its IRL renaissance. This year’s NYCxDESIGN lineup is a clarion call to log off, link up, and remember what sparks joy about creating in community.

May 17

MSCHF’s Lukas Bentel drops future-conscious homewares (thru June 9)
Head Hi’s 5th Annual Lamp Show lights up with global design inspo (thru May 19)

Colbo kicks off a week of music, print mags, negronis (thru May 23)

May 18

Mud Talks dishes on the future of conscious consumption
Misha Kahn’s studio sale is a pre-move blowout I’m sad to miss
Local manufacturing download with AIGA NY’s Industry City tours
SoHo Design Day toasts 10 years with open studios & bespoke cocktails
Boerum Hill comes together for gallery nights & exhibit launches
Keynote at the Guggenheim, alongside the Jenny Holzer exhibit

May 19

Salotto’s “Design Shakers” talk unpacks creative stories
“Modernism, Inc.” screening revisits the work of Eliot Noyes
ICFF’s student showcase highlights rising design talent (thru May 21)

May 20

The Vignelli legacy gets its due
Peep the JONALDDUDD’s exhibition (thru May 17)

And beyond…

Enjoy an outdoor movie night of “Happy Together” in Fort Greene Park (May 21)

Salotto asks “Is Creativity Enough?” in a provocative panel (May 22)
Practice giving/receiving feedback at AIGA NY’s virtual Lunch & Learn (June 12)
Expand your horizons with SFPC’s online summer classes (Jun-Aug).
Listen/dance the night away at: Mister Sunday, Nowadays, The Red Pavilion, Public Records, and Elsewhere.

Tips for cultivating your own communities

Attend that opening, even if you’re tired—you never know who you’ll meet
Be consistent—whether it’s a weekly meet-up or a monthly newsletter, show up
Go to lectures at your local design school—education is a gateway to community
Host a salon, all you need is a theme, a space, and some snacks
Keep it small at first—start with a text thread of 10 people who “get it”
Slide into DMs—the best convos start one-on-one
Start a Substack! Send erratic missives into the void, your true freaks will find you
Start a book club, but make it hyper-specific

Links

Inside the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and subsequent crackdown, coverage from the staff of the Columbia Daily Spectator—an incredible read
Laurel Schwulst and Tracy Ma on following patterns, ripping seams, creating copies, and sewing your own clothes
Everybody hated That Apple Ad but the Japanese REALLY hated it
Where the design jobs are at, a data-based guide to who’s hiring—and what they’re looking for from Fast Company (via)
This is generally how we edit at Figma, too

The state of creative community in 2024? It’s evolving, messy, and calling. The “scene” is dead; long live the scene, etc. Find the people, online and off, who energize and inspire you. And when in doubt—throw a party and see who shows up.

—Carly