There is a conversation that has been waiting to happen. Not between politicians and constituents. Not between policy experts and the public. Between a writer and a trumpeter. Between a filmmaker and a choreographer. Between a painter and a game designer. Between artists who have spent their lives inside the most demanding truth-telling work democracy…
For centuries, people have argued over theology, doctrine, and religious authority. Empires have risen and collapsed around belief. Political leaders have tried to use religion, contain it, reshape it, or erase it. And yet, when I think about what ferried the great faith traditions across generations, geography, war, migration, and upheaval, I do not first think of…
Like any practice — whether music, dance, surgery, or prayer — democracy requires repetition, discipline, failure, adjustment, and the willingness to try again. Which raises a question: What role do the arts play in that rehearsal? Not the arts as decoration or entertainment, though beauty and joy matter. Not even the arts only as protest, though…
Most of the rules that shape daily life are not made in Washington. They come from state legislatures, administrative agencies, and local councils. Most of the people making those rules do not have a writer in the room. That is not accidental. It is a failure of understanding. Theirs, and sometimes ours. Here is what…
Creative intelligence is the ability to generate new and valuable ideas, bridge gaps between familiar things in unexpected ways, and provide practical solutions to unfamiliar problems. Artists do this every damn day. Do civic leaders and politicians? No, not when they’re swinging around on the monkey bars of rigid partisanship, dogmatic orthodoxy, transactional subservience, and…
Let’s put it simply: We need a nonprofit entity for individual artists, creators, and makers across all disciplines. Not a union. Not an arts advocacy organization. Not a public relations campaign. Not a government agency. We already have those. Individual artists deserve a republic of our own. Creative practitioners are needed for the Reconstruction ahead. We…
Lately, I’ve been wondering whether journalists could be considered artists. I’ve come to the decision that they were not considered artists until Americans were dumbed-down by cable television, the media oligarchy, and the internet. All one needs to do is watch Fox News to witness a new absurdist theatre. In the history of real news, however, editorial cartoonists have…
What I want (and what I believe many of us want) is a way to use our creative intelligence to restore cultural clarity and strengthen our democratic life. That’s why I am launching Res Creativa. Res Creativa will be a network for creative intelligence, uniting artists and creative thinkers across disciplines to help shape a healthier democratic culture.…
Res Creativa is a new initiative for creators, and this idea is the one that makes all the others possible. Not the blueprint. Not the constitution. Not the leadership program or the organizational work, as essential as those are. This one. Community. The people in the room. Thirty-eight founding members have said yes before they…
Writers, musicians, composers, actors, filmmakers, urban planners, multidisciplinary artists, arts administrators and educators, arts enthusiasts, and more are finding their way to Res Creativa’s founding members list. The question surfaces: How can our imagination, artistry, and vision be captured and shared in other settings? The first three posts in this series proposed a civic leadership program,…