storytelling

Hot Off the Press! “Rachel’s Gazette” (5TH and Final Edition), Focuses On Samhain & Halloween, History, Photography, Fashion, Music, Plus More Arts, Entertainment & Global News

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CLICK HERE TO READ CURRENT ISSUE

What’s Inside This Issue?

Welcome to Rachel’s Gazette!
Rachel Speaks!

Merry Meet!
Blessed Samhain!


It has been an honor to share my thoughts with you, and to share stories and news about our beliefs, craft, and vision from various times and spaces in this gazette. The purpose has been three-fold: to create a sacred space for sharing what has gone before, is happening, and becoming in our own voices; to shine a light on how we are perceived and represented in the entertainment industry and news media; and to invite you to discover and support my story–and those of my loved ones–through the telling of Thorn Trees.


This is the last issue of the gazette as much work needs to be done to bring Thorn Trees to you in the realms of television, streaming, or film.


The main themes in this last issue concern Samhain & Halloween, the history of witches, and the craft as it has evolved to modern time; news about plans and policies that respect and protect us from discrimination and hate crimes; how we have influenced the art and culture of fashion, a special photography focus on portraits of witches and a special witches songs collection music video, plus book reviews and more stories and videos that reflect our perspectives.


I wish to thank everyone who has supported and shared this Thorn Trees-inspired publication in whatever ways you have done so and invite you to continue to help the creators and producers manifest its success. Currently, they are seeking a female showrunner for the series.


May the highest and most divine good for all be accomplished. So mote it be!


Blessed Be,
Rachel Gare
Executive Editor

Discover more about and help support Thorn Trees in our Facebook Community. Visit us on Instagram and Twitter.

Read the Gazette!

VISIT THE ‘ZINE TO REVIEW ALL THE CURATED AND ORIGINAL CONTENT. 
~THE EDITOR

Original Creativity & Storytelling Content Roundup

/ The Pursuit Studio / 2 Comments

IT’S TIME FOR A ROUND-UP OF  CREATOR’S CORNER FOR EASIER ACCESS TO THE CREATIVITY COACHING CONTENT HERE with a brief excerpt and link to each one–in the spirit of “Everything we need for creativity & storytelling success is within our grasp.” Of course it may not be everything we need, however; between Creator’s Corner and the Creativity & Storytelling ‘Zine, there is a hearty helping.

I BEGAN WRITING CREATOR’S CORNER IN AN INFLUENCER, COACHING, INSPIRATIONAL CAPACITY to share original ideas and solutions for you to consider based on my own thoughts and experiences inspired by the curated content in the Creativity & Storytelling ‘Zine.

Creator’s Corner Round-up

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How To Work (and Play) Well With “The Others” To Succeed | I attended a graduate school where arts and business students were brought together–on purpose–to propose, create and apply . . .

5c31d-shonda2brhimes2bsolution2bnot2bproblem

Best Visual Content = Storytelling Solutions via A&E Professionals | Stage32 (One of my favorite websites) invites its members to select 10 films that we would take with us if we knew we were going to be stranded on a desert island.

Lies & Storytelling: Strange Bedfellows in Shades of Gray | Liar! Who hasn’t had to enter into an almost daily relationship with lies in our political climate today as we countdown to choosing our next president of the United States of America (#45) . . .

Best Storytelling Has Sensory Empathy (or It’s Important To Engage the Senses) | I had the responsibility of creating visual content (publications, packaging, and safer sex advertising campaings) to help save the lives of men, women, and children at-risk for HIV/AIDS during the fours years that I worked at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Inc. in
New York City . . .

The Joy Is in the Story Journey (or Mission Impossible) | What really kept me on the edge of my seat wasn’t the mission getting accomplished or the end (though I was happy to get the payoff): it was everything that occurred prior to actually accomplishing it.

Get Up to Speed On Quality Do-It-Yourself Storytelling (On a Low Budget) | In our world in which content is king/queen and we must use vital creativity and storytelling mojo, and provide it in ways that engage, inspire and energize our fellow humans, what can we do to achieve quality . . .

Best Storytelling is Copied, Stolen Content? (or The Lighter Shade of Led Zeppellin) | Breakout from traditional approaches and models despite potential flack that you might receive from doubters or critics who aren’t as courageous, and/or fear conflict or change.

Conflict Has Creative Value, Learn How To Use It | Creative breakthroughs often occur as the result of conflict in many aspects of the human experience. I feel like screaming again because conflict and contrast commands attention. They SHOUT and we. . .

Here Comes Play-Doh | Certainly it’s easy to see that Play-Doh can be used as content to attract and communicate with children in your particular business, project or service, but what about with adults? Many of us are familiar with Play-Doh because . . .

Sacred Geometry, Visual Storytelling Content: One of Top Four Creative Trends 2016 | Sigils are sacred geometry symbol forms that the ancients considered to be the marks of angels, deities, and other powerful entities; they are archetype conduits that merge science, creativity and spirituality.

