The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art will be the place to be on Saturday night as 100state will host 100thanks.
“The event is a chance to give thanks to our members as well as the Madison community for the support of what we do and their support of entrepreneurship and problem solvers of all kinds,” says Greg St. Fort, executive director of 100state.
100State is a downtown Madison co-working and startup community hub geared toward young professionals. The annual 100thanks party will start with a networking hour at 6 p.m. at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Madison.
“We are going to hear stories from some of our members and we will get some updates as we review the year at 100state,” St. Fort says. “Then we will have some very special announcements that you will hear at the event for the very first time.”
Following that, the party will head a couple blocks west to 100state’s new space. Wisconsin’s biggest co-working community will get an even bigger space starting on Jan. 2 as they join the bustling tech hub at 316 W. Washington Ave.
“We will have a tour of that space which will be really awesome for a lot of people who have not seen it yet,” St. Fort says. “The afterparty will be there – Diamond Dreams – at the same building and that is going to be really awesome. It’s going to be a fun event. It’s going to be interesting to see the different sectors of our community come together. We’re expecting it to be a packed house for all parts of the event.”
Constructions workers have been busy at work at the new space for a while now. It’s almost 11,000 square feet is significantly bigger than the current 6,500-square-foot place on the Capitol Square and has many cool new amenities like an art space and 19 private offices.
“The walls are painted, a lot of the electricity is in … we’re still working on the flooring but we’re still set to move in on January 2,” St. Fort says. “We’re all really excited about it.
“There’s a lot more room in the new space so we’ll be able to provide more resources to the community and a lot of our partners,” St. Fort adds. “This will take us to the next level in regard to our partnerships. A lot of our new programming will be centered around the resources that we have now that we didn’t have before.”
The Latino Chamber of Commerce of Dane County will be one of those new partners. “The goal for us is to continue to diversify. Even when we have some diversity here, it’s still not where we want it to be,” St. Fort says. “We still have greater levels of diversity that we want to hit so we are really going to enjoy working with the Latino Chamber. [New Latino Chamber Executive Director] Jessica [Cavazos] is really awesome and we’ve had a really good relationship with [Latino Chamber President] Mayra [Medrano]. We have had a lot of great conversations and a great energy moving forward on how we can work together.”
100state members include startups, entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and sponsors who collaborate at brainstorming and problem-solving sessions. It is truly an eclectic group of people and that will make 100thanks an eclectic night of celebrating co-working, community, and entrepreneurship … and also giving thanks.
“I’m thankful for Madison. I’ve been very fortunate to meet a lot of really good people here through all sectors and communities and have been able to work with somre really great people,” St. Fort says. “Everyone from [Centro Hispano Executive Director] Karen [Menendez Coller] to [Alderperson] Maurice Cheeks to so many others … there’s such a long list of awesome people whom I have met who are all interesting in their own way and doing great things in this community.
“All of these people and all of these components and all of this work is really making 100State into what it is today,” he adds. “We have all of these contributors – big and small – and the next thing you know is that everybody is able to succeed from it. Even in failure, they still have an opportunity to pick up somewhere else. And that’s what being an entrepreneur is all about. I definitely have some nice failure stories myself, but the idea is that you keep building.”
100thanks, St. Fort says, is the perfect chance to come and check out what 100state is all about.
“If you’ve ever been working on an idea and you felt like you didn’t know who to connect with on your idea and if you want to meet some people who are just as crazy as you, this is your event. Come on out,” St. Fort says. “Because all of us here and a lot of people who are coming are crazy. They love to try out new things; things that have never been done before.
“Madison365 is crazy, right?” St. Fort adds, laughing. “Crazy in a good way … creating this new platform for journalism and covering diverse topics. That’s the vibe we like. 100thanks is gonna be a lot of fun. We’re expecting a great crowd. Why not come out?”
100thanks will take place at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 227 State St. on Saturday, Dec. 10, 6 p.m. For more information, click here.
Madison365 and 100state formed a partnership in December of 2015 to support and encouraging more and deeper coverage of Madison’s entrepreneurs and small business startups.
