The mental health crisis has become impossible to ignore. Nearly 1 in 8 people—close to a billion worldwide—are living with mental health disorders, and the pandemic only made things worse, with anxiety and depression rising by over 25%.

In this context, many cultural workers and creatives have expressed a sense of isolation, struggling without the support of nourishing communities.

In a way, much of the mental health crisis afflicting the world is directly proportional to our disconnection from each other.  In other words, a culture of alienation deeply affects our collective well-being. So, how can we turn this around? How do we move from isolation to meaningful connection? 

This critical issue was at the heart of a powerful live conversation that took place during the Creativity Revival Unconference in Milan this past October. Three incredible Creativity Pioneers came together to explore how to move from distress to collective healing—and how to cultivate resilience and vitality in our chaotic world.

In this episode, we hear from Rachel Nelken, who leads Raw Material Music & Media in Brixton, UK, a community-focused center empowering young people and adults through music and the arts. We’re also joined by Izabela Smela, President of Associazione “é” in Turin, Italy, an organization dedicated to fostering well-being, awareness, and growth through art and education. And finally, Léa Luiz de Oliveira, Creative Director of Spit it Out, shares how she uses creativity to spark conversations around mental health, consent, and healing. The wonderful psychotherapist and Moleskine Foundation advisor Ronke Oluwandare moderated all.

Welcome to the Creativity Pioneers podcast. I’m Adama Sanneh, CEO of the Moleskine Foundation.

Let’s dive in.

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From climate change to social justice to racial equity and gender identity, Creativity and Culture are playing a critical role in solving the main issues affecting the planet. But creativity practitioners worldwide are isolated, undervalued, and overlooked as changemakers.  

How can creative brands convene a new discourse on creativity's role in galvanizing Social Change? How can they inspire, amplify, support, and develop the vision to create a better future for the new generations? 
 

Welcome to Creativity Pioneers, a podcast by Moleskine Foundation).  

Today's episode was recorded during the last Milano Design Week in a panel discussion in partnership with Highsnobiety and Moleskine. 

With: 

• Daniela Riccardi, CEO of Moleskine 
• Herbert Hofmann, VP Creative & Buying at Highsnobiety 
• Lidi Grimaldi, CEO of Interbrand 
• Marta Foresti, Founder and CEO of LAGO and Visiting Senior Fellow ODI 

Creating spaces where imagination and criticality can happen is crucial. And this talk aims to be one of those spaces. 

 

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Creatives thrive in cities, and cities move, change, and grow with the creative minds they host. Urban landscapes are shaped by creative practices rooted in local communities, which can lead to transformative urban agendas with increasing attention to sustainability and inclusion. This happens because of people, collaboration, and experimentation, at the individual and institutional levels, often across borders.  

Welcome to Creativity Pioneers, a podcast by Moleskine Foundation. Today’s episode was recorded during the last Milano Design Week in a panel discussion on how creative minds and talents contribute to social and economic changes in global cities, focusing on emerging markets and economies. And why this is seriously worth investing in. 
With:

• Gabriella Gómez-Mont, former CMO of Mexico City and Founder of Experimentalista 
• Marta Foresti, Founder and CEO of LAGO and Visiting Senior Fellow ODI 
• Linda Di Pietro, Artistic Director of BASE 
• Marcus Desando, Director of the Prince Claus Fund
• Emilia Terragni, Associate Publisher at Phaidon Press

The event was in partnership with ODI, Lago, and BASE. 

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"Art is not a hobby, or a luxury. Rather, it is a necessity, it gives purpose, and saves life." Skinder Hundal, Director of the Arts of the British Council, unravels decades of learning through his outstanding career in artistic institutions in this episode of Creativity Pioneers. Discover how Skinder frames creativity as a tool for collaboration in communities, and how experiencing life through the arts allows one to innovate and form new ideas. Keywords: Collaborative, Courage, Consciousness @SkinsBC on Twitter, @skinderhundal on Instagram

"An institution should be an echo, a magnifier for the relationship between art and viewer. Curating is a collective project." Elvira Dyangani Ose, Director of the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona and the first Black woman to take on the position, is aiming to change the European cultural landscape through curating projects for the people. In her new journey as the head of one of Spain’s most important museums, she still believes in putting the beauty of art first. Keywords: Historymaking, Togetherness, Relation @edyanganiose on Twitter and Instagram Website: www.macba.cat

