Community & Creativity

Last week I had the pleasure of working within a community of musicians, singers, songwriters, producers and mix engineers in Greensboro NC. The melting pot of Jazz, Folk, Hip Hop, Rock & Blues influenced artisans is creating a very healthy environment for new ideas and new music. Just hanging out with them for the week injected new life into these aging musical veins of mine.

It was a timely visit because I had just been listening to a podcast in which Brian Eno discussed the nurturing effect a healthy community can have on art, music and innovation.

If you don’t know who Brian Eno is then you will have heard the music he produces, (U2, Talking Heads, Devo, Coldplay). He is one of my favorite music makers. His ideas challenge me to venture out of my comfort zone in search of new sounds, songs and story ideas.

In his research on, ‘what makes an artist great’ his findings really surprised me. The one major differing ingredient in the celebrated master from an unknown ‘wanna be’ was not so much based on talent or skill but rather, community. As in being in a community that fostered art and music.

Mr Eno has since coined the term, Scenius.

Scenius refers to the collective genius that emerges from a supportive network of creative individuals who share ideas, collaborate, and inspire each other.

Picasso, Tolkien, Bowie, Aretha, Spielberg (as you can imagine, the list is very very long) all developed their artistry within a community of other artists. The impact of these communities often reached out much further than just the local realm.

Consider the Beat Generation that fostered the writers, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs. Or a group of unknown artists like Monet, Degas and Renoir who shared ideas and techniques that became known as Impressionism. And what about The Harlem Renaissance involving African American artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers like Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Duke Ellington. Lasting roughly from the 1910s through the mid-1930s, the period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art.

Communities like these change the world.

Imagine what your community could do.

Can you all create a kind of Scenius?

And, if you are not in an artistic communist may I suggest you either join one…. Or start one!

Till next time…

Chris