Here’s one way to stop Honolulu’s brain drain: Clog it up with events.

Last month, about everyone I knew who either promotes events in town or goes to them for a living complained the same refrain: “What the hell?! November is killing me.”

They were exhausted, but in a good way, and for good reason, and it seemed like everyone was happy about it.

With the debut of Summit Fest for the arts at the end of October, followed by the launch of the Honolulu Biennial and two weeks of the Hawaii International Film Fest, its lectures and workshops during Creative Lab, the 30 days of Hawaii Fashion Month and the included Honolulu Fashion Week, an East Meets West conference, the Transit Oriented Development symposium, and Startup Weekend, November felt like (and still lingers on as) one long hangover for everyone involved (as the editorial director for Hawaii Fashion Month, that includes me).

From left, Amy Azada, Jalem Correia and Amanda Stevens pose at the Hawaii Craftsmen Presents “Fashion Meets Fiber” show on Nov. 20.

Travis Okimoto/Courtesy Hawaii Fashion Month

I can only imagine what it was like for Georja Skinner.

The chief officer of the Creative Industries Division of the state’s Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, Skinner says this is finally a realization of a long-held dream.

“When I first auditioned for this job,” back in 2007, she told me on the phone, “it was one of my dreams to have this happen, and to see it evolve in this way is exciting.”

But what is it? Right now, just a bunch of fun events that piggyback on each other’s hype and happen at same time of the year. There’s no name for it, no branded umbrella, and it feels more like a bunch of stuff arts-starved people have to juggle in order to enjoy the best of the feast in a city more prone to famine.

In case you haven’t heard of it, South By Southwest, or more succinctly, SXSW, is an annual music, film and interactive technology festival in Austin, Texas. Last year, more than 2,000 artists sojourned there and played on its stages or in nearby clubs for “secret shows,” and Edward Snowden was a much-hyped interviewed guest (albeit via videoconference). SXSW boasted 44,500 registrants last year; it’s become so big that it’s starting to lose itself. Still, through its various stages, performances, screenings, lectures, panel discussions and trade shows, SXSW brought Austin $314 million in 2014, and SXSW’s cumulative economic impact in Austin exceeds $1 billion over the past five years.

Meanwhile, Honolulu’s Whatever You Call It is still unfolding, and Skinner says she doesn’t want to copy SXSW. “We will never seek to replace or replicate that, but I think being inspired by the confluence of activities around ‘South By’ in Austin is a great way for us to think about highlighting the amazing innovation and creative entrepreneurship in the state.”

So how are they doing this? By letting whatever phenomenon that’s happening right now continue to grow organically, and then providing “subtle strategy” (her words) along the way.

“Organically, yes there’s some strategy, but also the space of allowance,” Skinner said. “Unless these things grow organically, it won’t last. That’s why you see a little seed of an idea here and there. When the confluence happens organically, then there’s ownership in the community.”

It helps to have a big event like the Hawaii International Film Festival to anchor your program around, and I hope its organizers (and everybody else) will be interested in holding the same umbrella as they walk down the sidewalk together.

After all, a sidewalk is only so wide — and there’s only so much funding to share — and Skinner acknowledges there are still issues yet to be resolved:

“There are growth pains that events like ‘South By’ and others have, but we’re also part of the initial planning. How big is this going to get? There is quite a shift in a lot of the aspects … There’s a certain kind of native intelligence here, something native Hawaiians here understand, people who are from this land and care for it deeply. There is a certain mana of the entire Hawaii ecosystem that contributes to the strength of creative economy. It’s an environmental, philosophical and cultural mix of things. I also happen to believe that because we’re surrounded by water — water conducts energy and energy is what we’re trying to showcase.”

The creative sector represents nearly 6 percent of the state’s jobs, and it feels like we’re at a threshold, an awakening of sorts and a rush to be involved. But we need more organization before traction is lost to ineptitude — there’s only so much organic growth that can occur before we’re buried in a compost pile, and the state (if it’s even capable) would be good to give it some order; invest in public relations (or, at the least, give this thing a name).

“I have a big dream for it,” Skinner said. “I would like to see maybe two anchor events that cross into tourism around the same time of year that attract 1,500 to 2,000 people.” Those aren’t huge numbers — Honolulu Biennial organizers say about 2,000 people came to their two-week prologue exhibition last month — because Skinner says growth has to happen at the right rate and not too rapidly, lest the carriage should roll in front of the horses.

“But in the future,” she envisions, “we’re attracting a sizable number of visitors who are both business- and leisure-driven. … I’m interested in seeing what culture events could look like. We have a lot of great international events now, such as the International Hula Conference, so cultural arts are being highlighted. I can see where cultural creative innovation and fashion are all in one cluster that we promote … Let’s make that as strong as we can.”

Is Skinner’s quest for a South By Southwest in Hawaii as quixotic as you might think? Not according to those who just lived through November. It’s already happening.