Creatives opening doors in the imagination for a better world

The Art and Energy Collective helps people take creative steps towards a brighter greener future.

Here is a video from the OU about why developing creative practice and skills is so important for helping us respond to the climate emergency.

What do you think?

There are many reasons to employ creative activities in your group development and team-building plans. Well-designed and easy-to-access creative engagement activities can increase and improve people’s physical and mental well-being.

These are just some examples of the benefits of creative activities organised using the Recovery College Cambridge CHIME Framework of key defining elements for well-being.

CHIME Framework

Connectedness:

  • Be attractive, including to those who find it hard to join in

  • Build a sense of shared experience and connectedness

  • Consider new perspectives and build empathy and understanding

  • Create time and space for better conversations

  • Help people access and share tacit knowledge

Hope and optimism:

  • Kindle a sense of wonder

  • Mark moments and celebrate good things

  • Increase energy and motivation

  • Be enjoyable, relaxing and stimulating

  • Set a positive or engaging tone

Identity:

  • Be levelling, helping to overcome habitual hierarchies and patterns.

  • Honouring and celebrate people’s uniqueness

  • Give voice and platform to those who are not usually heard and allowing non-verbal expression

  • Practice and improve self awareness and communication

Meaning:

  • Disrupt expectations, helping people refresh and renew perspectives

  • Focus attention, especially on topics that can be perceived as tricky or dull

  • Open doors in the imagination, allowing people to explore a topic more deeply

  • Make meaning and objects that help people share stories and memories

Empowerment:

  • Create space and time for contemplation

  • Use a wide range of senses and ways of being

  • Help us enter and be with the mysteries of the as-yet-unknown

  • Develop skills and learn new things

  • Create safe space for risk-taking, experimentation, playful practice and failure

  • Practice navigating the unknown to Ideate new steps and things to try

  • Ease people out of their comfort zone and into the learner’s mind.

What other benefits do you notice in creative experiences?

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Taking tiny steps - A creative journey to a brighter greener future

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What creatives say they need to respond to the climate emergency in Plymouth