The Lighthouse
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The Lighthouse is The Campus for Creators – connected campuses in Venice + Brooklyn, with London next. Part of Whalar Group.
The Lighthouse, a division of Whalar, is a first-of-its-kind Campus for Creators and their teams to learn, make, and belong. The Creator Economy has outgrown the spaces, resources, and tools available to creators. Giving rise to a new home for creators and teams, The Lighthouse will provide learning and career development programs, state-of-the-art production studios, private offices, open-plan workspaces, and cultural-social events accessible through an application-based membership program. The campus will host industry leaders, educational institutions, and creator experts to deliver learning and development courses, workshops, and seminars. The Lighthouse will bring together a diverse group of established and emerging creators and their growing teams. There will be an application-based membership program reviewed by an appointed Lighthouse Creator Council. The Lighthouse is scheduled to debut in a historic 1930s post office in Venice, California, a block from the ocean, and a former 19th-century pencil factory in Brooklyn, New York City, a block from the East River, in Spring 2024, with plans for a London campus to open in 2025.
What are you making this fall?
There’s something about the fall that brings us back to our practice with a little more intention. The Lighthouse is a creative playground, and across our campuses in Venice + Brooklyn, we want to know what Lighthouse Creators are making, building, writing, shooting, recording, launching or still working out.
The next time you’re on campus, look for our community boards and tell us what you’re working on. If you’re not on campus, drop it in the comments.
We’re asking because what Creators are working on should help shape what happens at Lighthouse, from (IN) Focus conversations and hands-on workshops to the ideas and opportunities that we bring onto campus.
We’ll be sharing more of what’s being made across Lighthouse throughout the fall, so think of this as the beginning of the semester—and tell us what’s on your syllabus.
09/29/2026
“You’re only as good as your brief.”
At the 2026 Fast Company Innovation Festival, our CEO Jon Goss made the case for bringing Creators into campaign development earlier.
Creators know their platforms, their audiences and the stories that will resonate. They’re moving at the speed of culture.
That perspective is most valuable while the idea and strategy are still taking shape, before the brief is locked.
Jon joined Nadya Okamoto, Alicia Yoon 알리샤 윤 and kcifeanyi for The Creator Strategies Every Brand Needs Now.
Lighthouse Creators building with .dev
We invited Lovable in for 1:1 Office Hours with Creators bringing ideas at every stage, from an idea lingering in their mind to something they were already building.
Whether it was in Venice or Brooklyn, our Creators learned that the distance between “I have an idea” and “I made something” is getting shorter with new tools like Lovable.
Lovable is a partner of The Lighthouse
09/15/2026
Consider this our summer show-and-tell: a few of the things Lighthouse Creators made, launched, performed and brought to life across Brooklyn + Venice. Class is almost back in session.
Live From The Lighthouse became a regular part of summer in Venice, with performances from gallant, BETTY TAYLOR and more filling the campus with live music.
Ben Odell (Benjamin Odell) + Lucas Ford (Lucas Ford) joined us in Venice for an (IN) Focus, diving deep into building audiences, proving ideas and creating new pathways into Hollywood before the traditional industry gets involved.
Podcasts stepped out of the studio this summer. Jill Wintersteen’s Jill Wintersteen and more brought conversations usually heard on-air into the room, opening them up to a live audience.
Ryan Weiss | Relationships, Awakening & Growth with Ryan Weiss went coast to coast this summer, bringing the show live to both Venice and Brooklyn campuses.
Lyrical Lemonade TV and Lighthouse Studios’ New York Nights with Father Steve made a home at our Brooklyn campus, bringing new guests and conversations, and making us laugh (and cry?) all summer long.
Live From The Lighthouse made its way to Brooklyn, with glass rabbit bringing the series to the Library for a night of live music.
Spider-Man, aka 🦊Nicholas Coolridge, swung into the Venice Post Office alongside his longtime friend and our Venice Community Manager Sarah (Sarah Schacher), bringing fandom, filmmakers and creators together for our Brand New Day Creator Junket. The story continued in Brooklyn with an early screening of the film.
Lighthouse Creators had a lot to say this summer. A few of the original podcasts that made their debut:
Super Sweet Rewind - GABRIELLA 💋
Good Grief - Amanda Kloots
Ryan Weiss | Relationships, Awakening & Growth - Ryan Weiss
Free Therapy with Ben & Kevin - Ben Teller + Kevin Hekmat
Who Does She Think She Is? With Sabeen Faheem - Sabeen Faheem
How Hard Can It Be - Diana Maria Riva
09/14/2026
A creative space can look good, but the harder part is making it work for the people it was built for, plus the everyday realities of making.
The Lighthouse campuses were built with that intention. Across Venice and Brooklyn, every detail helps Creators move from idea to ex*****on to “press publish,” with the tools, community and room to do it all under one roof.
Since opening our doors, we’ve welcomed countless Creators and watched them put that design to work.
Thank you, Fast Company. We’re honored to be recognized alongside this year’s innovators.
What We’re Watching: Cat Goetze (aka CatGPT) just took an ownership stake in her management company, Smooth Media. The interesting part isn’t the deal itself. It’s what it might signal about where Creator leverage is heading.
LIGHTHOUSE CREATOR STORIES 003
From a meme page for those in the know to selling his first “Kindly Following Up” mug, Warner Bailey has grown Assistants vs. Agents into a home for creatives and entertainment professionals looking for a laugh, a sense of access, and an occasional “I see you.”
For our latest Creator Story, powered by Shopify, we sat down with Warner to hear how Assistants vs. Agents grew from a meme page into a media brand, community, and business built for the next generation of entertainment.
To dive deeper into Warner’s story, read our first Creator to Commerce story on Substack, powered by Shopify: “Kindly Following Up”: How Warner Bailey Turned AvA Into an Access Engine. We look at how creators and merchants are turning community into products, businesses, and new paths for growth. Link in bio.
New Creator Stories every week.
Find Your Place.
08/28/2026
We spotted some familiar faces. Rolling Stone’s 2026 Creator Special is here, taking stock of an industry that refuses to sit still and naming the 25 creators having an outsized influence on where it goes next.
Lighthouse Creators 𝙰𝙽𝙰𝙽𝙸𝙰, KAREEM RAHMA and Pooja Tripathi all made this year’s list, alongside some of the most dynamic people moving comedy, conversation, storytelling and culture forward.
Also inside: Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry of The Publish Press on what happens as creators and Hollywood stop circling each other and increasingly start building together.
Big congrats to our Lighthouse Creators, and to everyone shaping what comes next. We see you.
LIGHTHOUSE CREATOR STORIES 002
The people shaping the creator economy aren’t always the ones in front of the camera.
For the past decade, Zack Honarvar has helped creators build sustainable businesses through management, operations, merchandising, and strategy. Today, he’s finding his own voice as a creator too.
In this week’s Lighthouse Creators episode, Zack reflects on why creators deserve more respect as entrepreneurs and the misconception that kept him behind the scenes for years
Lighthouse Creators is our weekly series spotlighting the members, artists, founders, and storytellers shaping our community across Venice and Brooklyn.
New stories every week.
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