NOTE: This blog was published on October 29, 2021. The Denton Startup Crawl is on November 12, 2021 from 4 - 8 PM.
Back and better than ever before - the Denton Startup Crawl (DSC)! Stoke hosts the Denton Startup Crawl during Global Entrepreneurship Week to invite community members into the worlds of business owners and entrepreneurs working in a variety of industries. For startup crawls in the past, Stoke has guided a tour for people to visit workspaces on and around the square. Last year, Stoke recorded a virtual startup crawl during the pandemic for a peek inside workspaces, safely.
This year, to celebrate and honor the small business owners and entrepreneurs who are creatives, makers, and artists in Denton, the startup crawl has a focus on their unique workspaces, studios, and galleries.
Stoke will participate in the crawl as well, and celebrate the grand reception of a beautiful mural created by Artlab3000 that wraps around part of the new office buildout completed in early August. Art by local designers, Hollingsworth & Co. also graces Stoke walls, and crawl participants are encouraged to tour the space and see their work, including a mural-sized painting that embodies Stoke’s community values. In addition to the art viewing, Stoke will have live music performed by a former Stoke member and demonstrations by new food and culture business, Good and Golden, talking about Lao cuisine-specific ingredients and teaching people how certain dishes are traditionally prepared with a mortar and pestle and rice steamer. Creative director of Colectivo Creative Media, Anthony Najera, will be onsite at Stoke recording an interactive video project with attendees as well. His setup will include a professional camera, lighting, and audio for participants to record a minute long video meant to be shared on social media - plug your business, talk about the crawl, or just say hi to the world!
How To Participate In the Denton Startup Crawl
This year’s crawl format is a self-paced tour with a digital map as a guide for you to visit creative workspaces, studios, and more around Denton. You’ll be able to have your DSC Passport marked at each stop to enter to win one of three raffle baskets that will contain things like gift certificates to clay/metals/fibers workshops at Workbench and swag and gift cards from Thistle Creative Reuse, all generously donated from the Denton Startup Crawl stops. DSC hosts will provide refreshments, host live music, entertainment, demos, and art experiences, and make-and-take activities for adults and little ones alike.
Read on for summaries of DSC stops’ business descriptions + a list of specific offerings and activities that they’ll be hosting during the crawl.
Stoke
Stoke opened as Denton’s coworking space in August 2016 and has hosted programs and events for the entrepreneurial community like Coffee + Convo and Lunch + Learns, open to all to attend. In 2020, Stoke and TWU Center for Women Entrepreneurs launched the AccelerateHER incubator program to support women entrepreneurs in developing and leveling up their businesses.
DSC Activities
Grand mural opening reception and Hollingsworth & Co Art viewing
Live music
Video project
Lao traditional cooking tools demo by Good and Golden
Mural by Artlab3000, photo by Heather Gregory
Greater Denton Arts Council / Patterson-Appleton Arts Center
The Greater Denton Arts Council has served the Denton community for almost 50 years. The Arts Council provides foundational support for Denton’s artists and community arts organizations and collaborates frequently with area universities, the Denton Independent School District, and the City of Denton. The Arts Council presents a full schedule of programs and exhibitions in its flagship facility in historic downtown Denton, the Patterson-Appleton Center Arts Center, built in 1929 and located between Denton’s Downtown Square and emerging innovation district, this historic building was originally the city’s steam power plant. GDAC at PAAC is throwing a full-on party during the Denton Startup Crawl this year!
DSC Activities
Vendor and artist booths
Golden Triangle Woodturners in the Craft room, GDAC info tabl, Artist Enclav, VAST, Lauri Goldston, Magda Plagge, Jo Williams, Patty Rodgers, Toast Tiensvold, Denton Poets Assembly, Leon Davis, Jerehmai Washinton, Stephanie Feagins, Robert Hold, Skip - Matthew Shipper
Live Music
4:00 to 5:00 pm is Bone Doggie
5:00 pm to 5:30 pm DPA
5:30 to 6:30 pm Key of Dreams
6:30 to 8:00 pm Polly Maynard and her guitar students
The Art Room
The Art Room provides a safe, supportive studio environment for adults with mental health issues to explore artistic expression and the development of artistic skills. Their visitors are supported in the discovery that the creative process has therapeutic value in reducing stress, in promoting self-discovery, and in providing a positive means for emotional expression.
DSC Activities
Make-and-take craft
Discover Denton Visitor Center
The Discover Denton Visitor Center is located on the square in downtown Denton and staffed by ambassadors who are ready and happy to assist you. Their brick-and-mortar location is stocked with locally made goods, Texas-centric gifts, and university merchandise and is THE place to stop on your way in or out of town. The Visitor Center is also where you can find local and regional brochures. Additionally, most travel resources, itineraries, and updates can be accessed here on discoverdenton.com.