Card Decks and The Mystic or Visionary Persona | Create a card deck as visual content to inform, educate, inspire, attract, promote, aesthetic (purely as art for arts sake ), or for fun and play to help achieve your goal or purpose.

MAY YOU DISCOVER MORE CREATIVE ideas and storytelling support now (and in the future).  

Valerie

“Things are only impossible until they’re not.”
“Make it so.”
~ Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation

************

Valerie Mich’El Oliver explores the art and architecture of creativity and storytelling in imaginative, innovative, playful and award-winning ways. Tisch School of the Arts (New York University) and The Mystery School (Sacred Center for the Healing Arts) graduate. | Imagine, innovate, create, be generous, love this life, and dare to shine.

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Tom Comerford: Best Content Uses Current & Past Life Stories

/ The Pursuit Studio

6c13f-valerie2bheadshotTOM COMERFORD. I was in shock, depressed, and lost after the death of my mother. Tom was a District Manager for the State of New Jersey’s Division of Youth & Family Services. He hired me to provide payments to all the foster care parents in the huge district. He helped me get back on my feet mentally, emotionally, and financially; and that job led to meeting my best friend who has been in my life for 37 years.

Years later, I learned that he fell in love with my mother and asked her to marry him when he was a Catholic priest working beside her on an innovative community project. They were pioneers in race relations through Operation Understanding: a program that worked with churches to place inner city kids in suburban family homes and vice versa. It fostered some really amazing life-long friendships, and more!

Richard Chamberlain Thorn Birds

Rachel Ward and Richard Chamberlain in “The Thorn Birds” (Credit: ABC)

Her answer was “No”, and eventually, he left the priesthood, married a former nun, and had his own family. Tom passed away a number of years ago. Funny thing is, he was always my favorite priest, and if things had gone his way, he would have been my stepfather. As it turned out, mom married an Episcopal minister.

This is a short story that could lead to multiple stories from different perspectives about these relationships. And so it goes. Cheers!

Read more about this best practice of using past and current life experiences as storytelling content to attract and engage your audience, readers, clients, and customers.

Valerie

“Things are only impossible until they’re not.”
“Make it so.”
~ Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation

************

Valerie Mich’El Oliver explores the art and architecture of creativity and storytelling in imaginative, innovative, playful and award-winning ways. Tisch School of the Arts (New York University) and The Mystery School (Sacred Center for the Healing Arts) graduate. | Imagine, innovate, create, be generous, love this life, and dare to shine.

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How to Work (and Play) Well With “The Others” to Succeed

/ The Pursuit Studio

I ATTENDED A GRADUATE SCHOOL WHERE ARTS & BUSINESS STUDENTS WERE BROUGHT TOGETHER–on purpose–to propose, create and apply communications technology solutions as a team to problems. As graduate students of the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), we were encouraged to face our distrust of “the others'” approaches to problem-solving (creative arts vs. business) and collaborate in playful and experimental ways to meet the needs of individuals, groups; local, national, and global communities–artistic, nonprofit and commercial–who we were learning to serve as a workforce. Otherwise, we could not succeed in our studies, projects, or current and future employment.

How Can I Trust You?

WE HAD TO FIND WAYS TO KEEP AN OPEN MIND, TRUST, AND SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER (even if one’s primary incentive might only be to get a good grade). Sometimes trusting simply meant investing in the belief that we would do whatever we could to help each other succeed for the sake of that project. Those who couldn’t or wouldn’t commit, who gave up, failed: they either left the program or flunked out. For those of us who did commit, paths always eventually opened, and some of those solutions we accomplished together were simply astounding. Those collaborations and solutions led to our Information Age and what’s coming beyond it.

NOTE: The Interactive Telecommunications Masters Program in Tisch School of the Arts at New York University is going strong. Check out some of the pioneering and innovative courses.

Artwork © Gavin Aung Than 2017

Column Inspiration:
Akira Jurosawa: The Note Taker

 

How Not To Give Up Before The Miracle Happens

I READ SOME LITERATURE TODAY TO HELP INSPIRE AND MOTIVATE ME NOT TO GIVE UP in areas that I want and need to change in my life (personal and professional). I get tired and discouraged at times. I can’t afford “keeping up appearances” (like Hyacinth, the character in the British BBC program) because I’ve learned the hard way that doing so is incredibly stressful and hurts my health. One quote I read is from an article (AKIRA KUROSAWA: The Note Taker) included in the Creativity & Storytelling ‘Zine, Sunday, February 12, 2017 edition is just the right medicine:

“Kurosawa was determined to become a better screenwriter and set about writing one page a day, despite how busy he was as an AD, ‘There was nothing I could do about the nights I had to work till dawn, but when I had time to sleep, even after crawling into bed I would turn out two or three pages.’ Writing didn’t come easy, but over time the daily struggle became a habit and Kurosawa found that like most creative endeavors, just showing up was the key. ‘At some point in the writing of every script I feel like giving the whole thing up. From my many experiences of writing screenplays however, I have learned something: If I hold fast in the face of this blankness and despair, adopting the tactic of Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen sect, who glared at the wall that stood in his way until his legs became useless, a path will open up.'”

