Creativity:a growth exponential

At a time when the economic climate and negative effects of "recession" is effecting most, it is possible that tapping into your creative potential may restore the soul and help us to find creative solutions to weather the current (economic) storm. There are many benefits to gain from participating in creative activities. Creativity develops higher level thinking skills including cognitive development, language skills development and communication, analyses of information, problem solving, discernment and judgement. Creativity nurtures the imaginative faculties in the individual and is well known for developing self esteem. Participation in the arts allows us the freedom to explore ideas and engage with the world; to synthesise and interpret our experiences into symbolic and meaningful expression.
“For many years we concentrated on the economic side but if you want the economic side to flourish, you need more entrepreneurs, you need more creativity. The two must go together”.[1]

The therapeutic potential for processing difficult life experiences and life traumas is an important and highly significant aspect of creative activities. In my opinion our society would be a healthier entity if the creative arts were truly respected at a more fundamental level. Sadly, the mass media perpetuate an anti-artist attitude generally premissed on the idea that any creativity is weird (as in derogatory) unless vast sums of money are involved and then the underlying assertion is that world has gone mad, or “let's look at the latest con-job in the artworld”. Creativity needs to be repositioned in our society and recognised for the incredible contribution and role it plays in shaping our ideas and our future.
“(Creativity...) is about envisioning and capturing new ideas, concepts and
processes as alternatives for action in resolving an identified problem or opportunity”.[2]

Politicians and others in positions of power and influence are not informed of the broader efficacy of creative pursuit/industry/professions as we saw with the Bill Henson controversy. Even within schools and institutions there are ongoing rivalries for fiscal support based on populist principles (quantitative measure) and denouncements of qualitative based practices and value systems. The average layperson will condemn money spent on the arts possibly without balancing that view with an analyses of huge amounts of money which are pumped into a diversity of industries research and development, business development to keep them innovative and competitive.

The economy relies heavily on visual representation and a sense of design style and “feel”. Understanding pictures is a vital life enriching necessity. Not understanding them is visual “illiteracy” [3]

Does anybody have statistics which measure the number of professional artists now (dis)engaged by schools since the Henson controversy?

So, I for one would be happy to see creativity and the role of the artist in society taken more seriously. It is time for society to respect creativity and to respect the arts as professions. Perhaps the frenetic pace of contemporary life is such that we are not permitted to slow down and take the time to have a good look at what's going on, think things through a bit.

At the very least, why not take some time out for that personal development course you've been meaning to do? Join your local library if you haven't already. It's never too late to open up the chapter in your life called creativity.

Garry Andrews. Artist and educator. March 2009
[1] Prime Minister of Singapore, Goh Chock Tong, 2002. From IBSA 2006 Innovation, Creativity and Design: Collated Research.
[2] Rod McDonald, Innovation and Creativity, First Thoughts, Ithaca Consulting 2005. From IBSA 2006 Innovation, Creativity and Design: Collated Research.
[3] Dr.Ann Bamford, University of Technology, Sydney. From “The Visual Literacy White Paper”.