'Can Creativity Be Taught?

I recently had a conversation with a fellow artist who was convinced 'creativity can't be taught'. He felt creativity is an innate ability which someone exhibits naturally and reckons no amount of education can make someone creative. After our conversation, I started to think and ask myself this question, 'Can creativity be taught? Or is it an innate ability?'

Before I could explore this question further, I had to reflect on my own creative journey to ascertain what creativity means to me. Looking back, I realised I had some natural skills that I knew how to use intuitively without being taught. Yet, there were other skills I had to learn in a taught environment which helped me improve creatively on the long-term.

A good example of this, is learning how to gain new inspiration from one's surroundings, which is a great tool to have when experiencing creative blocks. There are many more creative skills that can be taught to help foster innovative thinking, that can in turn, lead to pioneering inventions. Therefore, I strongly believe creativity can be taught.

It is also important to note, that creativity is not in any way limited to the Arts. It's a process that can be applied to any works of life, as innovative ideas are  prerequisites for any organisation looking to grow. Even society at large, can reap immense benefits from creativity as it's a great problem solving tool.

Whilst researching this topic, I came across the You Tube video below by Sir Ken Robinson entitled 'Can creativity be taught?' and was glad to find I wasn't the only one who thinks creativity can and should be taught. It's a very insightful video and I hope you find it useful. Let's keep creating and keep teaching creativity so we can add value to ourselves and others!

---