      

Column Inspiration:
“Keeping Up Appearances”

SOMETIMES I THINK THAT WE HUMANS SUFFER FROM CHRONIC FORGETFULNESS: we work hard on something, complete it, and then lose our confidence in what we’ve learned and know: we start from the beginning again–over and over–in uncertainty (a creative-specific conflict forgetting like in the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind–though they choose to forget!). We stick to our endeavors, come through again, and hope we will remember in the future.

THE HEALING ARTIST STUDIO PROJECT BLOG, THE CREATIVITY & STORYTELLING ‘ZINE, and all the writing, content curating, posting and tweeting I do is my way of remembering, of continuing the open-mindedness, trust, and collaboration I learned as a high school student at The Team School, and as a graduate student at ITP.

WE ARE NOT IN A PHYSICAL CLASS TOGETHER, AND MAY NEVER MEET, but I choose to believe that I am investing in our creative and business problem-solving success to benefit our world through the practical and miraculous solution we are every day.

MAY YOU DISCOVER MORE CREATIVE ideas and storytelling support now (and in the future).

Valerie

“Things are only impossible until they’re not.”
“Make it so.”
~ Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation

************

Valerie Mich’El Oliver explores the art and architecture of creativity and storytelling in imaginative, innovative, playful and award-winning ways. Tisch School of the Arts (New York University) and The Mystery School (Sacred Center for the Healing Arts) graduate. | Imagine, innovate, create, be generous, love this life, and dare to shine.

Best Visual Content = Storytelling Solutions via A&E Professionals

/ The Pursuit Studio

STAGE 32 (ONE OF MY FAVORITE WEBSITES) INVITES IT’S MEMBERS TO SELECT 10 FILMS THAT WE WOULD TAKE WITH US IF WE KNEW WE WERE GOING TO BE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND. I don’t know what criteria you would use to select the stories to watch over and over and over again, but the ones I chose impacted me on an emotional, mental or spiritual basis; introduced me to a new world or perspective; or simply fueled my imagination into high gear.

THE DESERT ISLAND MOVIES. The movies I picked are: The Red Balloon (My Top Pick is the original 1956 version), and the rest in no particular order: Harvey, Being There, Jesus Christ Superstar, Ingmar Bergman’s Trilogy (Through A Glass Darkly, Winter Light & The Silence), Topper, Life is Beautiful, West Side Story, Chocolat & A Christmas Carol.

A red balloon with a life of it’s own follows a little boy
around the streets of Paris.

 

WHO HASN’T BEEN SEDUCED BY A FILM OR TV PROGRAM? Consider one that completely engaged you–and with binge watching original programming content today, how can anyone one of us deny the fact that arts and entertainment professionals (screenwriters, directors, actors, cinematographers, producers, showrunners, etc.) are often masters of storytelling. Therefore, it makes perfect, logical sense for us to listen to what they have to say to help us become much better at it.

Column Inspiration:

 

THE BUSINESS OF STORYTELLING. Now that those of us who provide strategy for and produce content are being challenged to inform, educate, persuade, inspire and entertain our audience (potential clients/customers and current ones) through storytelling, there is pressure to get up to speed FAST!

Storytelling must be respected and evaluated as a valued component of growth hacking and ROI.

STORYTELLING MUST BE RESPECTED AND EVALUATED AS A VALUED COMPONENT OF GROWTH HACKING AND ROI. This is similar to filmmakers and original programming writers, studios, and streaming services who carefully craft what they create to recompense their investors and producers (they are first to get paid from the revenues).

 

Column Inspiration:

 

THE AUDIENCE OR USER AS THE STORYTELLER. What if you’re just not feeling secure as a storyteller, or simply don’t have the time, budget or interest to do-it-yourself? If you’ve been paying close attention, you know that practically every person on this planet is telling stories in a variety of formats and sharing them on the Internet via social media, or there are professional membership online groups like Stage32.

Column Inspiration:

 

ARE YOU A CURATOR OR DEVELOPMENT EXECUTIVE? People are often extremely eager to share their existing content (in which case you act as a curator of nonprofessional content from the general public), or you can collaborate with professionals who will want to  contribute original content (for which you act more as a development executive) to expand their industry resume and portfolio. Either way, the storytelling solutions are available–and some of the best resources come from those in the storytelling industry itself.

MAY YOU DISCOVER MORE CREATIVE ideas and storytelling support now (and in the future) by exploring the Creativity & Storytelling ‘Zine.

