Positive Creativity: a manifesto

Positive Creativity is a living philosophy that celebrates the rich, beautifully messy possibilities of human creativity in today's era of automation.

This is a manifesto for anyone who makes things, who feels the act of creativity to be a positive part of their life.

I'm Emmi Salonen, a designer and author, and I've experienced this myself in so many ways over the last 20 years. But I'm seeing now how automation is changing society's relationship with creativity – and what must not be lost.

  • In an age of creative automation, we're in danger of reducing creativity to its outputs. We're prioritising speed, and skipping steps. We celebrate the finished work, and risk forgetting what mattered about getting there.

    Why do we create? It is not just to see the final product. The creative act is just that: an act, an activity, an undertaking. One that is worthy of our time, that enriches and excites and expands us in its own way. 

    We must embrace Positive Creativity: an approach that values the process as much as the product. We are human beings, after all. To create is in our nature. And nature is everything that automation is not: messy, unpredictable, rich with possibility. 

    -   -  -

    Positive Creativity believes that:

    CREATIVITY SHAPES US.
    Questioning, listening, admiring, experimenting, collaborating, learning; these are all part of what it takes to create something. Doing so transforms us, the people we create with, and those we create for. 

    CREATIVITY HELPS US NAVIGATE THE WORLD.
    Uncertainty, conflict, grief and failure are not interruptions to creativity, but experiences that can open up new ways of seeing. Creativity helps us understand our emotions, and respond to them.

    CREATIVITY MAKES CHANGE POSSIBLE.
    To create something is to be open to possibility, and curious enough to imagine something that doesn’t already exist. This is the only way meaningful, positive change can happen in the world.

    CREATIVITY IS RELATIONAL.
    Technology continues to permeate our lives and isolate us from each other; creativity connects us. It comes alive in conversations and shared experiences, when one mind meets another.

    CREATIVITY MOVES IN CYCLES.
    It does not operate like a factory line – it ebbs and flows. Periods of growth are followed by periods of rest, moments of clarity by moments of uncertainty. A creative life is lived on these rhythms.

    CREATIVITY CARRIES RESPONSIBILITY.
    Our creative choices impact the people and other beings we share the world with. We can choose, over and again, to find new ways to make this impact a positive one. 

     -   -  -

    Positive Creativity is a living philosophy that will continue to evolve through practice, research, dialogue and lived experience. Like creativity itself, it will never be complete.

    We need creative human minds now more than ever. I invite you to be part of Positive Creativity.

    Emmi Salonen

Yours to keep, print and share

Download the manifesto as an A4 printout or A3 poster. It’s yours to use, share and pass on. 

A4 PRINTOUT
 
A3 POSTER
 
A3 POSTER

Join the conversation

Positive Creativity is a living philosophy with avenues and depths that keep emerging. As a creative human being, your thoughts and experiences are central to it.

I warmly welcome your responses to these research questions and your challenges to any of the ideas here.

Share your thoughts

  • The creative process affects everyone involved before anything is finished. How might our idea of success change if we valued confidence, learning and connection alongside what gets produced? What else might we gain from the process itself?

  • Difficult experiences are part of life, and part of creativity too. What changes when we use creativity to explore uncertainty, conflict, grief or failure rather than push them aside? What might the creative process help us see, understand or respond to differently?

  • Change begins with imagining and believing that things could be different. What helps us stay open to unfamiliar or untested ideas, even when they challenge what we know and how we do things? Where do we find the courage or confidence to stretch our creativity and try something new?

  • Creativity often comes alive through conversation and shared experience. What can creating together make possible, both for the work and for the people involved? When has working with others unexpectedly helped an idea develop, go further or reveal something that would not have emerged alone?

  • Creativity moves through cycles of growth and rest, clarity and uncertainty. What might these cycles look like across a creative life? How long can they last, and what tends to happen within them?

  • The choices we make while creating can affect people and other beings in ways we may not always see. How can we consider who or what might be affected by creative decisions? And how might we keep looking for ways to make that impact a positive one?

Positive Creativity in action

There are creative projects all over the world making a positive difference to the people working on them, the people they're made for, and the species and habitats they impact. So please, share yours – it will become part of the research and could get featured here. You might be an artist, a teacher, a CEO, a freelancer, or working in civil society. Every story is welcome.

Submit your story 
RGD DesignThinkers Vancouver, Canada - Creative Ecosystem workshop