“There is this ongoing need to identify and challenge where power rests.” says Eliza Anyangwe, editor for the CNN “As Equals” project and Founder of The Nzinga Effect. After years of experience in the journalism world, Eliza takes on her role as a modern storyteller to challenge ideas of power hierarchies and how to make a place in the world for yourself, and for others. Keywords: Curiosity, Love, Language @ElizaTalks on Twitter, Website: https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/asequals/

“How can we contribute as an Afro-global Art institution to a regenerative art ecosystem? How can we not be extractive of collection, capital, people, how do we navigate the paradigm of ownership, how can we create a more equitable and regenerative ecosystem?” asks Ngaire Blankenberg, director of the Smithsonian Museum of African Art. Through her vision of the complexities of identity, she reflects on her position in one of the biggest cultural institutions in the world for African Art to create an accessible and durable Art ecosystem for the generations to come. KEYWORDS: Institutional - Global Africa - Regeneration Website: https://www.si.edu/about/bios/ngaire-blankenberg

Episode recorded during our Creativity Pioneers Instagram Live Conversation.
"Let's use the answer of creativity and curiosity to stay alive. I’m still alive because I'm curious. I think that's the only thing. I think that's the only answer because I'm creating something different – said artist Joël Andrianomearisoa - It's like reading a book. We have the book of our life and we have to create a different rhythm on this book”.

Joël Andrianomearisoa talks about the power of emotions and the plurality of curiosity to nurture his creativity, moving reflections from his sources of inspiration to his role as an artist in society, and much more.

@studiojoelandrianomearisoa on Twitter 

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Episode recorded during our Creativity Pioneers Instagram Live Conversation.
“Creativity can give us some therapeutic and balsamic power; we can express our creativity and share with the others and be inspired by others, like a chain. And I am happy to belong to this universe of art and always researching, always being curious about things - said Rossy De Palma, polyhedric artist, actress and muse - This social change with this creativity weapon is me.”

Get inspired by Rossy De Palma’s talk about the healing and contagious power of art, the importance of self-care and love to enter a spectacular creative process, and the artist's role vision in our society.
@RossyDPalma on Twitter and Instagram 

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Episode recorded during our Creativity Pioneers Instagram Live Conversation.
"Creativity is a kind of transcendent energy, very connected with positive thinking. And it's a powerful element that allows us to make positive, great things - said Carlo Stanga, architect, award-winning illustrator, cities traveller and observer - We have to give creativity the right direction, the positive direction to a change that is in the best way: the main aim of creativity is to change the world, even small changes, but altogether, these changes are making great change."

Enjoy Carlo Stanga’s provocative talk about the urgent needs of new perspectives on ourselves and the world around us, based on self-awareness and knowledge: only investing more time and energy into observation, deepening things and elaborating, we can access new sources of inspiration enabling our creative process.
@carlo_stanga on Instagram

Website: https://www.carlostanga.com/

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Episode recorded during our Creativity Pioneers Instagram Live Conversation.
"I define myself as a designer… It's not necessarily only a problem to solve, but really figuring out frameworks and rules for myself, which some artists do as well, especially in procedural art - said Giorgia Lupi explaining the relation between her big data design and the creative artistic process. 

This episode moves from Giorgia Lupi's creative concept in her authorial role for our Collection notebook to reflections about the connections between data design, creativity, and social impact.

"It's really important for everybody to become a bit more data literate in a way… Really always trying to re-connect numbers to what they stand for - which are our life - it might lead to more impact, more social changes and really even just more aware of how we should use this, apparently cold, material called data."
@giorgialupi on Instagram and Twitter

Website: http://giorgialupi.com/

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"If we had to choose one single skill to teach our kids and the future generations, that would be creativity, that innate talent that we all have as human beings…” said Valentino Barrioseta, NGO Bridges for Music Founder and CEO. “You can keep you learning throughout your whole life, and if you master this skills, creativity, curiosity and empathy, I really, really believe there's nothing that can stop you from evolving as the world evolves”. Find out Valentino vision of music as a powerful catalyser for attract and engage youth, a tool to shape a new educational model developing new self-awareness and sense of community, a creative expression to generate social impact actions. KEYWORDS: Creativity – Empathy – Curiosity @vbarrioseta on Twitter - @valentinobarrioseta on Instagram Website: http://www.bridgesformusic.org

