Experience Tallahassee Saturday Jan. 12
Florida State University, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College are partnering with the Knight Creative Communities Institute to keep Tallahassee’s best and bright university and college students in the community.
The institutions and the 2018 KCCI Community Catalyst class, a group of community members selected to develop project ideas to attract and retain young professionals, will host the “Experience Tallahassee” festival from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, at Cascades Park. The event showcases why Tallahassee is such a great place to live, work and play.
“We want to bridge the gap between Tallahassee’s institutes of higher education and the surrounding community,” said Elizabeth Emmanuel, 2018 KCCI Community Catalyst member and program coordinator for Leadership Tallahassee.
The festival brings students from local colleges and universities together with community members to help build connections between students and the diverse offerings of the city. The event will feature performances from local artists and arts organizations as well as food from local restaurants and vendors.
The main attraction will be a career-focused area for students to meet and network with local business owners, connect with area employers and receive information from the universities’ respective career centers.
“The networking area in the Edison is something new this year,” said Matt Corbett, FSU coordinator of student activties. “It’s going to take this event to the next level and provide students with a chance to consider next steps in their lives beyond college — really establish a relationship with the city.”
The KCCI team also created a Top 50 list of unique community experiences, which will be distributed at the festival. In addition, the creative map and Top 50 list can be downloaded for free at KCCITallahassee.com. The map has been distributed since May 2018 to new and transfer students and their families, and has been extremely popular on social media channels with students and locals alike.
“We created the Top 50 list and have worked with FSU, FAMU, TCC and community members to expand the Experience Tallahassee Festival,” Emmanuel said. “The goal is to draw students off campus and into the wider world of Tallahassee to experience all our city has to offer.”
Experience Tallahassee event sponsors include North American Properties, Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare, Early Learning Coalition of the Big Bend, CareerSource Capital Region, FSU College of Business, FSU School of Teacher Education, NAI TALCOR, Structure, Ajax Building Corporation, Front Street, Hancock Whitney, Oliver Sperry, Office of Economic Vitality, Southern Standard Construction, AIGA Tallahassee, Selfietally, Innovation Park and Northwestern Mutual.
For the latest updates on the festival, follow the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/experienceTLH/.