September 24, 2024
Dear DePauw students, faculty, staff, alumni, family and friends,
Few things are more essential to the human experience than the impulse to create. From the earliest stages of our development, we naturally express ourselves through creative interaction with the world around us: scribbling with crayons, building with blocks or making noises with anything we can find within our reach. This instinct comes to us before formal instruction. It is simply an extension of who we are as humans. We are fascinated by originality and imagination.
My own early experiences with creativity were no different. As a child, I got lost in books, happily carried away by the characters on the page and the worlds in which they lived. I longed to see those stories brought to life, so I did what came naturally to me at that age: I wrote plays based on the books I had read and recruited my classmates to become actors. This was not a formal assignment given by a teacher; it was simply what my own creative impulse inspired me to do.
For some, that creative impulse stays with them into adulthood, evolving into a life-long calling, a passion to which they devote their time and energy. These individuals invest long hours into studying their craft and practicing their technique. They paint, sing, write, direct, act, sculpt, dance, design. These are the artists and innovators among us, the creative professionals who shape the fabric of our culture. While not all such artists will receive public accolades, the collective impact they have on our society is monumental. Their work has the ability to arrest our attention, confront our complacency, stimulate our curiosity and change the way we experience the world.
While some make creativity their life’s work, many of us stop exploring in this way and gradually lose touch with the creative essence that once came so naturally to us. Life gets busy, stress accumulates, and we feel a pull toward activities of more “pragmatic” value. At best, our creative interests linger as hobbies we enjoy on the rare occasions when we have time for them. Yet a prevailing assumption of many within our fast-paced and demanding society is that creativity as a lifestyle is reserved for the professional artists whose skills far exceed our own.
Although it is natural for us to marvel at such professionals, perhaps we should also be asking what we can learn from them. How can their commitment to creativity serve as an inspiration for our own? We may not have the same knowledge, skill or opportunity to write songs that move the world or create scenes that bring audiences to tears, yet can we still reconnect with our creative roots and discover a path toward more generative lives?
Despite my childhood forays into the craft, I did not turn out to be a playwright – although I still enjoy writing poems and song lyrics. Yet this does not mean that my life and work cannot be enriched by a relationship with the same creative spark that animated me in my youth. No matter who we are or what we do, the world needs our creative contributions and innovative ideas. Attorneys, accountants, analysts, anthropologists and even administrators – all of us can unlock new possibilities in our lives when we tend to the creative spark deep within.
As DePauw University prepares to launch the Creative School and take a bold step forward in prioritizing creativity as a central component of the entire liberal arts experience, we are proud to establish a space where tomorrow’s creative professionals can hone their skills and prepare to lead in a world that needs to hear their voices. But we are also proud that it will be a space where all students, regardless of major or career goals, can find creative connection in the work they do. Facing a future full of opportunities and challenges we cannot even imagine today, it is our responsibility to give each of our students the tools to seize those opportunities and meet those challenges with originality, expertise and imagination.
My hope for our entire DePauw community at this time is that we would renew our commitment to the fundamental impulse we all share and remember that creativity is for everyone. It is not restricted to those who are fluent with a paintbrush, a pen or a piano. It is for anyone who approaches life with an open mind to the many wonders of the world and outstretched arms to be drawn in to those who help create it.
