Technically Not Tech: NxtUp Philly celebrates region’s creatives

It’s a time to celebrate Philadelphia’s creative economy. Two weeks of time, to be precise.

That’s the premise of NxtUp Philly, an open calendar of events surrounding technology, design, multimedia, architecture and others, in this early part of October.

NxtUp kicks off today, with the opening of Innovation Philadelphia’s Global Creative Economy Convergence Summit, ending on October 16th with a conversation with University of the Arts designer and AIGA Fellow Hans Allemann.

Many of the organizations involved have graced this site and our events calendar before, like IgnitePhilly, DesignPhiladelphia, ChefAMe, Philly Startup Leaders and others.

“Great cities are built on collaboration not individual effort,” NxtUp organizer Ian Cross, who is CEO of I-SITE, an Old City-based Web marketing firm.

“Everyone is encouraged to put events in the calendar. NxtUp is not an organization, it’s ideally a marriage of top down experience and bottom up innovation and independence,” Cross wrote Technically Philly in an email.

After the jump, highlights of the technology-related events included in NxtUp Philly.

Monday, October 5th: Refresh Philly reaches out to new members with a happy hour at Jose Pistolas. Grab ’em up, Refresh. 6:00 p.m. Center City.

Tuesday, October 6th: GCECS hosts a Unconference “Gab-fest,” a free offering at the conference where the public can network with presenters, speakers and conference-goers. 12:00 p.m. Chinatown.

Wednesday, October 7th: Successful innovators will share advice at the Baiada Center at Drexel University, including Theodore Goldman of Goldman Development Group. 5:00 p.m. University City.

Thursday, October 8th: Becky Clawson of Recording Academy Philadelphia Chapter will lead the Recording Academy 101 discussion on using the Web to advance a stronger music community in the region and beyond. 7:00 p.m. Center City.

Friday, October 9th: Stanev Potts Architects and Educated Guesswork will show off their iRUS canopy prototype, a lighting system that responds to its environment, built for urban situations. Damn cool premise. 6:00 p.m. Gayborhood.

Saturday, October 10th: Chiptunes dance party 8Static will celebrate its one-year anniversary with a free workshop and a cheap, good time. 7:00 p.m. West Philadelphia.

Tuesday, October 13th: IgnitePhilly 4 will debut at Johnny Brenda’s. Drew Olanoff of Blame Drew’s Cancer will present along with Brian McTear of Weathervane Music, Alex Mulcahy of Grid Magazine and Anna Goldfarb of Shmitten Kitten and others. 7:00 p.m. Fishtown.

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Every Monday, Technically Not Tech will feature people, projects, and businesses that are involved with Philly’s tech scene, but aren’t necessarily technology focused. See others here.