After leaving my last government position as a policy aide for then-Seattle Mayor Paul Schell in 1998, I sought a more fulfilling outlet for my innate creative disposition and belief in creativity’s power to enliven and empower all aspects of our lives. I developed a business plan for Arts Corps, an organization that convened a faculty of teaching artists to work with young people in and out of school to facilitate their self-expression and confidence through creative practice. We raised $150k in the first year to get the program off the ground and it continues today to serve young people who would not otherwise have access to arts learning.
Much of what I learned about excellent teaching and facilitating creativity and self-expression comes from watching Arts Corps’ teaching artists. When I left Arts Corps in 2008, I returned to the world of politics and leadership but this time with a new mission--to bring creative practice, facilitation and strategy to the organizations I would work with under my new umbrella, Creative Ground.
Since then, I have been diving deep to learn what keeps us from our own creative flow so we can express ourselves authentically in all aspects of our lives. Perhaps my biggest take-away is that it’s fully time to play again and take ourselves less seriously. Work infused with play may just help us discover a culture of bliss long forgotten. Join me there.
"The things we fear most in organizations—fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances—are the primary sources of creativity."
— Margaret J. Wheatley
"A person might be able to play without being creative, but he sure can't be creative without playing."
— Kurt Hanks and Jay Parry
