For those who build
Talent is everywhere. The infrastructure isn’t.
Will Toms builds the rooms, systems, and stories that turn creative talent into creative economies.
Track record
I didn’t study the creative economy. I built one — and since, I’ve helped institutions build theirs.
Ten years ago, REC Philly was 600 square feet in a North Philadelphia warehouse. We built that into a 10,000-square-foot creative ecosystem that has paid millions of dollars to independent creators — and a working model for how cities turn raw talent into durable economies.
I spend my time telling that story from stages, and helping cities, developers, and brands build their own versions of it.
The Third Space Thesis
Every city says it loves its creatives. Almost none of them build the rooms where creativity becomes a living. That gap — between talent and infrastructure — is the most underpriced opportunity in urban development.
Three ways in
Proof of concept — REC Philly
REC Philly started in a North Philadelphia warehouse — two co-founders, borrowed gear, and a leaky roof nobody could afford to fix. The bet: creators don't need permission, they need intentional space.
REC Philly — The warehouse eraMusic, podcast, photo, and video production under one roof in Center City — a gym-membership model for making things instead of lifting them.
A 250-cap stage inside the ecosystem, built in partnership with Live Nation — so the pipeline from first session to first headline never leaves the building.
A membership economy that has paid out millions directly to independent artists, producers, and makers. Not a charity. Infrastructure.
REC Philly — The warehouse era“Will didn’t give a talk.
He rearranged how our audience thinks
about their own city.”
Conference producer · 2025 keynote