DSC Activities
Shopping until 8 PM
Live art demonstrations
Interactive painting experience
Discover Denton Welcome Center courtesy of Tammi Paul
A Creative Art Studio
A Creative Art STUDIO opened in 2009 just off the historic square at 227 W Oak Street in Denton, Texas. It started as an art studio for two artists but soon evolved into a studio and gallery. The studio serves the community with a variety of art classes for both children and adults. Private lessons are also available. They offer art parties with a variety of activity options. Each First Friday of the month, A Creative Art Studio opens the gallery for art, music, festivities and evening shopping. Jazz night happens on the third Wednesday of each month.
DSC Activities
Refreshments
Live demonstrations
Open gallery
The DIME Store
The DIME Store is a brick-and-mortar shop located in downtown Denton, TX. DIME features handmade items by local artisans and makers, carrying work from more than forty local-to-Denton and Texas-regional artists, makers, and designers. They focus on selling quality, handmade, and enduring goods for customers to enjoy for years to come.
DSC Activities
Shopping until 8 PM
Refreshments
Photo credit: Discover Denton
UNT CoLab
The UNT CoLab (formerly UNT on the Square) has moved locations and updated its name to reflect their newest iteration as a multi-functional University and Community engagement venue. UNT CoLab is located in historic Downtown Denton, just a half block off the beautiful Courthouse Square, on the corner of N. Elm and Pecan Streets, in the John B. Schmitz building (circa 1878). It functions as a Learning Lab for the students of the College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism (CMHT) to connect their classwork to real learning experiences to prepare them for the industry. UNT CoLab offers a variety of events and exhibitions, with a curated retail boutique of uniquely Denton and UNT-inspired goods, and event rental venue.
DSC Activities
Live music
Open gallery, last weekend to view Byrd Williams’ Walking Dead exhibit
Pop-up by Salted Sanctuary
Jazz trio performing in the UNT CoLab gallery at a recent event, photo provided by UNT CoLab
Art Glass Ensembles
Art Glass Ensembles has been an accredited Professional with the Stained Glass Association of America since 2010. They provide stained glass services throughout Texas and the United States specializing in stained glass window design, construction, installation, repair, restoration for home, business/non-profit, or place of worship. Art Glass Ensembles also provides stained glass supplies for the hobbyist.
DSC Activities
Refreshments
Open studio
Wildflower Art Studio
Founder and CEO of Wildflower Art Studio, Emile Stewart has lived a life of adventure, and previously worked for Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). She was a High School Art teacher before transitioning to a full-time career as an artist & mom of 2 wild boys.
In 2017, Emile opened her first Brick & Mortar. Wildflower Art Studio offers adult workshops and kids classes. A recent article in Where Women Create Magazine referred to Wildflower Art Studio as "A Pioneer in the DIY Industry". Their unique Workshop-In-a-Box experience brings the FUN of a creative workshop right to your door! To date, Wildflower Art Studio has shipped over 50,000 DIY Kits all across the globe- sharing the art of Watercolor, Hand Lettering & Calligraphy with new friends all the way from New Zealand to Tasmania.
DSC Activities
Refreshments
Live demonstrations & artists popping up in the Outdoor Studio area
Justine Wollaston & Wildfield Collective
Make-and-take craft
Founder and CEO, Emile Stewart, in front of Wildflower Art Studio
The Workbench
At Workbench, you will find a friendly, approachable, community-based, and socially conscious space. They teach traditional workshops as well as provide one-on-one sessions. Workbench offers gallery and retail space by invite and application. The Workbench provides a variety of tools from disc cutters to tumblers and sewing machines; they just ask that you bring your own materials for your project and safety gear.
DSC Activities
Refreshments
Make-and-take craft
Open gallery
Thistle Creative Reuse
Thistle Creative Reuse is a small and mighty group who value creativity, beauty and the environment. They believe that creative expression does not have to come with an environmental cost because enough materials already exist in the world. With over a decade of creative reuse experience among them, they want to help you tap your creativity and imagination using reuse materials.
Refreshments
Shopping until 8
Make-and-take zine with Denton Zine and Art Party founder, Rachel Weaver
Denton Zine & Art Party celebrates all things DIY zines, art, music, and more in Denton, TX. Join Rachel Weaver & Denton Zine & Art Party at Thistle Creative Reuse for a Make Your Own Zine activity! Use awesome reuse materials from Thistle and get some tips and tricks from zine enthusiast and zinester Rachel!
Thistle Creative Reuse retail space
Delamar Place
Delamar Place is a mixed-use rental facility developed with local organizations, entrepreneurs, small businesses, and creatives in mind. It was designed to be the ideal space to host gatherings of 20 people or less and houses a podcast room and caterer’s kitchen. Delamar place includes everything needed to connect with the community and inspire creativity.
Refreshments
Live entertainment
See you on the Denton Startup Crawl!
With so many hands-on activities to do and creative workspaces to see, we hope you find a new love for an artistic passion or reconnect with an old one. Get inspired by the creatives, makers, and artists in Denton and learn how you can support their businesses.
Many thanks to these creative business owners who donated products and offerings to include in three raffle baskets for those who visit 8 stops or more and have their DSC Passport marked at those stops!
You’ll be able to pick up your passport at any location, and each stop will have a designated person who will mark off that stop for you. Leave your passport at the last stop that you visit, and we’ll take care of picking them up to randomly select three raffle basket winners.