600 sq ft & a hole in the roof
REC Philly started in a North Philadelphia basement — two co-founders, borrowed gear, and a leak nobody could afford to fix. The bet: creators don't need permission, they need a room.
REC Philly — The basement eraWill Toms
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.
Co-founder, REC PhillySpeakerSpeaker
GoogleComcastSonyT-MobileNPRUrban OutfittersLive NationTEDForbes 30U30
Who’s talking
I didn’t study the creative economy. I built one.
Ten years ago, REC Philly was 600 square feet in a North Philadelphia basement. Today it’s 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.
10KSquare feet of creative infrastructure
1,000+Creators served by the ecosystem
$2M+Paid directly to independent creators
10 yrsBuilding at street level
The Third Space Thesis
Culture doesn’t scale
on talent alone.
It scales on infrastructure.
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 — The basement era14 studios
Music, podcast, photo, and video production under one roof in Center City — a gym-membership model for making things instead of lifting them.
REC Philly — 10,000 sq ft, Center City02 / 04
studios14A 250-cap Live Nation venue
A stage inside the ecosystem, programmed with a global promoter — so the pipeline from first session to first headline never leaves the building.
REC Philly — The venue03 / 04
capacity2501,000+ creators
A membership economy that has paid out millions directly to independent artists, producers, and makers. Not a charity. Infrastructure.
REC Philly — The membership04 / 04
creators1,000+REC Philly — The basement era“Will didn’t give a talk.
He rearranged how our audience thinks
about their own city.”
Conference producer · 2025 keynote
