There are many forms of creativity in the world today. Thanks to the internet and social media, creativity is more easily accessible. And it's also more marketable. It's more shareable and has more reach than ever before. People from all walks of life enjoy and appreciate creativity in one form or another. Creativity includes music, drawing, painting, film, drama, novels, to name a few.
But how can we use these different forms of creativity for social good?
Creativity is a form of communication that tells stories and connects people. There are endless stories from around the globe. They may be about adversity, disasters, oppression, maltreatment or resilience. The list of potential messages are unending. The people that hold these stories don't necessarily have the means to tell them. But we can tell those stories for them. Such stories are both educational and emotive. Educational in the sense that we can learn from them. After all, we never stop learning. Emotive because such stories can evoke emotions such as empathy and compassion.
1. We can consider who we can have contributing in our projects.
We can champion diversity and inclusivity. Having a diverse and inclusive culture allows project participants to contribute freely. This, in turn, promotes collective thinking and creativity.
2. Be considerate of how we treat others during all stages of the production process.
This links with inclusivity but it's something we at Sound-how like to be mindful of. Treating others with the respect they deserve promotes both inclusivity and creativity. This creates the atmosphere required to inspire audiences to bring about social change.
3. The content we create and its message. Does our content educate the audience?
Is the message clear and understandable? Does our message provoke the emotions we'd like the audience to experience? Something to also consider is whether audiences are inspired to take our message home with them and want to use it to bring about social change.
We’d like to give a shout out to two filmmakers who are striving to make social change with their upcoming projects. Rachael Belle Myers from Jaded Belle Productions is a multi-award winning social impact filmmaker, whose passion is to inspire change in the world through visual storytelling. Keep an eye out for her two upcoming productions with very important messages, web-series Trolls Anonymous and Animation Sharenting. Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Adam Markle’s 34 seconds, is a feature length documentary, exploring the death of a number of children in association with U.S. immigration policy. The crowdfunding campaign ends in 2 days – it’s one to watch and consider helping out anyway you can.
"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world" ~ Nelson Mandela.
Creativity is a universal educational tool. How can you use it to educate and inspire people to make social change?