"Building institutions that are transformative and change the world is like building cathedrals: it requires a unique mindset to believe in something so big that you willing to commit to putting the foundation together, knowing that you may not live long enough to see it" said Veda Sunassee, African Leadership University's Executive Director. His path to leadership is ingrained in a constant self-reflection process that becomes the basis of an incredible and ambitious vision, building innovative institutions that will change the way we conceive education, and develop three million ethical and entrepreneurial leaders for Africa and the world by 2030. KEYWORDS: Kitchen – Stage - Cathedral @vedasunassee on Twitter Website: https://www.alueducation.com

"It's about creating spaces of thought, spaces of reflection, spaces of deliberation, spaces in which we can disagree, in which you can dismantle things, in which you can build things, spaces in which we can commune, in which we can just look at each other, listen to each other and acknowledge each other's presence" said Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, independent curator, author, and biotechnologist, founder and artistic director – among many cultural institutions - of SAVVY Contemporary, an independent project space in Berlin that situates itself on the threshold between concepts of the West and non-West, to understand and deconstruct them. Enjoy his provocative journey through the contemporary art system, dismantling the art curator's traditional aura and moving towards a sense of communion and exchange with the people he worked with, with a strong vision of directing like an orchestra conductor. KEYWORDS: Communion - De-canonization – Creative process Website: https://savvy-contemporary.com/

"You can do many things with what is available to us, and there are a lot of things that are available to us. We have to find a way to exercise our power and create what we want to create, and not just have a small group of people decide what our stories are going to look like" - said Adepero Oduye, producer, actress, director, and writer – "There's something I want to tell them this way, in my way, in our way, and I'm going to find a way to do it." Everything is possible is her mantra, being creative her power: she is sharing with us - with kindness, vulnerability, and humbleness - her vision and reflection about her life and the role of creativity and art in both her personal growth and society. KEYWORDS: Remember - Baba - Joy @adeperoOduye on Twitter Website: https://www.adeperooduye.com/

What is beyond the common notion of creativity and how can it serve us? How can creativity benefit our journey? How can it contribute solving important social issues like education, inequalities or racial injustice? On Season 1 of our Creativity Pioneers podcast, we engaged in conversation with unique creative minds and doers who are at the forefront of radical change - artists, activists, social entrepreneurs - each one of them with the common objective of changing and improving their communities through creativity. We believe their experiences and stories will equip you with new perspectives and unconventional ideas that can amplify your imagination and inspire your mission. Share your thoughts and comments with us on Facebook and Instagram @MoleskineFoundation and learn more on www.moleskinefoundation.org/podcast

"I am alone in a box of stone. When all is said and done. As the wind blows to the east from the west. Unto this bed, my tears have their solemn rest… It wasn’t easy getting used to this I used to scream. It’s not true, that it’s only when the door is locked that nobody enters". This episode has been inspired by the lyrics of the song "Cornerstone" by Benjamin Sainte-Clémentine, English artist, poet, vocalist, composer - who invented his own dramatic and avant-guard musical dimention - here in conversation with Simon Njami, writer, art critic and, above all, our AtWork Educational Program advisor. KEYWORDS: Door – Cornerstone – Aftermath. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Clementine

“Caring can be considered in the practical sense of hands-on ‘caring for’, then in the emotional and ethical sense of ‘caring about’, and in the context of the dialogic strategy adopted in my creative work: ‘caring with’…” said Elena Cologni, interdisciplinary artist - drawing, performative and dialogic sculpture - Senior Research Fellow at the Cambridge School of Art, Humanities and Social Sciences at Anglia Ruskin University Distance Learning. KEYWORDS: Care – Dialogic – Place. https://elenacologni.com

“How can we prevent disorientation in terms of getting lost? We need to be super resilient and ready for the next crisis, and it would be possible only by adopting new behaviour and mindset” said Roberto Casati, Senior Researcher with CNRS, professor at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and Director of Institut Jean Nicod in Paris, working at the boundary of philosophy and cognitive sciences. KEYWORDS: Institutional Creativity – Disorientation – Super Resilience. http://www.shadowes.org/

In times of deep crisis, we often look at South Africa as a model for resilience, considering how much of it the country proved to have through its history. “What happened in South Africa is that we are constantly dealing with a vanishing present, and we use history to eradicate that haziness, but history cannot survive without memory. One of the advantages of today is that we have social media which can hold people’s memories and archives” says Lwando Xaso, one of South Africa’s leading constitutional lawyers, writer and human rights activist. KEYWORDS: Memory – Sanitization – Transition. Her last book is: “Made in South Africa: A Black Woman’s Stories of Rage, Resistance and Progress”, 2020.