Valerie

“Things are only impossible until they’re not.”
“Make it so.”
~ Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation

************

Valerie Mich’El Oliver explores the art and architecture of creativity and storytelling in imaginative, innovative, playful and award-winning ways. Tisch School of the Arts (New York University) and The Mystery School (Sacred Center for the Healing Arts) graduate. | Imagine, innovate, create, be generous, love this life, and dare to shine.

Best Storytelling Has Empathy & Intimacy (It’s Important to Engage)

/ The Pursuit Studio / 1 Comment
 

I HAD THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CREATING VISUAL CONTENT (PUBLICATIONS, PACKAGING, AND SAFER SEX ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS) to help save the lives of men, women, and children at-risk for HIV/AIDS during the four years that I worked at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Inc. in New York City, the oldest HIV/AIDS prevention, education and treatment organization in the United States.

ONE OF THE MOST CHALLENGING PROJECTS FOR ME WAS ART-DIRECTING A PHOTO SHOOT that required consulting and collaborating with sex industry workers to create packaging for a video: Prostitutes, Risk and AIDS.

One Image Worth So Many Individual Stories

Photo Source: GMHC

I WAS AN OUTSIDER FULL OF IGNORANCE ABOUT THE VARIETY OF SEX WORKER LIFESTYLES, who feared what I didn’t understand, and was reluctant therefore to empathize because my judgmental sensibility interfered with using my senses (i.e., of or relating to the senses)—connecting through the senses–to set the right scene, mood, and tone to tell the story. It was challenging for me to connect to the textual and sound context: the feel of a lacy bra as the sound of the crispness of the dollar bills were being tucked into it, while the other hand holds a limp used latex condom–human visceral reality engaged in a multi-sensory relationship foreign to me.

I HAD TO RELY ON THE WOMEN TO COME UP WITH THAT PERFECT IDEA TO CAPTURE THE STORY in one realistic image, in a sensory fashion, so that the various target audience segments (e.g., adult streetwalkers, high-class agency-based or independent workers, children on-the-street hustling, pornography film actors, etc.) would instantly recognize the safer sex message in a way that would attract, engage and
persuade them to view the video inside the packaging. The video content encouraged them to use condoms to protect themselves and their customers. The stakes were high: lives needed to be saved.

DURING THE PHOTO SHOOT, I LEARNED A GREAT DEAL FROM THE SEX WORKERS ABOUT THE POWER OF VISUAL CONTENT. Today, I’m much more open to empathy as a valuable–and potential vital–path to tell a story that serves a goal, vision, intent, or specific outcome.

See Me, Feel Me, Hear Me, Touch Me, Taste Me (or Two Specific Ideas Featuring the Senses As the Main Attraction In Storytelling)

HERE ARE TWO ORIGINAL IDEAS for inspiration that use the sensory factor in creative storytelling:

TEXT, AUDIO, OR VIDEO CONTENT THAT FEATURES SOMEONE DEEPLY INHALING THE SCENT OF PLAY-DOH (or any piece of clay) can be useful as content (Read Creator’s Corner: Here Comes Play-Doh!). This particular sense memory can lead us into an intimate relationship with a story–most likely something related to our childhood.

To put a different twist on it to engage in a different story relationship, consider a person snorting the scent of Play-Doh like it’s cocaine. Different scenarios of the interaction will create entirely different relationships and feelings–comical or serious–depending upon the story direction and desired outcome.

 
(Photo Source: Flickr’s Valerie)
Column Inspiration:
 

SELLING JEWELRY? IMAGINE A STORY ABOUT A WOMAN FROM THE STONE AGE WHO FINDS SOMETHING WITH A VIBRANT SPARKLE ON THE GROUND.  She picks it up, smells it, listens for sound, throws it on the ground, picks it up again and bangs it against a rock; licks it, tries to bite it, rubs it against her skin–engages her senses in trying to understand this spectacular, unusual object. She is spellbound by how it glistens! We know it as a diamond bracelet. Next scene is a grandmother opening up a box of her keepsakes, selecting that bracelet among her precious belongings, and giving it as a gift to her daughter.

 
(Photo Source: Unknown)
Column Inspiration:



LET’S CREATE UNIVERSAL STORIES–OR NICHE ONES–ABOUT HOW WE ARE INTIMATELY BOUND TO SOMETHING, someone, some experience, and ourselves through our sensual relationships. Or perhaps, our story is about disconnection, and offers solutions to connect in ways we haven’t experienced in a long time if ever.

MAY YOU DISCOVER MORE CREATIVE ideas and storytelling support now (and in the future) by exploring the Creativity & Storytelling ‘Zine.

Valerie

“Things are only impossible until they’re not.”
“Make it so.”
~ Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation

************

Valerie Mich’El Oliver explores the art and architecture of creativity and storytelling in imaginative, innovative, playful and award-winning ways. Tisch School of the Arts (New York University) and The Mystery School (Sacred Center for the Healing Arts) graduate. | Imagine, innovate, create, be generous, love this life, and dare to shine.

