CREATVITY - Time to Shine

Lincoln Abbotts, a Useful and Kind Trustee invites us to reflect and act on our own creativity and how it is a powerful tool to  make a difference for ourselves, others and the world.

Tomorrow’s music sleeps

In our fingers, In our awakening souls, The blossom of our spirit,

The suggestive buds of our hearts.

Tell everyone the idea is to function together

As good musicians would

In undefined future orchestras.

I love these words from Lines in Potentis, written in 2002 by author and poet, Ben Okri.

In all it implies and hints at to me as a musician – of working together, welcoming the unexpected, collaborating and realising potential, it catapults us straight to the theme for this piece – Creativity.

Along with many other words, values and concepts I enjoy (that also happen to begin with the letter C) 

·       Commitment (doing it)

·       Craft (learning it)

·       Collaboration (making it)

·       Celebration (sharing it)

·       Curiosity (understanding it)

Creativity shines out as something that feels important, powerful and alluring. It can also feel somehow remote - what actually is it, and what does it mean for us as individuals, for our work with others and contributions to the wider world?

[Image – Sparks flying. Author Lincoln Abbotts in Creative mode]

Creativity is to be found in everyone, everything, and everywhere. It’s the ability to bring into being something that was not there before – be that major innovations in science and technology as much as when individuals and communities find new solutions to daily challenges. 

Writing this as a musician, I want to call out that creativity is not confined to the arts and it doesn’t require you to wear a loud shirt or hat tipped at a jaunty angle.  Creativity speaks to mathematicians, scientists and entrepreneurs as well as to story tellers, dancers and community place makers. It can be taught and practised regardless of socio-economic factors. Creativity offers us all a sense of agency.

While I’m setting out what it’s not in order to clarify what it is….creativity is absolutely not some fluffy, amorphous thing that rides rough shod over tradition and writes its own rules. Absolutely not. 

Creativity is founded on knowledge and understanding as well as the development of facility and technique. Before any of us start to experiment, explore and push at whatever boundaries may be left – we need to learn our craft. 

I do sometimes worry that creativity has an image problem! 

Self

There’s a magical silence before any performance starts, owning the stage, eyes taking in the room, the audience, the camera. The smile.

As a musician I love performing. Sharing my craft, telling a story, engaging with an audience – it’s exciting. It’s more than that – it’s exhilarating, spine-tingling.

Before those pre-performance nerves and the thrill of applause though there’s work to be done. Being creative can be hard work. 

For me, it’s about giving myself time to think and explore. It’s about learning from, but not necessarily relying on past models of performance and practice. It’s about welcoming the unexpected, learning from ideas that don’t work out and daring to try something new. What is it that I want to say?

And whilst describing my own experience as a musician here – there is much that is common to whatever stage we find ourselves on. All that we’ve lived through over the past 18 months has brought a fresh urgency to the development of entrepreneurship and the skills individuals will need in order not only to survive but to thrive in a world of shifting expectations.

Being creative is about many things, including:

·       Creating time to think

·       Respecting the past

·       Embracing the new

·       Welcoming the unexpected

·       Applying knowledge to new circumstances

·       Demonstrating commitment

·       Having the courage to fail and try again

·       Discovering and inventing

·       Appreciating recognition

·       Feeling fulfilled

·       Being resilient

Creativity really is important, powerful and alluring – and I hope now feels slightly less remote.

Others

Individuals bring a diversity of perspective, experience and culture. Collectively, and as part of a community they contribute to an energy and an identity that is rich and full of potential. 

In whatever ways you think of your community – family, friend groups, school, work, play, professional, online, local, global, undefinable – we know that collaborating through sharing insight and experience amongst a community is important. Creativity often depends on collaboration and can be a powerful catalyst to help celebrate collective identity and to change communities for the better. 

I have always welcomed the idea of working with whoever is in the room – an open meeting, community workshop, school open day,  or street festival. It brings a spark of anticipation, of being alert to possibilities and yes, of fear. What if no one turns up or the community you face appears so disparate that the starting point seems elusive? 

In our context, collaboration with others needs us to be creative – to adapt our plans and respond in the moment.

 I was the founder, and for many years’ leader of the BBC Family Orchestra – a quite bonkers idea of inviting families in every conceivable format and with any and every level of musical experience to come together to create and perform (at the BBC Proms Festival and live on BBC Television and Radio 3) freshly devised music. Brave. Risky. Ground breaking?

 Most likely all of those in what was a model of social interaction that busted expectations in delivering something really important – for the families involved and for the communities they represented. A model based on trust, empathy and ambition that reminds me now of how important it is for leaders to help create the conditions enabling the benefits of creativity to be realised.

[I have images if useful]

 Perhaps this is something of what Ben Okri had in mind in the final line of his poem – In undefined future orchestras? A group of individuals that comes together and that, through making and doing achieve something amazing and unexpected. Something different both in terms of tangible output but also in terms of entrepreneurial thinking and creative liberation. Now we’ve achieved this, what else might be possible?

World

It is widely recognised that creativity is a driver of global economic growth and innovation. Creativity is also one of the most widely sought-after cluster of skills for all employers. Worldwide.

While I’m making bold statements, I should also recognise there is a world of opportunity in the ever-expanding portfolio that makes up our creative industries. It’s big, pride-making business for the UK and we must invest in the creative skills at its foundation as well as those that are needed to support its continuing success.

 But this is about more, much more than employment.

We find ourselves in Autumn 2021 facing a continuing global crisis as a result of the pandemic and one in which solutions to the unprecedented times we face are not easy to find.

 Nurturing, encouraging and learning from creative thinking amongst the next generation of leaders has to be part of a more certain global future. We know this will take focus and hard work. 

Whilst it may appear spontaneous, creative thinking is usually underpinned by perseverance, experimentation, critical thinking and collaboration.

We all need to work hard at creativity. We all need to make Time to Shine.

Lincoln Abbotts

Musician, Educator, Leader

Trustee; Useful & Kind Unlimited