Gatekeeping Creativity? (GWTW691)
I love art and creativity. There's something magical about taking an idea buried deep in your mind and transforming it into a creative artifact—a movie, song, website, logo, or photo. You get the idea. On top of that, I love technology. Isn't it amazing how much access we have to mind-blowing tools that make our jobs easier? I'm far from an early adopter of new tech toys, but I love how I can broaden my creative vision a little further into the future every year. But I haven't always been this way. I used to be a creative gatekeeper. I wanted to define rules that allowed me to label what was and wasn't creative. More specifically, as a self-declared gatekeeper, I controlled who was and was not creative. While I have allowed my opinions to morph and evolve over the years, I'm seeing more and more people digging in their heels, declaring what is and is not creative: "This is art, but this is crap." I understand the sentiment, but could there be a better way to advance our creative vision without gatekeeping creativity?