The “CUES”
(explore Curiosities, the Unique & Eclectic)

Some examples:

• Songwriting Showdown: Got an instrument but not a band?  Lyrics without a melody?  Here’s your chance to rock out on songwriting with your own band of musicians and backup singers.

• Behind the Scenes: What’s it like to be in a Writers Room creating the next episode of “Stranger Things”? If you’re into fiction, you’re a hairpin curve away from where the action is in scriptwriting.

• Impossible Bedfellows: Take deep dives into surprising connections, such as Hip Hop & Rural America; April & Cruelty; Manga & Myth.

• Road Trip to Anywhere: Create your own literary road trip and live to tell about it your way.

• Your Generation’s Motto: “YOLO”? “FOMO”? Or…? What’s your rallying cry? The legacy you want?

• “This is my life. Who’s in charge?” Sound out the dangers and delights of AI and the many technologies that treat you as an algorithm and what they mean for the kind of creative you want to be. 

The CONTEMPLATIVES
(restorative practices for creatives)

Your daily craft workshop gives you a lot to think about.  You’re there in an “all in” way – with something for everyone at stake. It’s the exhilaration of exhaustive effort. Coming away from that requires decompression, “you-time” in which you can downshift, relax, and reflect. It’s a part of every artist’s practice: a time to discover what works for you to recenter.  Replace doom scrolling with “flow.”  Contemplatives may include these activities or some combination of them, either in community or in solitude:

• Mindfulness Meditation 

• Flow Yoga

• Nature walks

• Journal writing

• Tea ceremonies

• T’ai Chi basics

• Contemplative Inquiry