The theme of Shikshantar’s on-going interactive corner at Bal Vividha was ‘Reclaiming Our Creativity From the Ready-Made World’. We had seven areas for people to explore this theme, which as a whole sought to deepen our understanding of how our creativity is being usurped in the ready-made world, why we need to reclaim our creativity, and where we can begin to see, elaborate and build spaces for creativity in our everyday lives.
Our poster exhibition included a wall of cartoons and quotes, which aimed to inspire contemplation around the following questions:
What is creativity?
Why do we need creativity in our lives?
What motivates us to create?
What environments/values/attitudes/roles support creativity?
What environments/values/attitudes/roles kill creativity?
We invited visitors to look at and read the posters, ask questions and relate these themes to their own lives. We also had a survey in Marathi, which asked similar questions. Through the survey and the exhibit, we hoped to challenge visitors to: a) think more deeply about how schooling, ‘expert-ism’, competition, the media and the market economy stifle, degrade, devalue and ultimately crush creativity and diversity in the world and in their own lives/families; and b) reflect on what hidden opportunities for creativity and diversity exist around them. Startlingly, nearly 25% of the people who responded to the survey claimed that they are only creative sometimes or that they do not know if they are creative. Some related creativity to being obedient. Others stated that in order to be creative one must invent new things and have a good amount of general knowledge and intelligence. Through the various activities, we hoped to inspire people to look at these concepts very different perspectives and to see and explore their creativities in new ways.
"The most beautiful things in the creations of the child are his mistakes. The more a child's work is full of individual mistakes the more wonderful it is. And the more the teacher removes them from the child's work the duller, more desolate and impersonal it becomes."
- Frank Cizek
In school today, ‘art’ has become something bereft of true creativity; art classes/courses have become structured, systematic efforts in copying. By holding ‘realism’ as the standard of art and harshly judging children against that standard, art classes have discouraged children from creating out of joy and personal desire, and from expressing themselves freely. Even the word ‘artist’ has become veiled in expertise. Further, the media and market sell ready-made products that block/eliminate self-exploration and creation, while simultaneously devaluing personal skills and crafts. Thus, children become incapable of trying new things, using their imaginations and trusting themselves.
We invited children to create their own unique elephant, which had some elements of their identity in it. This activity first challenged children to break away from their conditioned schooled mentality concerning their sense of aesthetics and their capacities. It also challenged them to contemplate their own uniqueness (how were they to represent themselves through their elephant?). Parents were encouraged to draw their own elephants, rather then stand hoovering over their child, as such over-control and pressure are serious creativity killers. We explained that if parents wished to nurture their children's creativities, they would also need to open up and make themselves vulnerable to their own creativities. We further emphasized reflection on the other creativity killers in their lives: evaluations, which force children to worry about how others will judge what they are doing; rewards and prizes, which deprive children of the intrinsic pleasure of creating; and, competition, which creates desperate win-lose situations where only one person can ‘succeed’ and all others fail.
The elephant challenge led to a self-generating art show, where children (and parents) posted their unique elephants on every possible empty space within the booth. Nearly 400 elephants were created and displayed over the course of the festival. Many children and parents took one step towards overcoming their fear of drawing and challenging their debilitating labels of "I’m not an artist."
The rubber stamp-making project was adjunct to the elephant challenge and to the display of art from waste/recycled materials (below). As with the elephant challenge, we encouraged visitors to create something unique. To make a their own unique rubber stamp that shared or expressed their personal ideas, passions or their identity using waste materials: old bicycle tire tubes and wood scraps (both of which were donated to us freely from bicycle repairmen and carpenters, first in Udaipur and then also in Mumbai).
On one table, we displayed art projects that utilized materials that are usually considered ‘waste’. These included objects made from coconut shells, plastic water bottles, fabric scraps, wood scraps, jute bags, clay cups, broken computer disks, paper scraps, flour paste and bicycle tire tubes. The objective was not to give examples of how-to projects, but to illustrate that there are endless opportunities and possibilities for creative expression in our everyday lives. We also sought to challenge the assumption that we always need to buy toys/gifts; rather, there are many things (vases, musical instruments, notebooks, dolls, toys, etc.) that we can make with our own hands. Lastly, this display encouraged visitors to revalue the ‘local’: the artisans and crafts people they live among, as well as their own families, for the valuable learning sources they are and the excellent ‘resources’ they have. Many people asked to buy the craft materials which were exhibited. We told them they were not for sale and we encouraged them to try making these in their own homes.
5. Creativity-Activating Games
The non-competitive games we played at the festival illustrated many of the ‘creativity activators’ we were emphasizing throughout the stall, including: humor, cooperation, sense of responsibility, trust, openness to make mistakes, imaginativeness, perseverance, patience, self-confidence and willingness to take risks. Children of all ages, youth and parents played a variety of such games together, which starkly contrasted competitive games like cricket, khabbadi, pukhadni, etc. that they commonly play. Over the course of the 4 days, we also worked with other groups, like the Children's Toy Foundation, to convert their competitive games into collaborative games.
