The Creativity Workshop

Using the Tools of Creative Writing, Memoir, Art, Photography, Storytelling and Mindfulness


The Creativity Workshop in New York

The Creativity Workshop in New York

April 26-29
June 6-9
July 26-29
10 AM to 1 PM each day

The Creativity Workshop in New York City will help you become more creative in your personal and professional life. We use many techniques in creative writing, memoir, art, photography, storytelling, mapmaking, mindfulness and guided visualization to help you explore your inner creativity.

Register

West Village Subway Station

What Will You Learn?

The Creativity Workshop is an experiential course of doing and experimenting. Our exercises and instructors’ talks focus on helping you learn practical techniques to stimulate your imagination and innovative thinking.

  • Explore the process of creativity, rather than simply focusing on the product.
  • Discover how to find inspiration in the world around you.
  • Get over creative blocks and the fear of failure.
  • Work with many different mediums to develop your creativity in your chosen field.
  • Use your memories to trigger your imagination.
  • Engage your curiosity every day and make it work for you.
  • Establish a 15 minute a day creativity practice to accomplish your goals after the Workshop ends.
New York Workshop Participants

Why New York City?

Famous for its museums, cultural life, shopping, and restaurants, New York City is a great place to recharge your batteries and find inspiration.

  • Whether you want to visit art galleries, go to a dance performance, see a Broadway show, browse through one-of-a-kind shops, explore different neighborhoods, or simply people-watch and soak in the city’s unique energy, New York has something for everyone.
  • While the techniques we explore in our workshops will sharpen your appreciation of New York, the sounds and sights of this exhilarating city will also fuel your creativity in class.
Manhattan Skyline from our Studio

Daily Schedule

Some exercises are done individually while others are collaborative. Classes will take place between 10 AM and 1 PM each day and the rest of the time is for you to explore the city. Here is a day by day schedule:

Day 1:

Introduction to the hows and whys of The Creativity Workshop.

Relaxation: Relaxation techniques to help your imagination flow.

Guided Visualization: Calling forth the vocabulary of your imagination using the myth of the hero’s journey as a framework.

Automatic Drawing: Finding our hidden imagery.

Show and Tell: Retrieving and sharing childhood memories to spark new ideas. This exercise will sharpen your storytelling skills.

Instructors’ talk: How some famous writers, scientists, and artists found their inspiration, and how you can use some of their methods to find yours.

Day 2:

Relaxation.

Mapmaking: Mapmaking as a way to find, chart, and communicate your creative process and projects.

Automatic Writing: How automatic writing (also known as “free writing”) can help you create in new and surprising ways. How you can use automatic writing to outrun your inner judge, get over creative blocks, and discover new ways of developing and editing written work. How alternating between writing and drawing can help you develop creative flexibility and mental dexterity.

The Interview: Listening to and experiencing a life outside your own. How listening is as important as doing in creative work.

Writing in Cafes: an exercise that will continue to take place over the next 2 days.

Instructors’ talks may include:

  • How to do ongoing creative work in short modules of time.
  • How to use luck and coincidence to jump-start creative projects.

Day 3:

Letter Writing: Letter writing as a way to express voice, character, and audience.

Miniature Worlds: Storytelling with found objects.

Writing in Groups: How writing and/or drawing with others can stimulate your imagination and expand your point of view.

Instructors’ talks may include:

  • The importance of play in creative work.
  • Valuing creative process over product.

Day 4:

The Myth of the Other: Imagining yourself living a parallel life. What would you do that you aren’t doing now?

The Sand Mandala: Making an Illuminated Manuscript.

Final Group Exercise.

Instructors’ talks may include:

  • The Gift of the Amateur.
  • Creativity is a Muscle: Use it or Lose it.
  • Making your home and work environments inspiring.
  • How to stay creative after The Creativity Workshop ends.
Workshop Participants at the Met Museum

Location

The April workshop will take place at The Creativity Workshop Studio on Roosevelt Island. The June and July workshops will take place alternatively at The Creativity Workshop Studio on Roosevelt Island or at our location in Midtown Manhattan, pending construction work. We will announce the final location soon.

Dates

April 26-29
June 6-9
July 26-29
Classes will take place between 10 AM and 1 PM each day and the rest of the time is for you to explore the city.

Registration

Tuition: $1,095

$150 at time of registration and the balance 60 days before the workshop begins.
Class size is very limited. Reserve your space well in advance.

Register

Dave Schettler
Principal, Blumenort School, Alberta, Canada
"The Creativity Workshop - New York City - was the most enjoyable session that I have attended in my twenty-five plus years in education. This ...
Ashton Applewhite
Author of "This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism", New York, NY
“Happy to report that I am working hard and productively, and I do credit The Creativity Workshop with helping me turn a corner, so infinite thanks ...
Melita Schaum
Author, Professor, Berkeley, CA
“The Creativity Workshop in Florence was a unique and wonderful experience, both individually and in the community spirit it created. Through its or...