Can you do something creative every day? And keep it up for a month?
That’s the question the Penticton and District Community Arts Council is asking with their Creativity Challenge, which kicks off today.
“It can be anything from cooking to knitting to baking to painting or carpentry,” said Justine Sawicz, who is co-ordinating the contest for the arts council. “Whatever you think is creative; it’s completely your own interpretation.”
Sawicz was hired as a youth intern by the council, with the mandate of setting up a series of free courses to educate the public on the uses of the Internet and social media, including Facebook, which the challenge relies on.
“I am doing the creativity challenge because I thought that if I did something fun, people are more likely to use Facebook and it can get them using it in a fun way,” she said. “And it goes with the arts council, because that’s what we do, we promote creativity and the arts in our community.”
The rules of the challenge are straightforward. First, you need to add “Penticton Arts Council” as a friend on Facebook then create an album titled “Creativity Challenge.”
“And for the whole month of February, from Feb. 1 to 28, people create,” said Sawicz. “Every day, you post a picture of what you did. And we would love it for people to share with us by posting on our wall what they did.”
And if terms like “Facebook” and “wall” make you nervous, Sawicz has something to help out would-be challenge participants.
“They do need a Facebook account and if they are not sure how to do that I am putting on free workshops,” she said.
Sawicz will be participating herself, but she isn’t ready to tie herself down to a single project.
“I do something creative every day, so I think it is going to be sort of in the moment as we go along,” she said. “I have a friend who expresses herself through her clothes. So every day, she is going to do a different outfit.”
The Creativity Challenge is purely for fun, inspiration and learning to share your creativity. There are no prizes or judges waiting at the end of February.
“This is our first time running it, so if it goes well this year, we are hoping that next year, we can attach prizes to it and somehow judge people’s creativity challenges,” said Sawicz. “We are going to see how big it is and how successful it is.”
For more information on the challenge, contact Sawicz at 250-492-7997, check out the event poster at http://t.co/4lOCTxSS or go to “Penticton Arts Council” on Facebook.