‘If the Peoples sing and speak my poems, my purpose is achieved.’ - Sid Chaplin
When I was first taught to be creative, I was told to look inwards. To express myself. So, I dug for the thing which set me apart. A little voice insisted: I am. It grew past classmates, past the corner shop where I bought sweets as a kid, past my parent’s stories, past the skyline of home.
I mined myself for what felt unique. I told my story, as if it sprang from nowhere but myself, as if that is the only way it could truly be mine. Yet look closer at those threads of ‘me’, I found they carried my mother’s scent, my father’s voice, they felt like a place I knew. That inwardness was never pointing at me alone; it was shining a light on everything around me.
You are made of your community.
Into the Light’s creative call showed me how important co-production is. The idea that those affected by policy changes not only could be, but had the right to be in the same room as policy actors has been foundational to my research. Creativity is affected by so much more than a lone genius. Access, community, ecosystems, innovation - all of these factors are deeply affected by the collective power of those around us. Yet when that power is bottled up at the top of the hierarchy, creativity is necessarily stifled. The creative call event was so powerful precisely because it reversed the typical power structure. The creative and cultural scene of County Durham was placed exactly where it belongs: in all of our hands.