HOPE IS THE ULTIMATE CREATIVE ACT. TO MAKE SOMETHING FROM NOTHING. TO IMAGINE A REALITY THAT DOESN’T EXIST – YET
Hope is one of the most powerful forces in our lives. Without it, we struggle to move forward, to progress, to thrive. But when we do have a sense of hope – a belief that better is possible, whether it’s tomorrow, next year or even in generations to come – we are more likely to withstand even the toughest of times, both personally and collectively.
Resilience goes hand in hand with hope. They feed each other. If hope is a lighthouse shining light into the darkness and guiding us to safety, resilience is the life-raft that keeps us afloat and buffers us against the harshest of storms.
And creativity plays a key role in this.
In fact, creativity plays a much more significant role in our lives, our choices and our society than many of us realise. After all, almost everything that we see and hear around us is made or designed by creatives, and directly impacts our sentiment – the way we think and feel. And our sentiment largely determines our choices and actions – from investments to self-care, how we treat each other and our environment.
However, most of the intentional creative work that surrounds us is made or designed with the aim of maximising sales of specific products or services and increasing brand awareness, and is generally targeted at only certain sectors of society, often overlooking large numbers of individuals and communities.
Not any more. CreativityWillSaveUs designs simple, creative social impact strategies and interventions which address complex socio-economic issues, increase community resilience and contribute towards a thriving, sustainable and integrated society across the African continent. These campaigns and initiatives are targeted and amplified for maximum positive impact where it is most needed.
The team at CreativityWillSaveUs is also building a platform that connects creatives and catalyses socially relevant, collaborative work that changes the way we think and feel about ourselves, each other, our past and most importantly, our future. This aims to foster alliances and create an ecosystem with exponential capacity for creative innovation to master our current challenges – ranging from climate change to inequality, gender-based violence and access to healthcare.
“By investing in the creative community, deepening connections across disciplines, and creating self-sustaining platforms for ongoing collaboration on meaningful, socially relevant projects, we have a better chance of getting through these tumultuous and uncertain times” says Aron Halevi – founder of CreativityWillSaveUs and best known for starting one of Africa’s most successful bands and brands, Freshlyground. “We believe that intentional and strategic creativity can change our sentiment – both individually and collectively. And by changing our sentiment – the way we think and feel – we can change our future.”
CreativityWillSaveUs also collaborates with companies, organisations and brands who are looking for new, creative ways to shift attitudes and behaviour in relation to challenging issues across our society – work which is becoming more and more critical as time goes by.
“We focus on creative exploration and experimental appropriation of new and innovative technologies to contribute to the development of social and business models that will establish more sustainable and equitable solutions and strategies for long-term impact across our society” says Lene Øverland – Chief Integrity Officer at CreativityWillSaveUs.
The devastating impact of Covid-19 has rippled across all segments of society, affecting every single individual, family, community and socio-economic sector. Jobs have been lost. Businesses have closed. Schools, hospitals and other essential services are still struggling to play the critical roles that we all need in order to function optimally. Mental health issues including depression and anxiety have also increased significantly, regardless of age, culture, religion or income status.
Now, more than ever, we need to harness our collective creativity – possibly our greatest human resource – and find new ways of fortifying all segments of our society, not just in order to get through challenging times, but also to look to the future and start working towards co-creating the Africa of our dreams – a resilient, robust, sustainable and fully integrated society.
Creativity impacts sentiment.
Sentiment impacts economy.
Need we say more?
#CreativityWillSaveUs
