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24 Apr 2020

Creativity as essential: bridging the gap

Dr Jeremy Mayall, CEO

Creativity is a vital part of a thriving and innovative society. It’s part of our core.

This is true at all times, but especially now.

People need comfort, answers, a good laugh, and they have found this in the arts. People need purpose, clarity, inspiration, and they have found this through artistic practices. The economy needs to build new ways of living and working, and it will find answers through artistic minds.

At a time like this, when creative solutions are crucial and the response from artists has been so generous, two contradictory realities have been brought to light. On the one hand, we see how creativity is crucial for a thriving humanity, but on the other hand, we see creativity brushed aside as a nice hobby next to people with ‘real’ jobs.

If we believe creativity is vital and that there are relevant applications from the creative process in the lives of our entire community, we need to address the gap around creativity and its implementation.

How can we bridge the gap?

Consciously start arts-informed thought processes

In the face of our current situation, we now have the chance to recreate how our communities and societies function. It is time to understand that the world needs creative processes applied to all facets of life. Arts-informed thinking is needed because the problems we are facing aren’t getting simpler. Through engaging with an arts-informed thought process we can stop relying on what has always been, and start imagining what might be: A better, more beautiful, more inspiring and more friendly world.

But the arts are not the only creative output from creative processes. The work of an artist is an openness to thought, a work ethic for testing and critical reflection, and a whole ecosystem of processes under one large banner. This gap between the desire for creativity and the understanding and application of it presents an interesting opportunity for artists.

Ask bigger questions

In order to embrace our inner creativity and move forward, we need to remove our internal thought restrictions and ask bigger questions. This disruption can be an opportunity to explore new ways of working, learning and thriving.

This way, we examine what the problems are and take the time to think through an array of options, not just the obvious ones. By broadening the questions we leave more room for solutions, and create more opportunities to grow and develop new ideas.

Embrace vulnerability and being human

By engaging in an artistic and creative process we are embracing vulnerability, opening our minds and tapping into what makes us human.

The world of technology and the world of the arts combined have allowed us to create and connect in remarkable ways. We can make work that is no longer reliant on traditional methods of distribution. We can connect direct to our audiences. We can make the work we want to make, in the format we want to make it, and find a home for it online or otherwise.

Through the eyes of both worlds we understand ourselves and how we connect with each other better. Therefore, the arts and creativity will be critical for new ways of working and new ways of connecting that embrace a core component of the human condition in an increasingly automated world.

 

Creativity is vital to a thriving humanity and now is the perfect time to bridge this gap between creativity as an extra and creativity as essential.