Welcome to CREATIVEMIX
Image by Jeremy Lim
It’s been three days since CREATIVEMIX – man what a ride! It was a home run and I can’t begin to thank all the people that helped make it happen – though I’ll try my damnedest on the conference blog throughout the week 
The conference planning fits into the margins of our world (which makes for a wild build-up to the event) but 10 days prior to the big day I came down with an absolutely wicked flu that kicked my ass. When Nov.3 rolled around I was on the mend but I still required a heavy line-up of meds to get me through the day. Sometimes just surviving something feels like a major victory!
Sure CREATIVEMIX is a ton of work but it’s self-inflicted and both Eileen and I feel it’s so worth it! Seeing everyone connect and grow together was so inspiring!
Anyway, for those of you who couldn’t be there I thought I’d share my opening statement – it’s how I kicked things off. It set the tone for the day and it reflects the heart and soul of why we run this conference. If there’s spelling mistakes or grammatical errors so be it – I blame Tylenol Cold Night-time as this was written late at night and I don’t have the energy to edit it now (not that it would help).
We’ve gathered here today because we want to be inspired, we want to put ideas to work, and we are eager to find camaraderie amongst those who Get Us. WE have a lot in common.
Our passion has brought us to the place where our craft, or our creative endeavour, is inseparable from who we are. Our place in the world makes sense to us when we put our creative energy to work, making things, inspiring people, or challenging the status quo.
We are restless if we are not pursuing fresh ideas or innovative ways to express our feelings and opinions. Whether our creative work produces a paycheck or requires one to support it, the integrity of our work is never for sale.
Our biggest fear isn’t paying the bills it’s loosing our edge. When our creativity runs away from home, and inspiration is no where in sight, we feel as if the world has crumbled around us. But, we know that the only way to stay sharp is to reach into the shadows, to try something new, to not give up, and to always work beyond our limits.
We explore creative means and mediums far beyond the reach of our own competency. We’re intrigued by the work of those who create differently, or different things entirely, and we’re okay if our expertise or niche takes a backseat once and awhile.
Exposure and access to the tools of modern creativity excite us in ways we can’t explain – we are compelled to dabble in other forms, processes, and manipulate strange elements and ideas.
The fruits of our labour are less important than they used to be. We’re increasingly willing to accept the struggle it takes to produce something and we’re okay with a little chaos once and awhile. In fact, we put our hopes and dreams in doing it all over again instead of seeing our hard work simply be a flash in the pan.
We will not abandon our soul-giving craft, not because we can’t but because we don’t know how. We are creative – and that’s that.
We are likeminded because we share in the belief that being a lone ranger is so very old-school… in a lame and not gnarly way. Through experience or intuition, we know full-well that our creative life, and our work, can only exist within the context of community.
We are our own worst critics. We beat ourselves up and we chip away at our own creative capital with little regard for the effects. But, we know that the only way to protect us from ourselves is to be surrounded by fellow creatives who are at least as self-deprecating as we are.
The chaos that comes from the unreal expectations of others, laughable deadlines, and idiotic budgets, can often be the push we need to get out from our comfort zone in search of the collaborators we need in order to thrive.
We don’t care so much about delegation as we do solving problems together. We prefer to uncover the creative challenges, artistic hurdles or business issues through a collective effort.
Whether we work in a company or we ARE the company we want to be part of something bigger. We want to belong to a community that isn’t made up of industry inbreeders. We’re sick and tired of shameless self-promotion or the clever abuse of social networking—it’s all about hard work, creative exploration, and taking relentless action on half-baked ideas with people we trust.
We want to stand out, but not at the expense of our character. We want to fit it but not so badly that we relinquish new friendships from unlikely places. We are not waiting for the world to come to us, we are intentionally pursuing community in our own back yard.
The demands on our creative leadership, as artists, service providers, and professionals is on the rise within our industries and within our city. As we dwell together in this beautiful city by the sea let’s become even more militant about doing important work together, let’s seek opportunities to inspire as much as we crave inspiration.
We are creative, we are like-mined. And today we have OCCUPIED YALETOWN to grow our creative spirit, not as individuals, but as a family of movers, shakers, ?and idea makers.
Welcome to CREATIVEMIX.
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