About

OUR ORGANIZATION

As the only local agency exclusively focused on Birmingham’s creative industries, Create Birmingham plays a unique role in growing the creative sector.

Create Birmingham’s mission is to invest in imagination and invention. Through our programs, we construct and support diverse avenues for commercial and nonprofit creative success. Through our advocacy, we work to ensure that Birmingham’s creative industries are recognized not only for their cultural impact but also for their contribution to the greater Birmingham area’s economic development.

Our organization was originally established in 2004 as the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham, based on a recommendation of the Cultural Master Plan for the Greater Birmingham Region, a comprehensive document addressing cultural needs and recommended strategies to address those needs.

By 2013, the creative landscape in Birmingham and the region looked very different than in 2003, and so we embarked on a new initiative to map a growth plan for Birmingham’s creative industries, the sum of both commercial and nonprofit creative work in the community. The launch of our new name, mission, and organizational model followed the 2014 release of our report Stoking Innovation in the Magic City: Birmingham’s Creative Industries.

Birmingham’s creative economy is only as strong as the spirit of community that supports its development, and we hope that you will join us in our efforts.

OUR STAFF

Buddy Palmer, President & CEO
Jessica Moody, Director of Programs
Meg Daniel Nelson, Director of Development
Tonia Trotter, Communications Specialist
Jacqui Jones, Community Engagement Manager

OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Kathryn Corey
Chair
Vice President of Donor Relations (Retired), Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham

Brian Giattina
Secretary/Treasurer
Chief Financial Officer, Giattina Aycock Architecture Studio, Inc.

Carol E. Clarke
Immediate Past Chair
General Manager, Southside Development Company

BOARD

Ann W. Forney
Senior Vice President & Major Gifts Manager, Regions Bank

Charles Powell IV
Attorney-at-Law, Littler Mendelson

Steven Thomas
Assistant Professor of Surgery & Plastic Surgery (Retired), University of Alabama at Birmingham

Valerie Thomas
President, The VAL Group

Jeanette Wade
Community Volunteer

Margaret White
Director of Public Relations, Alabama Power Company

Angela Wier
Director of Development, Vulcan Park & Museum

FOUNDING BOARD MEMBERS

Kate Nielsen
President (Retired), Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham

Richard I. Pigford
Founding Partner, ArchitectureWorks