6. Story-Telling Circle
On the last day, we had two story-telling sessions, using a modified version of Rabindranath Tagore’s story, The Parrot’s Training. We chose this story because it operates on both literal and metaphorical levels. It questions assumptions surrounding the purpose of schooling and its effects on children and in society. The intimate atmosphere created by a story-telling circle, as opposed to using a platform and microphone, encouraged the children to listen actively: to ask questions, share reactions, reflect together and be a part of a creative process.
This table featured various examples of Shikshantar’s applied research, as well as several of SIDH’s publications. Shikshantar’s publications and works include the Learning Society series, the Vimukt Shiksha bulletin (the Hindi and English versions of our issue on "Rediscovering Our Creativity"), Yuva Halchal, Mewari language stories, the Resisting the Culture of Schooling series, and a globalization poster book for youth.
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Overall, we really enjoyed participating in the event. It proved to be a very inspiring and fun learning experience for all of us. Participant response to our booth and workshops was very positive, and many people commented on the importance of having these interactive, creative, non-commercialized spaces at the festival. We also met people from all walks of life and learned about many interesting efforts happening in different parts of Maharashtra.
General Suggestions and Feedback:
Consistency, Not Contradictions: We were confused about how many of the participating NGOs fit within the theme of the event - Rediscovering Creativity. We are aware that Cartoon Network is one group that was widely criticized. As you know, the negative impact of television and cartoons on children’s learning, their feelings, understandings and creativity, have been well researched and documented, and so we felt this was a direct contradiction to the message and themes of Bal Vividha. The presence of Cartoon Network — their random question and prizes — also appeared to warp how parents and children approached us and others in the fair. For example, when asked to engage in the stamp-making and elephant challenges, children and parents often replied with, "Do they get a prize if they participate?" and "Is this a competition?"
However, our feedback here is deeper than this. In general, we found that many of the other booths provided little opportunity for real interaction on a creative level. Some booths which had art projects either mechanically told children how-to make something (paper hats, paper birds, etc.), or simply made the project and presented it to the child. Similarly, we found that many of the science-based projects offered little space for personal inquiry, or reflection. When asked what they had learned or why, the children had no response, and often tried to explain that it helped them become better, moral people. It was disappointing that children were not encouraged to think deeply about what they were doing and why. In addition, many organizations were only selling toys or books, with no real interest in interacting on a deep level about the content or meaning of their products, nor any direct connection to the theme of creativity. We encourage you to think more about the conceptual background of Bal Vividha and how the booths, workshop offerings and overall set-up/aesthetics can be made more consistent with it. We think this will ensure a more meaningful experience for all of us -- visitors and stallwalas alike.
One way to explore this further would be to have a meeting of stallwalas before the event, even as a preliminary workshop. This way people and organizations can share their ideas, beliefs and visions concerning the festival theme ('Rediscovering Creativity’ in this case). With more communication and sharing between stallwalas, the festival would have even greater possibilities for inspiring parents and children and shaking up people in the education system.
Clarification of Your Roles: It would have been useful for us to have had a brief introduction/ orientation when we arrived, to know explicitly who on your team was in charge of what particular parts of the fair. This would make your jobs easier, too! We felt we were often asking one person questions or clarifications, which would have to then be relayed to someone else – a nuisance for you and confusing for us.
The Idea of Bal Vividha in Other Places: The idea for a festival of creativity is one that should span all communities. Bal Vividha does not, however, have to be a huge event to be successful, and could be strengthened by more community conceptualization and participation. If the spirit and process of Bal Vividha, rather than the event itself, can be developed and evolved by people with interest and personal involvement in a city or community, the possibilities of creating unique, positive experiences grow.
Partnerships: We approached our total involvement in Bal Vividha as a partnership with Comet Media Foundation. We devoted much energy before the festival to conceptualize and share our input for the event, then again in the actualization of the event. Our team really felt that we were there to do whatever we could to make sure everything ran smoothly, to make sure Bal Vividha as a whole worked well. Therefore, we were disappointed that corporate sponsorship (partnerships based on monetary support) was highlighted to the extent that they were. It made us wonder what kinds of partnerships you valued in this process and what our roles/value were in the Bal Vividha. The presence of corporate banners outside the tent (where we often played games) also led to the confusion of many festival visitors who asked related, contentious questions, such as "What are you advertising?" and "Do you work for these companies?" The souvenir booklet was also filled with too much advertising. We understand there will be some advertising, but this should be minimized and presented in more discrete ways.
In the future we would like to participate and contribute in whatever ways we can, but with more clarity on the above questions of partnership and conceptualization.