The Joy Is in the Story Journey (or Mission Impossible)

/ The Pursuit Studio
 
 

ONE OF MY FAVORITE TELEVISION SERIES OF ALL TIME IS Mission Impossible that is also a successful film franchise starring Tom Cruise. If you’re unfamiliar with it, basically, it revolves around a team of special covert agents who are given an extremely dangerous mission to accomplish within a tight time frame.

WHAT REALLY KEPT ME ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT WASN’T the mission getting accomplished or the end (though I was happy to get the payoff): it was everything that occurred prior to actually accomplishing it.  In effect, the joy for me was in the journey–that was the story! Or as David Byrne of Talking Heads sings in the song, Once In A Lifetime: Well, how did I get here?

 

 

David Byrnes of Talking Heads

 

WELL, HOW DID I GET HERE?

 
THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE TEAM WERE MASTERS OF CREATIVITY serving a practical purpose; who were constantly aware, alert, mindful, paying intensive attention, and had to be extremely close to perfect timing, synchronicity in order to make the impossible possible. How about you and I? Aren’t we all in the same or similar story in one way or another?

Things are only impossible until they are not. –Jean Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation

ARE WE OPEN-MINDED ENOUGH TO EXPERIMENT WITH NEW ways to create art,
content, ideas, marketing strategy, content strategy through mindfulness, intuitive knowing, spiritual synchronicity, or some channel we can’t fully comprehend or explain as part of our story?

I WAS HIRED TO DESIGN THE ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, and was researching legal images, symbols, colors, sounds, words; and had two rough compositions based upon them to share at my first meeting. In the course of that week, I had been noticing windows over and over again. They kept drawing my attention. Why?  


 

John Steinbeck & His Children

THE NEXT TIME I SAT DOWN TO WORK, I DREW WINDOWS AND EXPLORED HOW WE USE THEM and what they represent. They allow those of us on the outside to look at what is occurring on the inside. Eyes have been described as windows to the soul. There’s an intimacy associated with looking in on the activity of others. Windows are related to opportunities.

SO, I CREATED ONE MORE COMPOSITION WITH WINDOWS FLOATING AROUND a central window in which a man is having an intimate conversation with a young boy. The floating windows were colorful (like Microsoft Windows), and the central window was framed with legal columns. I decided to trust what was being visually communicated to me.

Spirituality means stepping back and clearing that channel you believe in. –Gabby Bernstein

I PRESENTED THE THREE COMPOSITIONS TO THE DECISION-MAKERS (THREE OF THEM), who immediately chose the one with the windows while exclaiming how well it fit the message content of and intention for that year’s report: it focused on all the pro bono work they do (immigrants, domestic violence, child abuse, etc.), and they needed to attract lawyers to participate in their pro bono program (offering them opportunities to be of service). We had not conversed before the meeting about the theme of the annual report. It truly caused me to pause and begin opening up to more of these experiences.

WOW, WHAT STORIES WE HAVE TO TELL WHEN OUR EXPERIMENTS LEAD TO SUCCESS (the happy ending). No success? Sure there is in that we have opened ourselves up to more possibilities that may lead to more opportunities for something extraordinary to occur through that channel in which you may come to believe and experience the impossible as possible.

1) Content Inspiration: 3 Unthinkable Behaviors Behind Content Marketing

2) Content Inspiration: Creativity As Devotion

3) Content Inspiration: John Steinbeck on Writing, The Crucible of Creativity, and The Mobilizing Power of the Impossible

MAY YOU DISCOVER MORE CREATIVE ideas and storytelling support now (and in the future).

What
if we consider the possibility that a primary way we can experience the
revelation of God’s mystery is through the process of our own creative
expression?” – See more at:
http://candler.emory.edu/news/blog/2016/05/creativity-as-devotion.html#sthash.EItCwnzQ.dpuf

 

What
if we consider the possibility that a primary way we can experience the
revelation of God’s mystery is through the process of our own creative
expression?” – See more at:
http://candler.emory.edu/news/blog/2016/05/creativity-as-devotion.html#sthash.EItCwnzQ.dpuf

 

What
if we consider the possibility that a primary way we can experience the
revelation of God’s mystery is through the process of our own creative
expression?” – See more at:
http://candler.emory.edu/news/blog/2016/05/creativity-as-devotion.html#sthash.EItCwnzQ.dpuf

 

What
if we consider the possibility that a primary way we can experience the
revelation of God’s mystery is through the process of our own creative
expression?” – See more at:
http://candler.emory.edu/news/blog/2016/05/creativity-as-devotion.html#sthash.EItCwnzQ.dpuf

 

What
if we consider the possibility that a primary way we can experience the
revelation of God’s mystery is through the process of our own creative
expression?” – See more at:
http://candler.emory.edu/news/blog/2016/05/creativity-as-devotion.html#sthash.EItCwnzQ.dpuf

Valerie

“Things are only impossible until they’re not.”
“Make it so.”
~ Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation

************

Valerie Mich’El Oliver explores the art and architecture of creativity and storytelling in imaginative, innovative, playful and award-winning ways. Tisch School of the Arts (New York University) and The Mystery School (Sacred Center for the Healing Arts) graduate. | Imagine, innovate, create, be generous, love this life, and dare to shine.

