Creativity is not what we think it is

Earlier this year at the Hay Literary Festival, I listened to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe speak about her experience of imprisonment.

Like many in the audience, I expected to come away thinking about injustice, resilience, politics.

And of course those themes were present.

But what has stayed with me is something much quieter.

She spoke about sewing.

Not as a pastime.
Not as something to fill time.

But as something that helped her get through it.

That moment really challenged something I see all the time in my work.

We still tend to treat creativity as an “extra”.
Something optional. Something decorative.

But listening to her, it was clear:

Creativity is not an add-on. It’s a human response.

A response to uncertainty.
To loss of control.
To environments that don’t quite hold us.

Over the past 25 years at Art Acumen, I’ve seen creativity unlock connection, energy and new thinking in organisations.

But that conversation at Hay was a reminder of something deeper:

👉 Creativity doesn’t just help us perform better.
👉 It helps us stay intact.

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Over the next few posts, I’m going to reflect a little more on this.

Because I think we need to rethink where creativity really sits, not at the edges, but at the centre of how we live and work.