Day 267: Making noise for the Arts

Today I have done heaps of cool stuff to do with creativity and it's got me all fired up! Where to start? Well, I won't spill it all onto you in one entry.

Because it's the Bath Lit Fest this week there is loads of talks going on all over Bath. I went along to one about the future of Arts Education. How will it continue with the new government pushing it to the back of the queue. Whose responsibility is it to keep it going?

There were four people on the panel discussing such things; a teacher, Sue East, a writer, Helen Cross, a cultural organisation person (ie, a theatre or something artsy), Kate Cross and a policy figure (someone who helps decide what's what in schools), Sue Horner. They all said lots of interesting comments, but the thing I took away was that, actually, it's everyones responsibility to make some noise for the Arts.

I think creative subjects are really important. They were what I went to school for. They're why I go into to schools now as a creative person. People deserve to have the change to get creative and try stuff out. But the government seem to think differently and if we, as the nation they are supposed to be taking care of, don't like it, we need to tell them, right?

Are you into the Arts? How? Why? Can we make our voices heard up there in London? It's time to rally the troops people! We're all creative thinkers, so lets put our heads together and find a way to keep the Arts alive in our country. Who's with me?

Day 254: Arts Award. Get Involved.

If you are sitting there thinking no one cares about your creative talent. If you're wondering why the government are cutting all the Arts funding, then don't fear...

I found out about this yesterday and was SO excited. It's an award you can work at, kind of like the Duke of Edinbourgh, but for the Arts. You can put it on your CV and it even goes toward UCAS points for Uni.

I wish they had this award when I was a school! If you're between 11-25 and you wanna get invovled in the arts, this is the award for you!

Check it out here and see where it can take you...

Day 218: Competition theme...?

Today, I NEED YOUR HELP!

I am running a writing competition at a school for 11-14 year olds and I need to chose a theme.

I've narrowed it down to three words so far, but I only want one. They are abstract nouns, so hopefully they can be interpreted in loads of different ways. The question is, which one would YOU like to write about the most?

Rumour

Curiosity

Reality

Please help me out here, guys. Just write the word you like the most by clicking on 'comment' below. Then we'll see which one wins! Oh, and feel free to do your own creative thing with these words...

Thanks for you're help.

Day 189: Elevator Pitch

What are you doing creatively at the moment? Maybe you're making an album or a series of paintings. Maybe you're writing a book or planning a massive creative festival!

If you were in an elevator/lift and someone asked you what you did (creatively) could you explain it to them in the few minutes you have with that person?

Or, perhaps more realistically, one of your relatives at Christmas asks you what you are doing with your life at the moment, could you confidently tell them about your creative work?

People like a confident, well thought out answer, don't they? Think about it today. How could you put what you do into a few sentences?

Here's my elevator pitch for my project:

I am running a creative writing competition for secondary school pupils, accompanied by workshops and one-to-one session to improve writing and creative thinking. All entries will be made into an anthology with proceeds split between the school and a charity chosen by the winner. An awards ceremony will follow with readings, prizes and anthologies on sale.

What does yours sound like...?

Day 171: Nick Horby

Nick Hornby is a world famous writer. He's written, amongst others, Fever Pitch and About a boy. Both of these have been made into films too, so I'd say he's up there with the greats!

As a creative person whose in the lime light, Nick Hornby is going into schools in London to help pupils with their literacy skills and encouraging them to love reading and writing, just like he does. I don't know if you've watched the news recently, but the government aren't happy with spelling, grammar etc, so Nick Hornby and some other writers have decided to do something about it.

For Nick Hornby, the most important thing in the project is, 'humour, intrigue and creativity.' You can find out more about his project here.

Nick Hornby is taking his creative skills and using them to create change. How great is that!

I don't know about you, but this really inspires me to use my skills to help people too. Creative skills are just as important as maths or science. People love to get creative in lots of different ways and it makes people happy!

What creative skills do you enjoy using? Nick Hornby obviously enjoys creating stories, so that's what he's using to help people.

What do you care about? Nick Hornby obviously cares about reading and writing, so that's what he's focusing on, using his skills to do it.

What could you do with what your skills...?

Day 170: Making Music

I feel like I haven't written about music for a while, so I searched the web and found this. It's called Making Music and it does exactly what it says on the tin!

 If you are looking for musical things going on, then see what they've got to offer you.Whether it's singing, learning instruments or getting involved with like-minded musicians...they can help you out and find you a place. Click here to search in your area. You can even add events yourself!

There's also stuff about the Cultural Olympiad. There are loads of creative things going on in the lead up to the Olympics 2012. They want everyone to get involved, so if music is your thing, check out what you can do to get in on the action. I'll keep you posted on other Olympics related creative things for you to get stuck into...watch this space!

