Known widely as the host of CreativeMornings/Charlotte, Queen City-bred Matt Olin is co-founder of Charlotte Is Creative, a non-profit that has become the creative communityâs leading connector, convener, and collaborator. CICâs internationally-celebrated Black Lives Matter street mural project in Uptown Charlotte led to a âCharlottean of the Yearâ distinction from Charlotte magazine, which also named CICâs media channel (BiscuitCLT.com) âBest Email to Land in Your Inbox.â Matt spent the first 20 years of his career creating and producing professional theater in Charlotte and New York â productions garnering such honors as 14 Tony Awards, 50 Tony nominations, Obie Awards, Drama Desk Awards, and more. As a musician, his rock star fantasies briefly became reality when his former band opened for REO Speedwagon, A Flock of Seagulls, and Blondie.
Words. Connecting people. Theatre. Taking an idea and making it a reality. Crafting stories that move people. Diplomacy. And thanks to my daughter, Disney princesses.
Owning my value. Having faith. Watering the plants at our house.
I was having a hard time, struggling in a 9-5 job that was making me unhappy, and regretting some personal and career decisions from years ago. I hired a life coach, and she introduced me to the concept of viewing my life as a party. Invite the people I want there. Bounce the folks I don't. Play the music I love. And it really gets real once the cops show up.
Paul McCartney. His passion keeps him immortal.
Social Intelligence. And a keen eye for creative talent.
Staff producer at an awesome professional theater, or staff copywriter at a badass, socially-conscious company.
The neighborhood haunted houses I used to create with my brother and my friends every Halloween.
A Bruce Hornsby piano riff.
Mattâs CreativeMornings activity
Winston Robinson Identity
John Tosco Muse
Rosalia Torres-Weiner Justice
Sonja Gantt End
Jamie Decker Preserve
Jessica Gaynelle Moss Water
Councilmembers Ajmera, Bokhari, Egleston and Winston Symmetry
Matthew Lyon Restart
Andrew Au Community
Ryan Gravel Broken
Charlotte Roller Girls Game
Michelle Guobadia Anxiety
I saw a relationship between what I did for my full-time job and I did as a contribution to the community. This need to take all of the diversity out there, and all of the opinions out there, and as a mayor try to assemble and hear everybody and then see if we can craft a creative solution.
It was important, even if we didn't win, that a view point be expressed that reflected a lot of North Carolina.
I want to see us move past the politics of fear, which is driving so much of what's happening in Charlotte, in North Carolina, and across this country.
Stay engaged. Don't become so focused on what your specific career is that you forget that there's a community you live in.
And if you end the day not doing anything except caring about yourself, that's one more day lost to making this a great community.
Harvey Gantt Beyond
If there are no stakes, there is no genuine possibility in what you're creating. Because the only way for there to be no stakes is if it's already been done.
For us to do great work in the world, for us to create on the level where it mattersâand if there are no stakes it does not matterâso there have to be stakes because we want to create something that matters.