The 9:01: The Memphis renaissance, the new generation
Good morning in Memphis, where it's Day 2 of guest hosts of The 9:01, but first ... let's talk the Memphis renaissance and the new generation.
On this typical Tuesday in Memphis: An exotic zoo bird remains on the loose, a driver on Sam Cooper Boulevard is sneaking past construction traffic in the wrong lane and Memphis natives and transplants alike are conspiring somewhere about how to make The Bluff City the best version of itself.
In a tale of two cities, the dawn of a single Memphis renaissance is emerging.
Rooted in traditions like Memphis in May and The Southern Heritage Classic, a series of uncharted, cultural, community and social movements are afoot, as local leaders welcome a new generation of talent to accelerate the city’s evolution.
Cultivating Memphis Culture: The city’s young creatives are turning Memphis into a mecca for artists and art enthusiasts alike.
Just three years after relocating the city’s first Afrocentric playhouse to Cooper Street, Hattiloo Theatre founder Ekundayo Bandele has launched Baobab Film House, the theater's cinematic sister, at his old building on Marshall Avenue. Visitors to the newly renovated, 42-seat theater can screen African diaspora films you won’t see anywhere else in the region. Bandele promises that, like his theater, the films will appeal to all audiences.
A few blocks away, under the umbrella of the city’s blossoming Crosstown Arts district, a new program is on the way to draw the area’s most accomplished artists. The artists are now vying and applying to occupy a 750-square-foot space for four months at a time where they can flourish in a focused, creative work space. Crosstown is offering the space to three artists in 2016. The residency opportunity just scratches the surface of what the overhaul of the old Sears building will do for the arts, from special programming to art galleries and workshops.
Downtown, the Memphis Symphony is undergoing a rebirth with a new conductor, all on the heels of its big new partnership and re-branding as "The Memphis Symphony Orchestra in Residence at the University of Memphis.” Principal Conductor Robert Moody kicked off his first concert the first weekend of the month and the upcoming season is laced with daring and alluring matchups.
Budding Social Scene: Last summer’s Tennessee Brewery Revival out of an abandoned downtown building sparked new models of how Memphians go about socializing, from Loflin Yard’s new “buzzy” downtown beer garden to The Kitchen Bistro’s new “neighborhood restaurant” at Shelby Farms. It’s important for a city to have an accessible social scene as a solid work-life balance helps the city retain talent. As a series of eclectic venues pop up, various groups around town are helping the new generation maneuver Memphis’ social maze.
The Memphis Urban League Young Professionals, a local offshoot of the National Urban League, is vibrant and extremely active, engaging Memphis’ urban professionals. Not only does the group have a well-attended social calendar, they engage in business, cultural and economic causes. A membership orientation is scheduled for October 15.
Undercurrent is purely a social monthly gathering at the most popular restaurants and bars around Memphis. It’s free and brings millennials together to “Meet. Eat. Have a drink or three.” You join by signing up for their monthly announcements.
Choose 901, a web-based Memphis cheerleader boasts a “Things to Do” calendar for millennials as well as a blog, job offerings and more. Choose901 took the city by storm from day one and has a true finger on the pulse of the city, even evolving into a tastemaker for what’s cool and awesome to do and be in Memphis. They’ve now branched out to offer additional resources for teachers and college volunteers called Teach901 and Serve901, respectively.
Latino Memphis hosted a Hispanic Heritage Social this weekend as part of a young professionals networking event. The group is making a concerted effort to engage and connect Hispanic youth to Memphis culture. With Census data showing Shelby County’s Latino population has grown by 10 percent since 2010, a new voice is helping to shape a better Memphis. Latino Memphis is hosting the city’s most popular Day of the Dead Fiesta on Oct. 28, and the entire community is invited.
Millennials at WMC Action News 5 wanted to use the news station’s vast platform to offer a tool to unite the community through social events. They came up with the idea of a weekly events blog called The Memphis Weekend with fun and free activities for millennials and families alike. Be sure to check it out every Thursday.
Paving the Way to a Better Community: There are too many people doing amazing things to list in one column, but a few standouts are worth mentioning -- people whose impact on the community around them is tangible and promising.
Taylor C. Berger truly lives by his acronym and Elvis’ mantra, TCB, Taking Care of Business. Berger is not only the brains behind a list of popular, themed restaurants like Rec Room and Loflin Yard, but the Memphis man with the Midas touch founded the Memphis Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic, the Memphis Truck Stop Association and a list of other groups that are changing the fabric of how Mid-Southerners live our daily lives. His blog is quite informative and worth a gander.
Dynamic duo Tommy Pacello and Abby Miller are charged with carrying out the call of the Memphis Medical District Collaborative. The two were previously part of the Mayor’s Innovation Delivery Team and were successful at bringing a number of projects to fruition, from helping to spark the transformation of the abandoned Tennessee Brewery into a future mixed-use apartment building to executing pop-up shops in promising neighborhoods like Broad Avenue, which is now a thriving arts community. Pacello and Miller are working with health care, real estate and city leaders to transform Memphis’ medical district into a virtual village in itself. You can keep up with their cutting edge progress and learn how to apply for grants to enhance the neighborhood here.
Memphis native Terence Patterson became a household name, after playing a key role in negotiating Memphis’ largest downtown business headquarters. Newly at the helm of the Downtown Memphis Commission, the Harvard alum and Northwestern MBA and law school grad helped convince ServiceMaster to relocate to the abandoned Peabody Place. With a background as a financial analyst, entrepreneur, attorney, adjunct professor, Chicago Schools deputy chief of staff, and Hyde Family Foundations education program officer, Patterson is tried and true. And Patterson is not done. He was recently selected as one of 10 prestigious 2016 Zhi-Xing Eisenhower Fellows, where his program will focus on urban trends in smart growth, development, and blight remediation in China.
With people and projects moving into place, the seeds are being sewn by a new generation of talented visionaries who are investing in the growth of this community, as surveys over the past two years find Memphis among the top cities millennials find attractive.
Memphis is one of the few cities in America that has room for innovation to thrive.
Memphis is a place where you’re not just a number, you can be a game changer.
Memphis has unexplored ground where your dreams can be realized.
In #My901, Memphis is ripe with opportunity and a renaissance is underway. Before you consider planting your roots anywhere besides Memphis, consider what #Your901 looks like and how we can all put our heads together to make #Our901 better.
Kontji Anthony is an award-winning news broadcaster with two decades of combined experience anchoring, reporting, producing and writing for network news affiliates across America. She is currently the evening anchor for WMC Action News 5, NBC. You can follow Kontji on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and SnapChat or email her at kanthony@wmctv.com.