Thinking about creativity (a blog manifesto)

This blog is about creativity. Here I want to introduce my manifesto and present some initial thoughts about the subject. More focused creativity topics will be explored in future posts.

In short form my manifesto is simply: CREATIVITY MATTERS.

The medium form of my manifesto is: BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR CREATIVITY BECAUSE CREATIVITY MATTERS.

The longer form is necessarily more discursive and arguably (and even ironically) more prosaic:

The subject of creativity has been a focus of scientific research (psychology, neurology, sociology, pedagogy, biology), and philosophical debate with increasing activity and connectivity for well over a century. Whilst medieval Christianity's concept of "creatio ex nihilo" (or God's 'creation from nothing') is illustrative of a long established reservation of creativity for the 'supernatural' realm, the resurgence of modernism and realisation of technological and scientific progress in the 20th century has led to 'creative' becoming progressively ubiquitous as a term used to describe people, organisations, institutions, and even counties (Staffordshire). One aim with this blog is to work towards clarity, and balance, and to try to ensure 'creativity' as terminology is not dissolved fully into a sea of vagueness whilst avoiding any sense of 'ownership' by any particular domain, environment or field of human endeavour.

Whilst there are issues of definition and clarity to explore, this blog is also designed to stimulate discussion and debate and to (hopefully) increase a focus on creative capacity as something important, capable of development, and inherent in everyone. With an underlying educational slant, a further aim of this blog is to advocate and to illustrate methods, strategies, examples, and fundamental procedures capable of developing creative ideas.

Finally, the tone of this blog is designed to be playful and experimental. Views and ideas expressed are my own, not necessarily representative of those of institutions or organisations with which I work, and may occasionally stray into the abstract and experimental. I reserve this right.


Thanks for reading. I will be back.