NEW YORK — John Legend, Mahershala Ali, Colin Kaepernick, Niecy Nash-Betts, Sherri Shepherd and numerous other high-profile creatives will fuel CultureCon NYC next month when it returns for an eighth year, organizers say.

This year’s theme, “Museum of Us,” will both celebrate and enable creatives of color, adding workshops designed to take participants beyond inspiration into the practical aspects of turning their respective passion projects into a livelihood.

“Our community was like, we want to learn,” founder Imani Ellis told Inc. of her efforts to meet the changing needs of a maturing creator class. What started eight years ago as an informal gathering in her Harlem apartment has grown into a major annual hub for creatives and changemakers of color. This year’s festival runs on Oct. 3 and 4 and follows the events of CultureCon Week.

“Our community is growing up, their businesses are expanding, their ambitions are bigger, and CultureCon has to grow with them,” she told People. “We’ve always been a place where you can come to be inspired and see yourself reflected, but inspiration can’t be where it stops. This year, we’re really thinking about what happens after you leave.”

Held once again at the Duggal Greenhouse at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, CultureCon brings together 12,000 entrepreneurs, creators and cultural leaders, according to its website.

While inspiration and the tools for monetization abound, there’s a gap between that and the formation of a business structure to make it come alive, Ellis told Inc. Although creators are “the new startups” and operating as companies, she said, they are not treated that way. Despite being part of a $408 billion creator economy, 57% of full-time creators are not earning a living at their craft, Inc. reported.

Ellis told People that participants will “feel the evolution” as the festival addresses those aspects of creative life with new peer-to-peer pitching sessions called Braindate, plus a Career Lounge, Small Business Marketplace and Creative Business Stage.

First-time collaborations with Black Girl Art Show and Black Boy Art Show will draw attention to emerging artists, while Literature and Libations will do the same for books, People noted.

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