Creativity is Universal

     On Thursday, February 9th, Avila University hosted a Creative Symposium where students could come and learn about the creativity of others as well as learn about the creativity they have within themselves. The moderator was Steven Fischer, who has been nominated twice before for Emmys for writing and producing. The panel was comprised of 6 local Avila artists, all speaking on their lives as they became the artists they are today. The purpose was the give advice to the students in the audience, which ranged from theater majors to Avila athletes.

     There were two portions to the Creative Symposium, which lasted from 10am to 5 pm, with a short lunch break in between. The first half to the symposium included the panel answering questions posed to them by the moderator as well as answering questions from students in the audience. One student asked, “How do you allow your creativity to flow while also dealing with deadlines?” Amy Mendenhall, an Editorial/Art Director at Hallmark, responded quickly, “You can’t do it all… and sometimes you just have to tell the perfectionist in you to shut up.” Many people have probably felt the same was as Amy has, especially college students who frequently have to deal with deadlines in their classes, regardless of what their major.

     The second half of the Creative Symposium included students actually working together on these long stretches of paper to create artwork that had a little piece of everyone. It’s fascinating to see that so many different types of students were drawn to the symposium. Creativity is universal, and each student, no matter what their major or preferences, creates art. A football player creates art on the field. A student majoring in English creates art in their papers and stories. As panelist Stanley E. Banks said, it’s all about “putting pain and passion on paper”, or whatever your medium is.

Avila University students getting to know some of the panelists.