So, be inspired and get musical...

Day 165: Solving creative dilemmas...

I am currently experiencing another conundrums in my creative work. In case you didn't read Day 146's post, at the moment I am writing a novel for young people called The Secret. It's about two girls, Holly and Jenna, but I won't give too much away...

The problem is this; Holly is the main character and I am really enjoying writing her story, but she finds Jenna's diary and starts reading it. That's kind of where I'm at. The problem is, I haven't written Jenna's diary, so logic says, write that and then carry on with Holly's story, right?

But I don't want to do that! I want to carry on writing Holly's story 'cause it's so much fun and it's exciting and...

Do you ever get like this? Do you get caught between what you should do and what you want to do in your creative work?

I guess the real question is, what do we do about it? In my case, if I carry on with Holly's story, I'm gonna eventually get stuck because Jenna's diary barely exists....yet. So, I need to write Jenna's diary. But what if I lose momentum and get stuck...

Nightmare!

Well, that's what creative thinking's about I recon. It's not just what you produce, it's about how you get there. Feel free to share your creative problems with me and I'll try help you out. Or, you can give me some beads of wisdom on my dilemma...

Us creative people need to stick together! Sharing ideas is how things moves forward. I feel better just for telling you all. Maybe you could set up a group at school/college/work where you can all take creative problems and talk about them. That's what I do at uni and it's really helpful. Sometimes other people can see it more clearly than you, because it's not their work.

Who could you help today...?

Day 162: RCA Secret

Everyone likes a good secret, don't they? Well this one involves famous artists, illustrators and art students from all over. More than 1000 artists have designed a postcard, which go on sale this weekend at Royal college of Art in London to raise money for art students. The catch, you don't know until you buy it who it's by. What a cool idea!

Each postcard is £45 and you can buy a maximum of four per person. It's getting everyone excited about owning their pocket sized Tracey Emin or David Bailey. But you might get work by a student who could go on to become the next Picasso! How exciting!

What a great way to get the community interesting in art. Not only that but raise cash to help creative people like you and me get to uni and do what we love. With the way thing are going in government, we need all the help we can get, so thank goodness someone is sticking up for us, eh!

Check out their website for more info. If you live around London, you can go see them for free before the sale. Maybe you can guess whose is whose!

So, who'll get the postcards worth millions? We'll have to wait and see...

Day 120: Dream Jobs

Today, in lesson, we were allowed to talk about our dream job. I find it's one of those things people are a bit embarrassed to talk about, like if they say it out load it will get lost in space or jinxed or some other such nonsense. But, when they do talk about it, they won't such up and their enthusiasm actually makes your own brain hurt.

You know the feeling?

Well, this happened to me today. I was all shy about it and then it was like I exploded and actually almost forgot I was in a classroom with loads of other people who wanted to share their dreams! A little embarrassing, but you can't say I lack passion!

So what is your dream job, I hear you ask? Well, in a nutshell, I want to do exactly what it is I'm doing now in this blog. I want to inspire young people to be creative in whatever way I can. I want to be that inspirational visitor you get each year at school, where everyone says, 'wow, I want to do creativity too!'

Anyway, enough about me! I want to talk about you guys. What do YOU want to be? What's your dream job?

Could you do me all a favour? Can you write it down and put it in a box and look after it, because I am conducting an experiment (in my head). I want to know if dream jobs change. I'm pretty sure they do. Check this out, 10 years ago I did not want to inspire creativity, I wanted to be a paleontologist, then a artist, then a historian, then a nurse, then a youth worker, then a writer (I still want that!) and now an...well, I guess you could call it an inspirer!

When I look at my list, I just get excited about how many things I could be if I put my mind to it. And the same can be said for you. I bet if you made a list of 'past dream jobs' they would be just as adventurous as mine.

We can be anything we want, so go for it! Write down that dream job and do whatever it is you need to get there. With creativity on your side, you can do anything!

Dream big. Think bigger!

Day 65: Verity

Today's blog entry is dedicated to this gorgeous girl, my sister Verity. She's in New Zealand an has been for nearly 2 years now so I haven't seen her for AGES!

What's your sister got to do with my creative blog? Well, just look at this picture! She screams out creative to me. What she wears, the things she does, the places she goes...she's definitely a creative thinker!

She has been really supportive about this creative endeavor of mine from the start and has been a constant source of creative inspiration to me. That's why today's blog is for her, on her birthday.

Happy Birthday sis!

Think about someone you know who supports you in your creativity. Go give them a hug or something. We wouldn't be anywhere without support! Perhaps do something with your creative talents for them today...just something little...