“The Second City is first class when it comes to its bevy of young entrepreneurs, tech geniuses and changemakers. The inaugural 30 Under 30 Local Chicago list includes a photographer capturing the 2020 protests across the city, a duo creating a burgeoning ceramics studio and a founder streamlining composting for apartments.”

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

During the Ceramics Crawl, more than 10 studios across the city — and a couple in the suburbs — will host pop-up art sales, art exhibitions, interactive activities, demos, studio tours and more.

“A lot of it is based around sharing information and educating people,” Penn said. “That learning environment is what’s building a community, because [our artists] have this reason to be critically engaged with each other and start conversations organically, and we have an avenue to do that."

“With the expansion, we really wanted to clear up the ground floor, open it up for community programming, and then we really could offer a lot more classes, workshops, events, open houses, and we really want to build a professional network for the artists that are working out of here,” Penn said. “We really encourage member events … and learning how to sell your own work.”

“Instead of competing with other studios, The Digs will organize events like a recent pottery crawl, when studios across Chicago hosted open houses and free workshops. When other studios are full, students get referred to The Digs and vice versa, Minzenberger said.