“Creativity is the essence of who you are, it’s absolutely connected to spirituality and the true expression of yourself. When you are not really being who you are it’s an immediate blocker to being creative.” ~ Jo Hunter
E48 – JO HUNTER ON CREATIVITY, SHAME AND CONNECTION
64 MILLION ARTISTS: UNLOCKING THE CREATIVE POTENTIAL OF A NATION
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About this interview:
How can rediscovering our creativity free us to thrive?
In this episode Amisha meets creative consultant and entrepreneur Jo Hunter.
Jo grew up very creative, but as the pressures of adult life kicked in, like so many of us she became focused on being fast and being perfect, rather than being creative. When the hectic pace of her ‘dream job’ began to take its toll, Jo took a month out to slow down and reconnect. She asked people around her to set her some creative challenges, and working through them one by one she rediscovered her own creativity – her capacity to take risks and to play – and it changed her life.
Now with her organisation 64 Million Artists Jo works to help others reconnect with their own creativity. The team go into a variety of workplaces from factories to hospitals and challenge people to step out of their comfort zones and into the realm of new, playful experiences. They also run an annual January challenge open to everyone, where people commit to one small act of creativity every day for a month and share the results with others in their community or online.
Jo speaks about the structural, social and organisational obstacles to creativity and how we can bust through them to unleash our creative selves for the benefit of all. She shares experiences of the tremendous energy and joy that is unleashed when we stop shaming ourselves and others for things not working out and embrace the spirit of curiosity and exploration.
Together Amisha and Jo share their own moments of discovering the power of vulnerability and the immense relief and connection that becomes available to us when we show up as we truly are. Jo speaks about how embracing creativity has helped her to prepare for becoming a parent and the revolutionary potential for prescribed creative groups to help tackle the current mental health crisis.
“In complex situations you need the capacity to listen, respond, have a go, be open to it falling and have another go. That’s the thing we need to make change.” ~ Jo Hunter
Jo Hunter is the Co-founder and CEO of 64 Million Artists. She is passionate about seeing people use their creativity to develop themselves and help to change the world. Before setting up 64 Million Artists she worked at Battersea Arts Centre, Sing Up, a national campaign to get every child singing in school every day , and worked as a producer and company manager for organisations such as Harbourfront Centre in Toronto and Cirque Bijou in Bristol. She also used to present BBC children’s programme, Why Don’t You as a child, and thinks all her passion for people turning off their TV set and doing something less boring instead comes from there.
To find out more about Jo visit: 64millionartists.com
To connect or work with Amisha, visit www.amisha.co.uk
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