Why Creativity Matters
I was surrounded by hundreds of high school age students. They settled in with curiosity, some of them waving to those of us from Pan Centre for Intercultural Arts for Social Change (my graduate school internship in London) as they had participated in workshops with us earlier in the year.
In front was a simple stage with simple props, 3 actors, and an emcee enthusiastically preparing them for a different kind of theater experience.
First, a brief skit was acted out in about 10 minutes. This skit was made up of the worries, fears, and even the words of the students that participated in our previous workshops. Sadly, everything goes wrong for the characters in the skit. Injustice wins.
But, then, the same skit begins again and this time, the students are encouraged to participate to change the outcome. They can yell, “STOP!” and suggest a new action. They can replace an actor. They can call for a vote and everyone votes with fun, loud clappers. At one point, a whole group of students got up on stage to protest.
It was a blast. They were all engaged. And they learned a ton. During the skit, the emcee was sharing how the government worked, what rights they had, and resources they could access. They learned how to be active, empowered participants in society as they created a better outcome for the characters.
The whole time I couldn’t help but think how I learned about the government: In a classroom full of rows of hard desks, reading from a textbook, learning dates and names and processes, taking notes, stressing about retaining it all for the upcoming test.
That experience in the school with those kids using their imaginations to come up with new ideas and jumping in to change the outcome of the skit was when it hit me just how powerful creativity is.
Sure, I knew my creative time was important to me. I knew it helped me beyond measure and that is a BIG part of why creativity matters. However, this was when I saw what a wider impact it could have. How it can overcome apathy, how it can teach, how it can bring people together, how it can get them to imagine and do things they once didn’t even know or think was possible.
I could say so much more about why creativity matters and I do in this podcast episode of Woman Uncaged with Linda Katz. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did as we dive into:
why a lack of creativity keeps us in cages
how creativity is tied up with our agency
why safety is so important for creativity to bloom
how creative bravery can have a powerful ripple effect.
★ CREATIVE CHALLENGE ★ Why does creativity matter to you? Doodle, write, create something and notice what insights and ideas you have about how creativity can make a difference.