Every other week or so we’ll turn this space over to a guest blogger so you can get thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s guest blogger is Kayne Lanahan, founder of and Mothership for Savannah Stopover Music Festival and themusicfile.com.  Turn up the tunes and listen to Kayne’s take on entrepreneurship….It’s hard to believe that it’s been 23 years since Nike first coined the phrase that has been helping us all get off our butts and pursue our goals (in sports and in life), but it’s a rare occasion when you actually get the chance to literally just do it.

It’s been just over four weeks since the inaugural Savannah Stopover Music Festival ended and I’ve taken quite a bit of time to debrief, reflect and hopefully learn after experiencing one of the most challenging yet rewarding projects of my life. This is not just a personal Just Do It! story, but one that involves the collective energy, hard work and enthusiasm of an entire group of people who literally wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Every other week or so we’ll turn this space over to a guest blogger so you can get thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s guest blogger is Harry Delorme with The Telfair Museum.  Read on for the musings of a self-confessed tinkerer…

Chito Lapena at Telfair’s Pulse Festival 2008

“Tinkering” is becoming a buzzword these days and, as a practice, it is coming into the light as a potentially valuable activity.  The upcoming TEDx East conference in New York even includes “Tinker” in its title and showcases a talk by Gever Tulley of the Tinkering School.

Tinkering seems to flow in tandem with the Maker/D.I.Y./Crafter culture that has grown exponentially in recent years.  I am heartened by this expansion of the creative playing field to include people who might not have thought of themselves as artists or creators.

Tinkering, experimentation, and creative problem solving are commonalities between the arts and sciences.  Given that Savannah has organizations and people who are enthusiastic supporters of art, design, science and technology, I would love to see Savannah become a more conducive environment for creative tinkerers.

Every other week or so we’ll turn this space over to a guest blogger so you can get thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s guest blogger is the Dean of Design, Victor Ermoli.  (No exaggeration; Victor is Dean of Design at Savannah College of Art & Design).  Read on for a glimpse of what our future could hold…

Savannah has a great opportunity to become the design and creative center of the South, maybe even the entire nation. There are incredible opportunities for this city to be a great innovation center. We just need to overcome a few minor obstacles first. Here’s my thoughts on why Savannah is poised to be a truly great creative mecca.

First, Savannah has a great set of universities that are dedicated to producing creative talent, everything from graphic designers to city planners to aviation engineers. More than 90% of this talent is leaving Savannah upon graduation and migrating to other cities such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. This trend needs to change; we need to keep our creative talent here in Savannah.

Every other week or so we’ll turn this space over to a guest blogger so you can get thoughts, opinions and creative noodling from all over the map. This week’s guest blogger is Katie Dye, marketing and communications guru for SEDA.  Read on to see how this organization is helping Savannah hit on all cylinders ….The mission of the Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA) is to expand the region’s existing economic base by growing, attracting and developing new business opportunities.

In the course of advancing our mission, the SEDA Board, Advisory Council and staff are working closely together to implement a 5-year strategic plan based on a targeted industry approach with a central theme of fully integrated economic development. Full integration demands collaboration with key stakeholders and partner organizations and gaining consensus relative to the economic drivers of our region in order to ensure we are maximizing our collective efforts. In addition, our internal efforts will become fully integrated, balancing our efforts toward all stages of businesses development from creation and retention to growth and attraction.

SEDA’s 5-year strategic plan was formally adopted by the Board and Advisory Council on March 8, 2011, and it focuses on the advancement of the following core strategies: