The Little Booklet of Wisdom of The Doers and The Curious

Before we all went zoom, zoom, zoom there was a beautiful creative collaboration on our High Street called The Doers and the Curious of Dudley

In real life: The zine-ish Little Booklet of Wisdom of the Doers and The Curious

The Doers and the Curious is a many splendid thing …

•part portrait photography creative collaboration led by artist Laura Dicken (@laura_dicken) and members of the CoLab Dudley Collective;
•part celebration and representation of passionate doers using creative practice IN and FOR Dudley;
•part provocation to us all to think about how and why we might use and inspire creativity and curiosity in our day to day lives and places;
•and finally — but delayed due to lockdown — part beautiful cultural experience on Dudley High Street.

Of course the Covid-19 crisis and physical distancing means sadly the exhibition is on hold. But as many of you have observed as the pandemic has reshaped our world there is now a new urgency and potency to the role of creativity in our lives. So to this end we wanted to keep convening on our Virtual High Street these beautiful conversations and celebration of creatives using their practice IN and FOR Dudley.

You can learn more about and get involved in these Creative Conversations here.

We also have another virtual way for you to draw on the lessons of this beautiful project. Before the crisis the little booklet in the image above was a zine-ish compilation of the wisdom shared by the collaborators in this work about the potent nature of curiosity and creativity in our lives. Given our new remote context we wanted to share their reflections online in order to reach you all in your living rooms and kitchen tables in the hope that it brings a little inspiration, solidarity and joy.

In these pages the Doers & Curious have generously shared their insights into the urgent and transformative role of creativity and curiosity in our lives. This wisdom relates to our individual and collective wellbeing and happiness, to the friendships and collaborations we are yet to build, to the alternative futures we need to imagine, and to the very fabric of the places we care deeply about.

So here are the reflections from the Doers & the Curious on the alchemy that is creativity, curiosity, people, collectives and places. Their words, their wisdom, generously shared. Enjoy.

p.s.

I wonder what will you take away from these words? What ideas feel most relevant to your life right now? What emotions and experiences resonate most deeply? What might we weave into our own ways of thinking and doing as together we respond to the crisis and what comes afterwards?

Jo and the CoLab Dudley team