Creative Community

Jun 13

This is the last of 3 pieces elaborating on the recent IG Live I did with Meg Brackett, my marketing maven. *

Q: What’s the role of community in creativity?

The best experiences I’ve had in groups I’ve joined or led are those that are facilitated well, with clear guidelines and a common intention for participants to uphold their own and each other’s work. This is each person doing their own creative work within a safe container and sharing with no critique, just useful reflection of what is working so far.

Many creative people are used to working on their own, where delicious solitude can devolve into stale isolation. But in a well-facilitated group, we see and are seen, we listen and attend and feel heard and received. The joy of discovery, including wrong turns, failures, and triumphs can be shared. We can influence each other positively. Mastery multiplies. Deep roots of community can grow.

*Good facilitation gives a sense of home*

I wrote on my own for a long time, finding my voice, but it is only after joining Chris DeLorenzo’s Laguna Writers in 2008 that I really learned my strengths and growing edges. I grew to enjoy presenting my work in literary readings, created a few manuscript feedback groups, and published some of my short stories. My fellow writers have followed along with my novel characters for years. We’ve built friendships among us based on a keen affection for each other’s voices and writing. I feel a deep sense of belonging with Laguna people.

Chris facilitates generative writing the same way I do for my collage circles and other seasonal healing circles. In Laguna Writers, we do generative timed writings inspired by a prompt, then read and share if we’d like receiving only feedback that shows the strengths of the new work in process. Focusing on what’s working allows the writer to go back and develop the piece further.

I lead circles by setting a group intention with a theme, creating or doing guided meditation individually, and coming together again to share what we’ve learned. What one participant discovers and shares is of great value to the whole group. A message from the Divine/the Muse/benevolent forces beyond our ego minds comes through the most open channel in the group. We each are a facet of the gem that is community. I love facilitating and hope to offer some in person circles soon.

When you want to try something new in creativity (in life), it may be easiest to join a class or group. Ask ahead of time how the person facilitates and handles group dynamics. You may just want to learn a skill, or maybe you’re looking for a good experience of community too. Take your Beginner’s Mind and check it out. You’ll know pretty quickly if it’s a fit. You’ll feel supported, excited to learn, and respected and respectful of others in your group. Or you won’t. Keep looking until you find a good fit. A great facilitator will draw out your mastery as they share their own skills and experience.

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