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Richmond Times-Dispatch

By Bob Rayner, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.

Nov. 7--A faded sign crawls across the side of an old warehouse in Shockoe Bottom: F.H. Boehling Co. Feeds and Seeds. That business has left the building.

But on the other side of the brick wall, in an airy room with tall windows, sleek furniture and plenty of head space, they're planting seeds -- and working to feed a growing branch of Richmond's working class.

The Creative Change Center -- everyone calls it C3 -- defies easy definition.

It's a nonprofit organization backed by a core of local business leaders.

Its goals are a little squishy: nurturing creative business types, acting as a champion for innovation, proving to the rest of the world that Richmond is fertile ground for folks with fresh ideas.

Its backers are full of energy and ambition.

"We're living in a free-agent economy," said Michele Stuchell, C3's executive director. More people are working from home, especially people in creative pursuits: Web designers, graphic artists, freelance writers.

"They're going to Barnes & Noble just to be around people and get away from their laundry," Stuchell said.

With its telephones, computers, wireless Internet connections and orderly jumble of tables and chairs, C3 offers an alternative to laboring in coffee shops and bookstores.

"People can come here to work," Stuchell said. "It's a community center for creatives."

Everybody's welcome. At no charge.

Jennifer Scott runs Touch Points Public Relations, a one-woman PR firm, from her home in Hanover County. But she has clients all over town.

"C3 has been a great landing spot for me to sit down with my two laptops and get to work," she said. "I've met potential clients there. I've had brainstorming sessions there with clients. I've spent whole afternoons working there."

C3 helps Scott make better use of her time.

"It's like a downtown office for me. It's just a very comfortable environment for working. I don't think there's anything like it in Richmond."

She serves on the organization's board now and believes it is becoming an asset for Richmond.

"C3 is a place where every type of creative person can come. It's not just a hot spot for advertisers. It's not just a hot spot for architects."

And it's better than trying to work in a coffee shop or a bookstore, Scott said, because you are surrounded by all kinds of people doing all kinds of creative work.

"I've heard people say, 'Is this Richmond?' I think people expect this kind of space in New York."

Scott Wellman has used C3 to hold small software training sessions for clients.

"It's a place to get work done. It looks very nice, it's very well put together -- and it's got free parking," said Wellman, whose business, LogicDepot, provides Internet survey services.

When he first heard about C3, Wellman assumed "it was for people who draw lines and pictures or work in advertising. It's broader than that. It's for people who create a business. I create software."

The whole point, he said, is to encourage "a layer of creative people who like to live and work in Richmond."

C3 opened in January on the third floor of 1801 E. Cary St., 5,000 square feet of exposed brick and whitewashed columns that enjoy an almost intimate relationship with the freight trains that rumble past the building -- distracting, at least for a second, all but the most intense laptop-gazing visitors.

"Business leaders here said, 'What are we going to do to support and embrace our creative class?' " Stuchell said.

C3 became the answer.

In addition to human and digital networking, work space and ambiance, C3 offers classes, monthly breakfast speakers and educational seminars. Almost all are aimed at understanding, explaining and expanding the links between creativity and business success.

The organization received a big boost from its downstairs neighbor, Play, the creative consulting firm that has been hired by some of the country's biggest companies.

Andy Stefanovich, the top guy at Play, has been a longtime booster for Richmond's creative community.

"Andy saw that creatives here needed a space," Stuchell said. "He said, 'We have some space.' " So C3 found a home.

CarMax came up with a grant that helped open the doors. An anonymous donor gave $100,000.

C3 has been evolving ever since. And picking up fans.

Many of its services are free, though donations are welcome. It also rents space to local groups looking for a slightly funky but functional spot to hold an event.

C3's survival will depend on support from local businesses and the creative community it is working to nurture and promote.

"I think a lot of business leaders see the value in the softer things: collaboration, connections, inspiration," Stuchell said. "When you're creating something new, it's hard. There have been months of angst. Some things we tried didn't work. And some things worked wonderfully."

On Friday, C3 will step up its local profile.

The organization is sponsoring an all-day conference, scattered among seven spots in Shockoe Bottom, including C3.

"What's the Big Idea?" will focus on the role of innovation in business and how companies can encourage ideas that help create solutions.

Speakers include Play's Stefanovich and Rick Boyko, director of the VCU Adcenter.

The conference also is sponsored by the Greater Richmond Partnership, Play and Palari Publishing, which produces Work Magazine.

It will explore everything from ways to hire and retain creative workers to Web design and writing-for-hire. It also will feature an afternoon career fair.

"It's almost like an infomercial for C3," Stuchell said. "If you like this, come to our breakfast club."

The organizers see the conference as an opening move.

"We're not trying to do anything beyond incremental steps," said Ted Randler, publisher and executive editor of Work Magazine. "We're trying to create a forum for people of a creative ilk."

Stuchell agrees. "Unless there's going to be action and impact, what's the point?"

She is optimistic about the conference and her organization.

"There's no reason Richmond can't be an idea center for the mid-Atlantic," she said, because the talent is here.

Part of C3's mission is making sure the region puts that talent to work. Plants the seeds. Feeds the demand -- and the ambitions.

"It takes time, especially with something that is amorphous and a little soft, like creativity and innovation," Stuchell said.

"You keep pushing that flywheel and it's going to gain momentum. It's important for this thing to live and grow and survive."

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