We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Quincy Crutchfield a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Quincy, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I think they all should be meaningful. I’m big on client/custom/patron experience. That’s the key. We often aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, we are trying to use the wheel in a new way.

Having said that, KC Night Market is the meaningful project I’m working on right now. The idea came about a few years ago but due to location issues and other things I shelved the project. Then COVID hit. Upon coming out of lockdown I randomly ran into a friend, Whitney Coleman, and she told me about a new job she was taking and if I had any ideas don’t hesitate to give her a shout.

A spark rekindled. I dusted off the idea of this vendor market that coalesces, local artisans, pop culture, and nightlife. Creating it as the all-seeing-eye of cool. A space of exclusivity do to its inclusivity. An event that stimulates all senses, creating an immersive experience.

But why? That’s the key right? There has to be a why. Without that, can we truly create anything meaningful?

For me the why was easy. Small business/Local Artisans had taken a big hit. People had been isolated, and sense of community dwindled. I saw this as an opportunity to help both. Bring together local creatives to showcase their wares, add beautiful people, and top it off with some themed food and drinks then sprinkle music throughout. Synthesize that in one of the best looking spaces in the city, the Crossroads Hotel, and voila! KC Night Market was born. To date when have done 5 Night Markets and have more on the way, with talks of taking our platform to more cities.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Many chapters, iterations, restarts, etc. have led me to where I am now. But where I am now is both the hardest, as far as the grind, and happiest I’ve been. Event Concepts, Branding, and KC Night Market, and Food & Bev. are how most people probably know me. I’ve also found a niche in Client Experience consulting. Which is I can take an audit of how a business currently engages with their clients/customers and then create ways to enhance that, as to build stronger connection, engagement and in return relationship with their clients/consumers.

The special sauce lies within my ability to listen deeper to analyze the wants, needs, concerns of a client, then being able to create intelligent new ways to fulfill those needs and strengthen relationships within brand standards.

What’s your reason? What’s the meaning behind what you do? Who are you within your spaces of work? Recognizing these core matrixes can help you build stronger foundations for both business and life. Sometimes people/companies just need help remembering and/or acknowledging those.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

It’s not so much as a lesson I had to unlearn but one that I think some people could benefit from, and that is sharing the codes. We have been programmed to think we have to do everything on our own. That we have to get it all by ourselves because we can’t trust or rely on anyone.

That’s the furthest thing from the truth. No one that has been truly successful has done it on their own. According to Virgil Abloh “Conversation,” he said, “is a way to communicate, and when ideas are born [out of it], they’re the most relevant.” To me it’s those conversations, even in their earliest stages, that foster relationships, build bonds, and when those are genuine we can reach true success. Success that fulfills both materially and spiritually, making us better as people and providing us platforms and reach to be able to share the codes with others on how to scale their ideas.

Those codes, those doors, those hidden troves of information on how the systems and interworking operate have been consolidated and hoarded for so long, but through collaboration and communication we can begin to crack those codes and share them with others. With more access to information and means to learn to use that information we learn that working together breeds more success than working alone.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The newness. Being able to articulate an idea, a thought, into reality. Pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in a space, in a moment of time. Then being able to take that and do it better. How can we activate more senses of those who experience that creativity? Then how do we add another layer of information, of meaning to it? To me that is the reward. That is where the passion comes from to continue to create.

Shel Silverstein said, “Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”

Isn’t that the ethos of creatives?

Contact Info:

• Website: kcnightmarket.com
• Instagram: @kcnightmarket and @crtchfld

Image Credits
Jaymie Collins Patrick Binder Lyndsey Baldwin