Your Most Crucial Creative Practice
Since the release of “Arts on Prescription: A Field Guide for US Communities,” we’re seeing growing interest in art's roles in healthcare—both in the US and abroad. In response, people in the arts sector often applaud the fact that “other people” are finally waking up to the value of the arts.
I'll be real with you: This reaction holds us all back in many ways.
Mainly, it misses the “message” of arts on prescription as evidence that nothing is as it must be.
Nothing.
Everything can be reimagined—even our most complex systems. Even healthcare.
And if “everything can be reimagined,” that doesn’t mean that creatives or the arts sector get to keep all of our own assumptions, premises, and norms, so long as we help other people in other sectors shake up theirs.
We too need to reimagine our most entrenched, accepted, obviously-true views when it comes to our work and its impacts. This creative practice of Imagining Otherwise — of refusing “how it is” — is how we break out of ourselves. It’s how we ignite new goals and paths forward.
The Best News
A teacher once told me, “The best news I can give you is that you’re wrong about what you need in order to reach your goals.” Their point was that I needed to challenge my own assumptions about who I was, what I needed, and how to get it. Once I did, new paths would open up.
They were right.
And as the year gets underway, the best news I can give you is that you may very well be wrong about what you need, what you’re capable of, what problems you’re facing, what your work “must” look like, or what has to happen next.
In other words, the limitations you’re facing might be limitations not of actual circumstances, but of the limited way you’ve understood what is that you do, where it “belongs,” and how it matters.
What if you’ve been thinking small?
What if you could step outside of your typical perspective—the standard story of “How It Is”—and re-view, re-cognize your work?
The truth is:
Your path to growth is always on the other side of the questions you’re not asking.
James Baldwin wrote, “The artist cannot and must not take anything for granted, but must drive to the heart of every answer and expose the question the answer hides.”
For all of us seeking to grow our reach, to have more of an impact, to lead transformational change, to sustain our work… we owe it to ourselves and our colleagues, and especially to our communities and clients, to "drive to the heart" of what we think we know. To expose the questions behind our ready, “obvious” answers. To get more curious about what we do, where it “belongs,” and how it matters.
Consider these Questions an Invitation:
❓ What are some “answers” that stand in the way of the bold questions that could transform your work?
❓ What could become possible if the assumed “rules” and boundaries of your work, role, or industry didn’t exist? (What partnerships would you make? What impacts could you have?)
❓ List a few “obviously-true” assumptions you hold about your work or industry. What questions could you ask to challenge these and open up new possibilities?
❓ What assumptions do you hold about your own capabilities and potential? How might these be limiting your growth and creativity?
❓ What’s one “norm” or “accepted premise” in your work that you commit to Reimagining over the coming year? What steps will you take to do so?
💡To really dive in, grab a notebook and pen. Open a doc or notes app. Set a timer for 10 -30 minutes and let yourself really engage with these 5 questions. See what comes up for you.
Breaking Out of Ourselves
The arts offer a technology for breaking out of ourselves... for questioning norms and the status quo. They’re how we see through and around “how it’s always done.” They’re essential to growth.
In fact, growth is itself creative work. It requires us to see “How It Is” not as an inevitability but as a beginning—as the “is” from which we can shape a “will be;” or as the “now” that can become a “was.”
Artists and creatives have extensive experience with this! We’re practiced in Imagining Otherwise; it’s what we do.
The trick is to turn that practice back on our work itself: to wonder what premises we’ve accepted when it comes to our industry, our potential, our rules, needs, or paths. The trick is to ask not only, “How can I help others re-see their world?” but also, “How might I re-see my own?”
The alternative to Reimagining is the status quo. It’s also burnout, dead ends, and lost opportunities.
But we can Imagine Otherwise. We can question “how it’s done.”
It’s our most crucial creative practice.
If these questions got you started but you feel a bit stuck… If you have great ideas but don’t know how to take the next steps, I’d love to help. 3 ideas:
“Think Bigger” is my online course to help leaders to stop playing small. Learn how to think outside your siloes and sector, imagine new potential partners, and actually reach out to create collaborations. Think Bigger isn’t just great info; it’s step by step guidance—with workbooks and templates that will get you taking action.
“How We Human” is my unique professional development training in Mental Health and Trauma-Informed Practice, designed specifically for people in creative industries and arts organizations. Learn how arts and creative expression can support mental health, AND how to apply this to enhance your work and ignite growth.
And of course, I give talks and workshops around the world to help leaders break out of the status quo and move ideas into action. As you might guess from this blog, my frameworks spark reimagination—leading groups into science-backed brainstorming and meaningful action. Learn more or book me for an event here.