Lisa Fitzhugh // Creative Ground

An Op-Ed I wrote in the Seattle Times about the missed opportunities in The Seattle Art Museum’s decisions in renovating its properties in the early 2000s.

“Creativity is our ability to imagine and bring into being the material and immaterial worlds.  So it’s beautiful like the Roman Aqueducts, floating wind turbines, or cloud computing, and it’s horrible like the 9-11 mastermind, the medieval rack or the atomic bomb.” 

At a time when the world seems to be exploding in conflict, I call out the need to examine our rigid assumptions that may have become orthodoxies and consider a wider lens on all things.

In this essay, I highlight the essential role of the fool and his/her capacity to challenge our assumptions about what we accept as the truth, the key to any creative endeavor worth its salt. This may be more relevant now in 2025 than when I wrote it in 2021.

“When the human beings inside of institutions are allowed time for self-reflection, and leadership at all levels tolerates the ambiguity that comes with sharing power across hierarchy, there is more life, vitality and expansion.  There is more creativity, healthy conflict, equity and trust.”