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Posted by Mary Rayme Mar 23, 2007 |
Musicians play together, an artist plays with ideas, an actor acts in a vehicle called a play, but what is the connection between art and play?
For weeks now the question hovering above my head in a thought bubble has been: Why are children clearly more creative than adults? I've been acting as substitute teacher in our public schools and it always amazes me that younger kids from Kindergarten to High School are less inhibited and more creatively inclined than the adults I normally teach in college.
I tell my students that the creativity has been beaten out of them the older they get. How? I think as kids get older their idea of playing changes and our societal idea of playing changes as well. We live in a society that encourages and supports success and discourages and demonizes failure.
The art of play is about trial and error and not being afraid of failure. I think that the older we get the more self-conscious we become about failure and perceived failure and we try to avoid it instead of seeing it as a growth opportunity. There are two questions to consider if you are frightened at the prospect of creative failure. What can you learn from this experience? And, what is the worst possible thing that can happen if you fail? The answers to these questions help make failure seem less scary and more palatable.
As we get older we are told to work more, play less as if the two are unconnected. Play allows us to explore new thoughts, ideas, worlds, and personas. After all, playing is the essential heart and soul of all things creative. So...stop your work and go out and play OR be more playful in your work.