Collaboration and the creative process
Hey. I'm back from vacay. It was great.
I swam, I saw art, I screamed my ass off on Rye Playland's log flume (here's proof). Could I use more vacation? Always. But glad to be digging into some work for my upcoming exhibit at Texas State University.
I'm collaborating on this show with artist, Ana Trevino, and I've been thinking a lot about collaboration.
I don't collaborate that often. I'm a painter, so if I want to make something I just kinda do it. But for many people I work with, collaboration is a major piece of their process. If you're a dancer, director, actor, or filmmaker you are almost ALWAYS collaborating with a team of people on your art.
So, how does the creative process work when others are involved?
On my recent podcast, I shared some thoughts on this. I talked about what makes a great creative partnership. I also offered a way to think about collaboration using the process I teach in my coaching work.
Need help remembering that process? Well, here it is in 5 stages:
Clear - Preparing
Play - Experimenting
Fuel - Informing
Generate - Producing with constraints
Reflect - Reviewing with curiosity
When you're working with a team of people you might find that not everyone is involved in every stage of the process.
Perhaps some people are heavily involved in the play stage, while others are involved in the generate and reflection stages (etc, etc).
Consider a band writing a song: maybe 1-2 band members write some lyrics (play) then other band members come in with some accompaniment (fuel), and then together they pull together a song (generate) and eventually an album. I'm seeing Paul McCartney and John Lennon here...
So if you work in a collaborative way, think about this:
What part of the creative process do you want to be most involved in?
What about your collaborators?
Does everyone have to do it all?
Finding ways each collaborator can move in and out of the process (without disrupting the flow) can make for a great collaborative relationship.
What do you think makes a great collaborative relationship? Let me know.