THE THREE QUESTIONS THAT ROCKED OUR CREATIVE MIXER

Last night, Sandhya Nankani, Cecilia Andre and I hosted a Creative Mixer for Artists and Entrepreneurs. Fifteen women came from Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Connecticut, and Westchester.

We met in Cecilia's painting studio in Manhattan and started out with a half hour of mingling and snacking. We then convened and did a go around of introductions: What do you do (doesn't have to be paid work)? What brought you here tonight?

We had folks jot down answers to these three questions (from Carol Lloyd's book Creating a Life Worth Living: a practical course in career design for artists, innovators, and others aspiring to a creative life):

1. What creative project, idea, or dream do you keep coming back to? It doesn't have to be a career or for-profit project).

2. What is at the heart of this project or dream? What makes you want to do it?

3. What images come to mind when you think of this project/idea/dream?

We broke into three small groups and made sure that each person had time to share her answers to these questions. The rest of the women in each group got to ask the person in the spotlight open-ended questions that would help her clarify her vision.

We ended the evening by re-convening as a large group and each woman said something she had learned or was taking away with her from the gathering.

People seemed to delighted to have an opportunity to connect with other creative women and to have a space to put focus on their dreams.