REC Philly is opening a new 10,000 square-foot space in Center City’s Fashion District in November. The creative facility houses resources to assist creators, artists and entrepreneurs in developing the skills necessary to sustain and maintain their independence. Located at 9th and Market Streets, the space will have the capacity to serve over 3,000 members and creators.
David Silver, KLN ‘13, is the co-founder and CEO of REC. He began to conceptualize REC, which stands for “Resources for Every Creator,” when he was an undergraduate at Temple University. As an advertising major with a concentration in account management at Klein College of Media and Communication, he learned about the specifics of event planning through his curriculum, including his capstone project which required him to plan an event.
“That essentially opened my eyes up to what I was passionate about, which was really organizing these larger scale events,” Silver says. “And it set me off to knowing that I could take this event organization passion that I found, plus help my friends by creating these platforms for ourselves.”
Along the way, he teamed up with REC’s co-founder and head of strategy William Toms, and the two held events and concerts for their friends while working on getting them audience and media exposure. Their venture started in Silver’s basement in North Philadelphia, which they named the Broad Street Music Lounge, and later expanded their services to transform into Broad Street Music Group.
In 2014, the pair founded REC, and the space they originally opened is still in operation in North Philadelphia. It will continue to operate after the Fashion District location opens.
“It still is a really cool space; it has sort of a charming personality to it. Just something that’s so authentically built in a neighborhood that I really think needs that kind of energy. So we don’t want to take that away,” Silver says. “We’re really trying to look to have a program run out of there where our members have the ability to help us run it themselves.”
The new location in the Fashion District will be equipped with plenty of resources for members, including multiple recording studios, production rooms, meditation areas and a 200-person event space. Providing even more tools to equip creators with entrepreneurial knowledge is the core of REC’s mission and expansion plan.
“We’re in a day and age that really empowers independent creators and there’s so many platforms where you can monetize your art as an independent creator,” Silver says. “And that’s really the beginning stages of what we try to teach in our program at REC.”
Silver is particularly excited to launch a new partnership with the Temple Alumni Association, which will allow Temple students and alumni to receive a 10% discount on their monthly REC membership for the Fashion District facility. Silver says he owes much of the success of REC to the education and experiences he had at Temple.
“The backbone and the foundation of my success came from the university, the mentality, and the mindset that I had to have living on campus and being a student at Temple. I really do give a lot of credit to the school and the community: that really shaped what we did.”
To learn more about the REC Philly Fashion District location, visit www.recphilly.com/fashiondistrict