The creativity movement and why you should try it
Mary Pat Moloney is starting up a ukulele group this month. And she is determined to keep it from getting too serious. No musicians seeking the spotlight, no dreams of going on tour, just a focus on the process of playing.
Moloney is engaging in a practice that’s happening, in humble fashion, all across Ireland, in camera clubs, small writing groups, and art classes, singing clubs, and knitting groups, community theatre troupes, and baking clubs, even those going it solo, sitting at home penning poems.
It might seem like just a bit of fun on a Tuesday night, writing some stories with friends, or a light-hearted time on Saturdays making pottery, but the recent turn to creative outlets is probably doing more good than you think.
A former amateur actress and arts facilitator, Moloney founded Croí Anú Creative Centre in Kildare to give people the space to express themselves. Moloney, like others, believes creativity, and getting the opportunity to do it in the way that suits you most, is essential for our flourishing, both at the personal level and for the community.
One of the keys to creativity’s power — as counter-intuitive as it might sound — is failure.
“You are putting yourself in a position of doing something new,” says Trish Brennan, Head of Fine Arts and Applied Arts at CIT Crawford College. “You are being open to things going wrong.” You might fail miserably, but that’s how you learn.
Moloney agrees that risk-taking is what it’s all about, and with risk, comes failure, teaching you to approach the world differently and recognise that failure is just a step in the process.
“If I take risks in one part of my life, then I will have confidence to do this in other parts of my life,” Moloney says. “You’re breaking patterns of not taking risks. In the doing of that, it can replicate itself elsewhere,” like in work, personal relationships, and being a good friend and citizen.
“The more you build confidence, the less concerned you are with what other people think,” Moloney explains. Creative activity leads to empowerment, to confidence in oneself, to self-reflection. Studies have shown, to better moods, to emotional and physical health, and to, well, thinking even more creatively.
And what does that actually mean? “It’s the notion of making marks, of building, of playing,” says Brennan. It’s something that “takes your brain away from your brain”, she says, an activity and engagement that can jar you, change your mindset, loosen your perspective. It’s what’s “instinctive to most children,” she explains, but often knocked out of us quickly enough.
“For many people it’s been almost conditioned out,” adds Moloney. We look to a great singer and call her creative but we’ll say of ourselves, “I’m not really any good at that.”
This mindset needs to be cracked, Moloney says. Her centre, a near- derelict building she fixed up and opened for community use, allows people to do that. Actors, theatre groups, musicians, writers, and singers practice or perform, not all focused on being perfect, but the risks are still real, and trying to write or act or pluck at guitar strings can be nerve-wracking.
Mary Grannell, who runs the Great Island writing group in Cobh, has seen members taken out of their comfort zones — they presented poems publicly at culture night last year and, more recently, a writing exercise had them killing off a character.
“It ended up being almost a therapy session,” says Grannell. For this group, the process and mutual support is everything.
“It’s none of our priority to get out there and do the three-book deal,” says Grannell.
Moloney thinks, because of the risk, space matters; it must be safe, and somehow separate from daily life, even if the shift is mental.
If, for example, you want to write, decide on a time, make the time yours, and sit down and do it, even 20 minutes at the kitchen table while the family is watching the news. And then, just write, “even if it’s gobbledygook”. And while it might sound selfish, it’s actually quite the opposite. The social benefits of getting creative can’t be underestimated.
“Any scientific study will tell you a million times over the fruits that creativity will produce, if you facilitate it in your society,” explains Dr Miriam Haughton of NUI Galway’s O’Donoghue Centre for Drama, Theatre, and Performance. The notions of creativity and community stand and fall together, she says.
Societies go through cycles, Haughton explains, and it’s especially clear through the arts — from the time of Dionysus, when society gathered for creative, communal catharsis, to bleak moments of war and cultural drought — that it’s creativity that “generates energy and momentum”, that transforms an environment, that makes citizens and great leaders, that makes a society thrive.
“It reminds you there are new ideas and new ways of doing things, new people you can meet,” says Haughton. “It’s a reminder of all the optimism and opportunity out there.” From creativity, she says, “economics follows, politics follows. When you remove creativity, you see communities die off, people emigrate, and businesses fail.”
The hope is that creative engagement will become even easier in the coming years, as the Government just unveiled Creative Ireland, a five-year initiative to get the entire country artistically buzzing. The programme focuses on fostering the arts and creativity for children and communities.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever had a Government policy that puts creativity at the heart of decision-making,” explains Minister for Arts and Heritage Heather Humphreys. “We want to use our cultural resources to bring out the full potential of everyone in our society. Creative people are the key to the new economy.”
Haughton is cautiously optimistic about the initiative, one that, she reminds us, as the policy also notes, could only have happened with the Government witnessing the beneficial effects of the 1916 commemorations.
It will be a successful programme, she thinks, as long as there are no boundaries. “If you put in parameters, you are putting in parameters for the next invention.”
Current spirit is high, with writing groups dotting the nation, choirs going strong, and community arts centres supporting local efforts. Moloney suggests it’s easier to get going in a group, surrounded by others, but that you need to find one that encourages you.
Brennan adds, if need be, you can go it alone. There are plenty of resources out there. But, it has to be at something you really want to do. Try one creative thing, Brennan advises. Play the guitar. If it doesn’t work for you, try something else. Dance. And take advantage of arts in the community – read, go to galleries, watch plays. These all feed one’s own creative spirit, bringing the workings of mind and body together, and affecting your choices in all other aspects of life.
That bright idea that comes from nowhere, it doesn’t exist, she explains. It’s never from nowhere. “If you want to be creative, you’ve got to feed it.”
For Moloney’s part, the Croí Anú Centre is thriving and she also been personally inspired and encouraged by the creative forces around her. Having recently turned 50, she is making a return to acting, her real love, finally confident enough to go professional.
“I know it sounds crazy at the age I am, but I kind of don’t care how it sounds,” says Moloney.
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