Get Up to Speed On Quality Do-It-Yourself Storytelling (On a Low Budget)

/ The Pursuit Studio

Valerie Michele Oliver (The Healing Artist Studio Project) explores the art and architecture of creativity and storytelling in imaginative, innovative, playful and award-winning ways. Tisch School of the Arts (New York University) and The Mystery School (Sacred Center for the Healing Arts) graduate. | Imagine, innovate, create and love this life.

AS A VISUAL COMMUNICATIONS FACULTY MEMBER, I had the pleasure and privilege to help motivate senior undergraduate students and gain content for their portfolios by giving them concrete business experience through attracting, arranging, and art directing business-education partnerships with arts entrepreneurs, solopreneurs (filmmakers, musicians) and other business entities who had either no or low budgets to create and market their projects, products or services in tangible ways.

I CREATED AND SENT OUT BUSINESS-EDUCATION PROPOSALS TO POTENTIAL CLIENTS. The classes and I met with respondents either in person or via teleconference, worked out a contract, and then began the client’s project as an in-class design competition with an agreed upon reward for the winning design (e.g., attendance at the film premiere, letter of recommendation, appropriate credit, etc.). All of this in service to helping an individual or business to attract and reach somebody (or many bodies) to respond in some way, shape or form.

(Source)
Column Inspiration:

IN OUR WORLD IN WHICH CONTENT IS QUEEN/KING AND WE MUST USE VITAL CREATIVITY AND STORYTELLING mojo and provide it in ways that engage, inspire and energize our fellow humans, what can we do to achieve quality in a timely, expeditious fashion? How can we get it done on a no to low budget if lacking the necessary financial resources to hire experts or take courses? What are some reliable solutions?

TAG YOU’RE IT! AND DAMN, YOU’RE GOOD. 

AS GLENDA SAYS TO DOROTHY IN THE WIZARD OF OZ, “YOU ALWAYS HAD THE POWER TO GO HOME.” You can do it yourself. You can do it with a small group of family, friends, co-workers, employees, who want to have a creative and unique experience by telling a story. Remember that we are living in the age of sharing our personal perspectives, visions, images, opinions in raw (unpolished) forms with others who are ready and willing to read, listen, view, engage, and often respond in harmony with our intention.

(Source)
Column Inspiration:

BE AUTHENTIC, EXPERIMENT, KEEP IT SHORT, AND HAVE FUN. You or your posse only need to make it happen. Tell your individual or collective stories, and start with what’s happening in your world in ways in which others can identify, relate, be educated, or react (Read Creator’s Corner column titled Best Story Content Grounded In Our Past & Current Life). If you decide there’s something missing and it’s not quite ready for prime time, you can use your creation as concept material to pass along to someone who can realize it for you.

Column Inspiration:

     

Wait, what. from Photon Harvest on Vimeo.

“Leaning In”

(Writing Prompt)

USE WRITING PROMPTS AND GIVE YOURSELF 15-MINUTES TO CREATE THE STORY. This will work for anything that is on your work plate. Mainly because you won’t be using your analytical, “I-have-to-be-in-control-and-do-this-perfectly” left-brain that can sabotage your intuitive, creative flow channel. Besides, you’ve already done that part with whatever you have before you that requires the creativity solution.

YOU CAN CHOOSE A WRITING PROMPT THAT DIRECTLY RELATES TO YOUR PRODUCT OR SERVICE, or use words that have nothing to do with it at all and see what magic (meaning something wonderful appearing that wasn’t there before) transpires. You can create a few prompts for the same project or service as well. If you’re happy with the result(s): great! If not, pass what you have along as concepts to someone else to produce the final product. (For inspiration, read Leaning In and Back Up the Truck.)

Don’t make it a full story. Make it a taste of a story leaving the audience wanting more. — Shant Hamassian

GIVE SENIOR TALENTED STUDENTS FROM YOUR ALMA MATER (OR ANOTHER UNIVERSITY) THE OPPORTUNITY TO HELP YOU SUCCEED AND VICE VERSA. Reach out to the appropriate department chair–creative writing, filmmaking, digital media, visual communications, music, art–and let them know that you would like to work with a faculty member to collaborate on a business-education project. If you prefer, you can request that the chair recommend a talented student for an independent study on your project for which she/he will get a review and college credits (in addition to any other rewards you want to offer). It’s a win-win relationship.

THESE ARE A FEW SUGGESTED IDEAS TO GET YOU ON YOUR WAY. I hope you find value in this column (and the new focus of the ‘Zine from spirituality TO storytelling in response to your interests), and will visit the Creativity & Storytelling ‘Zine for much more content I’ve curated to help you succeed in your new (or continuing role) as a creator and storyteller for your product, project, business or service.

