Category: creativity

creative, creative process, creativity, music

Inspired: Rise up – Rick Hall, Muscle Shoals, and the music that saved them

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

Yesterday I watched the documentary Muscle Shoals. It recounts the story of Rick Hall, founder of FAME Studios and legendary music producer. My brother in law’s mom, Trish, whose mother grew up with Rick, explained that he came from the lowest level of poverty this country knows in a small nondescript town deep in Alabama. From there, he grew, a little bitter and insanely determined. And he chose music because it saved him.

I’ll be thinking and writing a lot more about him in the days ahead. He may just be my new hero when it comes to living your dream out loud and never giving up on yourself and your talents even when it feels like the whole world has. Watch the documentary. If he can make a go of his improbable dream, we all can, too. He is someone who sings after storms.

adventure, choices, creativity

Inspired: A life of many leaps

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

Leaping is never a matter of one and done. Every day, we take chances. We lay our cards down the table and say, “This is who I am. This is what I care about. And this is why it matters.” Leaping is like breathing: we must keep leaping to attain the full benefit of each small step. It’s only when we combine them that we learn just how far we can go.

creativity

Inspired: Celebrate independence

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

Live out loud. Laugh often. Relish freedom. Make some fireworks. Happy 4th!

creativity, encouragement, learning

Inspired: DFTBA – John and Hank Green’s mantra that we should all adopt

Christa Avampato
Crash Course
Crash Course

John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars, also runs a web series called Crash Course with his brother, Hank. In a series of 10-15 minute YouTube videos, John teaches humanities and Hank teaches science. My brother-in-law, Kyle, introduced Crash Course to me and I’m addicted. While I’m completely in love with the content and hosts, I’m even crazier about the tagline at the end of each one: “Don’t forget to be awesome” or #DFTBA for those in the know. Write it down and post it up all over your home. This is a mantra we all need to adopt and recite.

career, creativity, work

Inspired: Where to find progress

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

I tried for a long time to keep my steady paycheck while also progressing on my writing and other creative projects.  With a plan B always at the ready, I could only get so far. To really progress, I needed to let go of the comfy ledge I was teetering on for a long time. The path to progress was straight through the eye of discomfort, and though it wasn’t easy I’m glad I didn’t flinch.

child, childhood, children, creativity, dreams

Inspired: Keep your childish things

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius.” ~ Rebecca Pepper Sinkler

Keep your board games, puzzles, fairytales, and toys. Hang onto your intense curiosity, magical sense of wonder, and big dreams, especially those that you created when you felt that anything and everything was possible. The surest ways to success and happiness lie along those roads. Guard them like the precious gifts that they are.

choices, creativity, decision-making, journey

Inspired: We have to take our journey

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

“We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.” ~ Marcel Proust

Many people serve as teachers, mentors, and advisors throughout our lives. We are inspired by the journeys of others. We follow opportunities as we discover them and if we don’t find the opportunities we want, we make them. In the end, the journey is ours to take. Others can support us and encourage us along the way, though we have to follow the path on our own two feet. Ultimately the choices are yours. You are the only one who can live your life. Choose wisely, and from your own heart.

creativity, happiness

Inspired: My happy list

Christa Avampato
From Pinterest
From Pinterest

I’ve been thinking a lot about the next phase of my career as I wind down my consulting work. To help me figure out which step to take next, I started creating a list by asking myself the question, “What makes me happy?” I didn’t censor nor edit myself in any way, a rare state of mind for me. Here are the first answers I found. Crank up Pharrell!:

1.) Working with others, especially creative and funny artists like the people who worked on Sing After Storms
2.) Phineas
3.) My cutie nieces
4.) Baking bread
5.) Walking through Home Goods and fantasizing about decorating my next apartment
6.) Shopping at Whole Foods, especially in the produce section
7.) Seeing old friends greet each other on the street
8.) Stretching and walking
9.) A good story in any form
10.) Seeing someone live their passion and rise to their potential
11.) Autumn

What makes you happy?

 

art, creative process, creativity, theatre

Inspired: Putting it together – the process of creating from the kitchen to the stage

Christa Avampato
The theater
The theater

There is a lot of prep work that goes into any creative endeavor. In theater, there are the acts of writing, casting, and rehearsal. In the kitchen, there are the steps of deciding what to prepare, gathering all of the ingredients, and measuring each component. Then the magic happens—we put it all together and see what we’ve got. That’s where we are with Sing After Storms as we began our final week of rehearsals yesterday. We’re all working our tails off, holding hands, and taking the leap. Together.

While the stakes of every project are different, the emotional process is the same. We lavish so much love and attention on each small piece and then we have to jump off the cliff and see what we’ve got. It can be equal parts nerve-wracking and exhilarating. For me, every creative act is always both. It keeps me on my toes while my heart flutters. I just keep breathing, and working, and somehow that’s always enough. We have to trust, ourselves, our collaborators, and the spirit that moves us to ever create anything. In the end, that trust, our hands, eyes, ears, and heart, are all all we’ve got. And they’re more than enough. Always.

 

 

creativity

Inspired: Cabrini Repertory Theater – Where Sing After Storms Will Open in 10 Days

Christa Avampato
Our first home
Our first home

Yesterday we went to Washington Heights to see Cabrini Repertory Theater, the space that will house the first production of Sing After Storms. It’s a bit surreal to think that a year ago, not a word of this script had been committed to paper and now we are talking about details like the prop table, lighting plot, and transition music. We open in 10 days, June 18th at 8:45pm and then have 2 more performances on Saturday, June 21st at 9:00pm, and Sunday, June 22nd at 9:30pm. Tickets are $10 in advance at this link, $20 cash at the door. It was a thrill just to be in the space. I can’t even imagine how it will feel to see the show fill the eyes, ears, and hopefully hearts, of the audience.