We are all creative.
Taking this belief as a given, I started this site with a curiosity I needed to satiate.
One question: What is valuable about our imaginations?
*The conversations shared on this website are being collected for use in a book I’m writing about creativity.
You can support this book on Patreon by clicking here.
When I first moved to Vancouver, BC (from Sackville, NS) I was overwhelmed by the largeness of the creative industry, and how small my voice felt in comparison. I felt disempowered by my creativity. I was afraid that my creative output didn’t matter. This fear was strong enough to stop me from participating… or when I did participate, doing so as a scream from the peripheral landscape I was sure I encompassed. I didn’t think I was a welcome part of the conversation.
“See me! Notice me! Validate my voice!” (a scream)
versus
“I’d like to invite you to join me in my inner world; in my imagination. I have something I’d like to say.”
There is a difference.
Every voice is valuable, but when we create, and live, from a place of fear and a belief in our own exclusion, we’re missing the opportunity to contribute to the tapestry of voices as ourselves.
I can’t put it better than playwright Marsha Norman did in her keynote speech for the Kentucky Arts Council 25th Anniversary Celebration Conference – Connections in the Arts (December 8, 1995):
“Art saves people. It saves us from our singularity, from our separateness. Art both documents our differences and saves us from them. Art is how a culture records its life, how it poses questions to the next generation, and how it is remembered.”
The conversations and stories shared on this site are about the creative soul. They are the true experiences of creatives with their own creative impulse, and they are the private (made public) reflections on what creativity feels like on a very personal level.
I define the participating creative as anyone who has bravely opted to share the most intimate recesses of their soul through their passion.
“Do you. It isn’t easy, but it’s essential. It isn’t easy because there’s a lot in the way. In many case, a major obstacle is your deeply seated belief that ‘you’ is not interesting. And since convincing yourself that you are interesting is probably not going to happen… take it off the table. Agree. Perhaps I’m not interesting. But I’m the only thing I have to offer and I want to offer something. And by offering myself in a true way, I’m doing a great service to the world, because it is rare, and it will help.”
This quote is by Charlie Kaufman from his screenwriting lecture at Bafta. You can find it here.
The mission of Creative Life is creative empowerment.
You have something to say, and I want you to be empowered to share what that is. I want you to be a participant.
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This site is made possible through your support.
If the stories and conversations I share resonate with you, please consider becoming a patron. All patrons who submit $15 a month or higher will be listed as a patron on the right-hand side bar of the site, with a link to your own creative website. You will also be thanked in the book these conversations are being gathered for.
More rewards and information about becoming a patron can be found here.
About Me
My name is Christine Bissonnette, and I am a spoken word artist, writer, and actor originally from Nova Scotia, Canada. Now, I live in Vancouver, BC. As a creative, I’m most interested in identity (and how we create it), love, belonging, and perfectionism. I am passionate about sharing the incredible inner worlds and true stories of my peers, and finding ways to express complicated ideas with sensorial – often metaphorical – language.
You can learn more about me, my current projects and initiatives by clicking here.