Creator’s Corner is a regular column in the ‘Zine. Subscribe to receive the full issue of each publication direct by email at the magazine.

1) Content Inspiration: What are the Keys to Writing a Good Short Film Script?

2) Content Inspiration: Struggling with Your Content Marketing? Create Because You Care

3) Content Inspiration: How to Shoot a Short in One-Hour

MAY YOU DISCOVER MORE CREATIVE ideas and storytelling support now (and in the future) by exploring the Creativity & Storytelling ‘Zine, and previous Creator’s Corner columns: How To Work (And Play) Well With “The Others” To Succeed; Best Visual Content = Storytelling Solutions via A&E Professionals, Lies & Storytelling: Strange Bedfellows in Shades of Gray; Best Storytelling Has Sensory Empathy (or It’s Important to Engage the Senses), Get Up To Speed On Quality Do-It-Yourself Storytelling: On a Low Budget, Best Storytelling is Copied, Stolen Content? (or The Lighter Shade of Led Zeppellin), The Joy is in the Story Journey (or Mission Impossible), Best Story Content Grounded In Our Past & Current Life; Conflict Has Creative Value, Learn How To Use It; Card Decks & the Mystic or Visionary Persona, Here Comes Play-Doh, and Sacred Geometry–Visual Storytelling Content: One Of Top Four Creative Trends 2016.

Dare to shine, be generous, and love this life.

Valerie

 

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CREATOR’S CORNER is dedicated to sharing ideas that come to mind after reading and selecting articles for The Creativity & Storytelling ‘Zine (as the editor/curator) that may be useful in a professional or personal capacity. Interest in creativity and storytelling as content for usage in arts & entertainment, media communications, marketing and advertising, and as lifestyle choices for businesses, projects and services (groups that have a way of life that may or may not be included in their brand identity), can be relevant to anyone anywhere in the world covering a variety of professions.

Best Storytelling is Copied, Stolen Content? (or The Lighter Shade of Led Zeppellin)

/ The Pursuit Studio

DURING MY STUDIES WITH AN AMAZING HEALING ARTIST, ENTREPRENEUR AND AUTHOR (Eleanora Amendolora of Sacred Center for the Healing Arts)–who has spent many years among the Andean Quechua Indian people in Peru who are descendants of the ancient Incans–I discovered their practical and spiritual relationship to AYNI (or reciprocity, exchange) in their culture.

THEY HAVE A DEEP ENDURING BELIEF IN AND VALUE THEIR CREATOR AS A MODEL OF GENEROSITY who cares for them. They offer and practice Ayni (reciprocity, exchange) as a form of gratitude and respect for the creative and abundant ways in which their Patchamama (Great Mother) provides and meets their living needs. They view Ayni as the basis for a peaceful and sustainable society. It is divine living, an intrinsic value component of their society. There is no take, take, take without giving back. It’s unheard of. (Discover more about Ayni.)

Image Credit: EveryVowel.com
Column Inspiration:

ANYI IN THE MIDST OF OUR CREATIVE RELATIONSHIPS 

AS A TEENAGER IN HIGH SCHOOL IN MRS. JONES’ ENGLISH CLASS where I learned and discovered my love for English Composition and Writing, I remember being excited by all the articles and books I read to prepare for reports on a variety of subjects. There were many times that I wanted to lift some of what was written to include in my reports, but would quickly shake it off hearing her voice saying: You must not plagiarize. The work of others is copyrighted. You must not copy and write anyone’s word’s as your own. If you do, it is stealing. If you steal, you will get an F. Still, I was tempted and had to fight my demon, driven more by fear than good conduct.

We’ll look back at how the Internet allowed us to swipe
from anywhere and any era.
~ Jon Youshaei

SOME YEARS LATER AS A EDITOR, GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND ART DIRECTOR, I ALWAYS KEPT A FOLDER OF TYPOGRAPHY AND PHOTOS cut out from magazines to inspire creative ideas for projects, always vigilant to get permission from the source if I wanted to use something that belonged to someone else, being certain to provide the credit due as per their instructions.

IN OUR CREATIVE GLOBAL LIFESTYLE CULTURE TODAY, WE ARE STILL REQUIRED TO HONOR COPYRIGHTED WORKS (in many situations) by securing the approval of the creators and adhering to their requirements for usage. We may use works for free that are in the public domain that meet certain time limit criteria or are of an unknown origin. We have resources like Creative Commons licenses in which the creators give us a variety of permission options to expand upon and provide use of their works by us.

