WCIW April 15-21 was founded in 2001 using the following principles as guides. The week begins on Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday April 15 and ends on World Creativity and Innovation Day, April 21 every year. Its purpose is to provide time to allow, encourage and enable new thinking to create new futures; to make the world a better place and to make your place in the world better too. Over the years the celebration has involved people, families, organizations and communities world-wide. More are added as people upload their WCIW activities. WCIW is inclusive, no matter how big or small, please include your celebration to show others you are here, active and creating.
What is Creativity?
Creativity is the spark of life, the vitality that stirs desires to improve and change the status quo—meaningfully, responsibly, wisely, and with impact. This spark is inherent; we are born with it. Using its light, we build upon the past, imprint the present, imagine the future, and connect to forever.
Why Do We Create?
Creativity is a condition of being human. We explore new territory, invent procedures, adapt behaviors, develop systems, and create new knowledge to increase the likelihood of survival and fulfillment. Human creativity extends from our biological imperative to procreate. It’s as natural as that.
Do We All Create the Same Way?
Like love, creative expression varies from person to person and from culture to culture. There are many ways to access creativity. Individuals, groups, cultures, and purposes are all unique and the same approaches do not necessarily appeal all. This is why WCIW is a do-it-yourself celebration. You celebrate in a way that befits your context. Would you like to add creativity practices for people to experiment with? Feel free to add techniques, methods and habits that promote creativity and innovation in the comments below.
When Do We Create?
We create in response to or to initiate a restlessness to grow beyond where we are. We may feel moved, for example, to add structure, build relations and connections, inspire and/or excite others’ curiosity to accomplish this. We might also be driven to gain inner clarity, identify purpose, harvest wisdom and/or advance using foresight.
How Does It Feel to Create?
Creativity yields feelings of freedom, power, connection, clarity, satisfaction, curiosity, dread, confusion. People report emotions spanning from fear and depression to elation and joy. Bottom line: creativity involves emotions, feeling along with thinking. Intuition is also involved as is tactile concrete sensing. According to the Center for Non-Violent Communication, emotions can signal whether a need is being met (positive emotion) or not being met (negative emotion).
How does World Creativity and Innovation Week April 15-21 fit?
The week begins Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday, April 15, and concludes on World Creativity and Innovation Day, April 21, each year. It serves as an invitation and reminder to all people to access their natural creating energy; to make space and time to generate new ideas, make new decisions, take new actions, ask new questions, create new outcomes by altering thinking, challenging assumptions, wondering what if…observing new things, and behaving a little differently, even if only for a moment, so a new light can shine and permit new futures to be planned and emerge. Please share how you will engage in WCIW this year.
Parts of this text is adapted from Creativity and Personality Type: Tools for Understanding and Inspiring the Many Voices of Creativity (Segal, M. Telos, 2001) which in now out of print. WCIW was founded in 2001, on May 25.
