MIDDLETOWN—CreativesMX sponsored its first marathon of creative activity from Aug. 3 through 7 in cities throughout the Hudson Valley. The four-day signature event finished at the Paramount Theatre in Middletown.
The CreativesMX Marathon was designed as an “intensive multi-disciplinary engagement with the creative economy,” according to the company’s website.
This year’s “marathon mini” involved just three counties in the Hudson Valley—Orange, Dutchess, and Ulster—to work out the wrinkles, said Tiombe Tallie Carter, who organized the event and founded CreativesMX in 2014. “We picked three counties that could make a nice loop,” she said.
Competitors moved to a different location each day of the marathon. “This is our first time and we are seeing the concept in action, so we wanted a manageable geographical route,”Tallie Carter said. More counties will be included next year, she added.
Mini Marathon
Each day of the marathon was planned with workshops and classes for creative entrepreneurs. Several creative arts categories were open for participation—performing arts, media, healing, culinary, design, tech, gaming, and crafting, among others.
Tallie Carter wanted an intense experience to give creatives, as she calls them, a little push. She and her team decided on a sports theme.
The marathon resonated with Tallie Carter, “because your career, your life journey, is a marathon. There are hills that you go up. There are long stretches that you have to come up with the stamina to endure,” she said. “Then there are some times when you’ve got to make quick bursts and go for it.”
The event was meant to be an immersive experience so participants could see how their creative work could enter the creative economy. The participants took part in workshops, rehearsals, exhibitions, performances, launches, and pop-ups to see who could “endure to the end.”
Participants could compete in one of three age groups—13 to 17, 18 to 22, and 23 and up. People are actually supposed to compete against themselves in various activities, but Tallie Carter says it’s healthy to see what others are doing in the same field. Being around other creatives “opens your mind,” she said.
Finish Line
On the last day at the Paramount Theatre in Middletown, finalists demonstrated their art for the judges. They were also expected to tell the judges about their experience in the event. Finalists Carolyn Clark and Mark Carter, Jr.,were on hand to talk about their entries.
Clark demonstrated her culinary art in the afternoon. Her original recipe featured pound cake topped with a grilled fruit medley. Onlookers watched as Clark caramelized the fruit on the grill. “It’s not elaborate,” she said. “It’s simple to enjoy the fruit and the cake together.”
Mark Carter Jr., 15, created a video game with a friend, provisionally called “The Reckoning.” Development of the fantasy game is only in the beginning stages, he said.
A player finds heroes, kills monsters, and goes on other quests. Carter thought he could learn how to get his game to the market during the marathon. “I’m pretty young to be in the video game industry,” Carter said.
Tallie Carter does not consider herself a creative. A lawyer and chemist, she founded the company in 2014 as a multi-discipline platform for emerging creatives.
“I’m the squarest person you could ever imagine,” she said. However she was raised at a time when children were given lessons in the arts, because, “that’s what humans were supposed to do,” she said.
To contact this reporter, email [email protected]