Image Credit:
Chris Walter/WireImage/Getty Images

ALSO, WE HAVE A FORM OF AYNI–DIVINE LIVING IN PRACTICE TODAY BY BEYONCE, a top music industry professional. Her creative process includes taking and using existing content from others (dance, visual) and using it in her music videos. There is a new perspective in play now that doesn’t view her actions as rip-off copy and paste behavior, but rather as copy with respect and taste (though everyone isn’t in agreement just yet about it). So far it’s working well for her with no lawsuits (unlike the band, Led Zeppelin, who had a lawsuit brought against them for the blockbuster song “Stairway To Heaven” by the band, Spirit–though the ruling was in Zeppelin’s favor).

Image Credit: Getty Images
Column Inspiration:

BECOME A DIVINE LIVING OUTSIDER CREATIVE STORYTELLER

LET’S CONSIDER TAKING A PAGE FROM BEYONCE WHO IS OPEN AND HONEST ABOUT WHAT SHE TAKES FROM OTHERS, who focuses on doing whatever she can to include those from whom she takes in her projects (whether it’s one person or many), and represents one who is a divine living outsider creative storyteller.

WHAT STEPS DO WE TAKE OTHER THAN AYNI-DIVINE LIVING TO BECOME this new creative force to employ in our businesses, organizations, and projects?

  • BREAKOUT FROM TRADITIONAL APPROACHES AND MODELS DESPITE POTENTIAL FLACK that you might receive from doubters or critics who aren’t as courageous, and/or fear conflict or change. Demonstrate or develop your leadership qualities by becoming an outsider or rebel to stand out from the pack as an entrepreneur, solopreneur, mompreneur, life coach, spiritual coach, author, musician, screenwriter, singer-songwriter, content curator, content marketer, content strategist, marketing strategist, digital strategist, or whatever your role (Read Van Gogh Bnb: the secret of successful campaign and Creator’s Corner column titled Conflict Has Creative Value, Learn How To Use It).
AirBnB VanGogh Campaign
Image: via YouTube
Column Inspiration:
 
  • REACHOUT (WHILE YOU’RE BREAKING OUT) TO STORYTELLERS  WHO ARE COMFORTABLE WITH CREATING SURREAL CONTENT (or research and develop your own content). Immerse yourself in The Twilight Zone of life to get your readers, viewers, clients, customers, fans, followers, friends, listeners engaged in experiencing your content through close encounters of sight, sound–and when practical–touch and aromas, to take them beyond the ordinary emotional, mental, physical and spiritual experiences to the extraordinary. (Read Creator’s Corner column titled Sacred Geometry–Visual Storytelling Content: One Of Top Four Creative Trends 2016)

WE ARE INDIVIDUALS OF THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE WHO LIVE IN A SHARED WORLD that reflects our values (or not); support innovation, imagination, and collaboration (or not); and some of us will chose to become divine living surreality outsider creative storytellers (or not). Whatever our choice, it’s clear to me through all of the written and visual content I’ve been consuming and digesting, that we will either be behind the times, or be in step with the directions creativity and storytelling are already heading with or without us. 

1) Content Inspiration: What Beyonce & Shakespeare Have In Common: A Key To Creativity

2) Content Inspiration: 2016 Creative In Focus, Our Visual Trend Report (Getty Images)

3) Content Inspiration: 12 Designy Toys To Spark Your Creativity

MAY YOU DISCOVER MORE CREATIVE ideas and spiritual support now (and in the future) by exploring the Creativity & Storytelling Magazine, and previous Creator’s Corner columns: Creator’s Corner: How To Work (And Play) Well With “The Others” To Succeed; Best Visual Content = Storytelling Solutions via A&E Professionals, Lies & Storytelling: Strange Bedfellows in Shades of Gray; Best Storytelling Has Sensory Empathy (or It’s Important to Engage the Senses), Get Up To Speed On Quality Do-It-Yourself Storytelling: On a Low Budget, Best Storytelling is Copied, Stolen Content? (or The Lighter Shade of Led Zeppellin), The Joy is in the Story Journey (or Mission Impossible), Best Story Content Grounded In Our Past & Current Life; Conflict Has Creative Value, Learn How To Use It; Card Decks & the Mystic or Visionary Persona, Here Comes Play-Doh, and Sacred Geometry–Visual Storytelling Content: One Of Top Four Creative Trends 2016.

Dare to shine, be generous, and love this life.

Valerie

 

 

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CREATOR’S CORNER is dedicated to sharing ideas that come to mind after reading and selecting articles for The Creativity & Spirituality Magazine (as the editor) that may be useful in a professional or personal capacity. Interest in creativity and spirituality as content for usage in arts & entertainment, media communications, marketing and advertising, and as lifestyle choices for businesses, projects and services (groups that have a way of life that may or may not be included in their brand identity), can be relevant to anyone anywhere in the world covering a variety of professions.

Valerie Michele Oliver (The Healing Artist Studio Project) explores the art and architecture of creativity and storytelling in imaginative, innovative, playful and award-winning ways. Tisch School of the Arts (New York University) and The Mystery School (Sacred Center for the Healing Arts) graduate. | Imagine, innovate, create and love this life.