Here are three we can debunk at the beginning of the 21st Century:
Only a few people are creative
Creativity is a solo occupation
Creativity is finding answers
Last night I was part of an event full of creative people which underlined the following three – performers and audience alike. Let the debunking begin:
Only a few people are creative: This one is debunked because everyone is creative. We increasingly know creativity manifests itself in many different ways, including your way. Some creativity is obvious – and some can can be devalued, missed, or dismissed. No more. The measure of creativity is found more in the energy experienced by someone doing the thing they love and which makes them curious, productive, and contributing to others – even if it’s to one person.
Creativity is a solo occupation: This is a myth because, in the age of connectedness, you’re not left in isolation, and we know creativity is something best honed through interaction with others. Last night’s performance of music and dance came together in only 6 weeks – from finding people, writing the script, rehearsing, to the performance. Increasingly, creativity is about what people can do together. You may sometimes work alone, but innovation comes through connecting with others who bring their creativity to the party.
Creativity is finding answers: This one is debunked because creativity is really about asking questions. Find an answer and you stop looking. Keep asking questions and find many. Last night musicians asked, where can we go with this music and the dancers asked where they could take this idea in movement. What if there were more people, more time, more space, what could be done then? Asking questions means we are open and listening: listening to the world and to one another and to your future Self.
Creativity is creativity only because it is never at rest, it is always moving.
THIN|SILENCE 
Enjoyed this one. The “solo occupation” part struck a chord. As a kid, I tended to want to do my own prep and performance for any public endeavour. Now, I can see that getting someone else’s perspective on a piece — or a thought — recreates it in interesting ways. I performed a poem the other day, and realised it was important to be careful not tell too much of the back story in introduction. For a few minutes, I wanted the piece to be audience’s, a vessel everyone could bring her own meaning to.
So, there’s that.
I like this, Ricky, especially the audience being able to be part of the creation through bringing their own meaning.
I used to work on ideas on my own, until I delivered them, and they were rubbish or unrealistic – I now try and share them out as soon as I can, and they get better or fail early. (Failing early is an important part of this too.)
Testing whether this reply goes to the comments page or into a reply email, so I don’t have to distract other readers with a lengthy description of a co-operative, collective blogging project….
On Wed, Jan 29, 2014 at 8:27 PM, THIN|SILENCE