Hi there! I can’t believe that it’s 30 June: We’re halfway through the year already.
Quick!
My next Shortsomes: Mini-Games for the Imagination is happening 11 hours from when this newsletter drops: 7pm Thursday AEST or 11am Thursday CEST. You still have time to book in to let your imagination out for a quick run. Last week’s Shortsomes session was delightful, if I say so myself. Book HERE and remember that, as a subscriber to this Substack, you can book in for free.
And while you’re at it, why not book into The Bewilderment Game which is happening next Tuesday, 5 July, 10am or 7pm AEST. The Bewilderment Game is a narrative-building workshop designed for reflection on your experience of the pandemic. Book HERE.
Here’s a new creative prompt for you.
I’m giving you a visual prompt this month. Have a look at this painting: The Cliff and the White Shore by Felix Vallotton.
Where is this? Is it a mythical or real place? Does it suggest a country or locale to you?
What day is it? What year?
What season is it? How does it feel down there on that beach? Hot, humid, chilly, breezy?
Who are those two people? Are they talking or walking in silence? What is the relationship between them? Where have they walked from, where are they going?
What else do you want to build into this scenario?
Resources
I have two resources for you this month.
First of all, here is a short film about artist Christophe Sawadogo and his collaboration with a community of artisanal gold miners in Burkina Faso.
Watch it because it’s inspiring and thought-provoking. And those of you who work creatively with community groups somehow will definitely find it interesting.
The second resource is an article from Acorn Oak about ‘Quiet Disruptors’ as defined by Sue Heatherington in her book of the same name. Quiet Disruptors are people who are quietly and without fuss shifting conversations and paradigms.
“In our current stressful and unstable economy, the real impactful progress depends on people who see the world differently and can help us shape the new. “
Caveat: I am actually mentioned in this article as an example of a Quiet Disruptor. But what I like about the behaviours that are mentioned in this article is that, unlike the alpha connotations of ‘Thought Leadership’ (God, I hate that term), examples of Quietly Disruptive activity can be readily found and / or easily cultivated by all of us. The term ‘Thought Leader’ denotes a special chosen few; we can all be Quiet Disruptors. And, in the context of this newsletter, the behaviours of Quiet Disruptors can lead to creative thinking and doing, and vice versa. So have a READ.
Events
Have a read through these events and opportunities. Even if you can’t participate in any of them it is horizon-broadening to consider just how many ways creativity is being applied in the world right now. This gives me hope.
Ongoing: TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities – has an ongoing program of interesting stuff.
29 June – 1 July: Creatures Festival. There’s still time for you to attend some of this free event. “Creative practices – such as writing, art, design and theatre, through to participatory community development and storytelling – have the power to change the way we think and act when it comes to the environment.”
30 June: Shortsomes: Mini Games for the Imagination.
5 July: The Bewilderment Game. We are living in weird times. Join me to carve out some time and space to bring your feelings, imagination, and thinking together.
7 July: Shortsomes: Mini Games for the Imagination.
7 July: CSI Skillbuilding Tree: Sound and Worldbuilding. “In this event, we’ll consider how sound design and music in games contributes to worldbuilding, storytelling, and immersion.”
13-17 July: Once and Future Fantasises - “an academic conference looking at the past, present, and potential futures of the fantastic!”
16 July, 6 August, 3 September: Culture Declares Emergency – Growing a Local Hub. Artists, cultural workers and community members are invited to join like-minded people from different parts of the UK and the world, all wanting to see more creative climate action in their places.
26 July: Australian arts and cultural workers deeply concerned with taking action on the converging planetary climate and ecological crises meet up as the Cultural Gardeners on the last Tuesday of each month.
3-5 August: The Creativity Conference: “re-inspiring and re-invigorating creative minds of all kinds from around the world.”
Opportunities
Due 15 July: Call for projects and papers for Culture Action Europe’s Annual Beyond the Obvious (BtO)” “on issues pertaining to rights to access and participation in cultural life, cultural work, sustainability, diversities, participation and communities and digital environments.”
Due 20 July: The Museum of Contemporary Art – Skopje announces an international open call for participation in the 14th Biennial of Young Artists on “Awakening”.
1 August: Experimental Realism has put out a call for pieces to be included in “a highly visual edited collection of short textual stories and visual artefacts showcasing visions of plural possible futures, from the minds, hands and hearts of those currently absent” or ‘othered’.
Due 13 August: Modern Poetry in Translation invites submissions of “poetry on foodways—cooking, eating, agriculture, the impact of colonial extractivism on cuisines as intrinsic to heritages, foraging, feasts and celebrations, hunger, culinary memories, futurist menus, and otherwise-odes to the edible.”
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