M.Y.O and Life Lessons at the Barbican Centre
When running your own startup there are so many ups and downs, it can be crazy when you think back. Being contacted in December 2019 by Vicki from Brand Events about being part of the inaugral Life Lessons Festival at the Barbican Centre was once of those pinch me, this is why I'm doing it moments! It was in association with The Sunday Times, with partners like Penguin, Waterstones, Mollie Makes, Triyoga and tonnes more - and they wanted M.Y.O to be there too.
Not to forget the speakers, which was the main point of the event - Bill Bryson, Richard Dawkins, Derren Brown, Ruby Wax and more.
What did they want us to do at Life Lessons
The remit was exactly the kind of thing we like to do - provide a fun, colourful and relaxing creative outlet at an event. We were given a huge room and Vicki was incredibly trusting (thank you!) in allowing us to come up with a creative plan of action. After a couple of site visits, we sketched out a plan of how to get as many people creative with us as possible - 4 different creative stations, lots of bunting, fairy lights, decorations and colourful & creative things - like a standalone creative studio. Silv from the Barbican then kindly made the plan to scale and it looked proper profesh. Exciting!
How it went
Again, one of those pinch me moments.
The event was on the Saturday and Sunday, so Kirsty (our general manager) and I went down on Friday to decorate the space. It looked magic!
We were due to open on the Saturday at 10am, but from 9.30am there was a steady stream of guests coming to get creative with us - trying things like lino printing, creative hand lettering, mindful colouring in, string art, tassel earring making, embroidery and painting. We had some volunteers helping us (thanks Kendall, Amy, Beeta and Ros), along with Kirsty, Diana and I.
The space was full of colour, laughs and people relaxing throughout the weekend, with over 400 coming to get creative and find out about M.Y.O in between the talks.
I won't say any more, check out the pictures below!
Thanks again for having us Brand Events, til next time.
Some feedback
"I was so impressed by what you guys with us at Life Lessons & would love to get you back for our next one – probably in the summer."
"Thank you for an amazing Life Lessons weekend – it was great to have you as part of the new event!"
"I went to see M.Y.O and had a great time trying out some calligraphy - it was nice to take some time out and engage in a mindful and creative activity in between the talks. We definitely need more art gyms around the country! x"
Want to bring some creativity to your event to make it even more special? Drop us an e-mail on Hello@MYO.Place, would be great to chat,
Sam
M.Y.O co-founder