Does creativity lead to a better world? Bruno Poirier thinks so.
‘The ice is melting. We know. People are dying. We know. The financial system is unsustainable. We know.’ This endless daily stream of fear-inducing headlines would have us believe that humanity has reached all-time crisis. Creativity activist, filmmaker, and founder of LIFT-UP, Bruno Poirier, believes otherwise. In this CultureRISE Talk, Bruno offers his refreshingly optimistic take on the future and sheds light on what drives him to unleash the forces of creativity in the people and organisations he works with — all to create a better world.
CR: You are a self-described Creativity Activist. What does this mean?
BP: Everything I do in my filmmaking and creativity consulting is about unleashing what I see as a huge pent-up creative ability found in millions of people. This energy has been stifled over the years by a number of factors. My work is about triggering more fulfilment and fun – whether it’s through someone’s work in a company or as an individual. I’m an idealistic kind of guy; so ultimately, this is about changing the world. Some might see that as wishful, but I believe if you can free the forces of creativity amongst millions of individuals and help them live life and work differently it can have a huge impact.
CR: What it the biggest blocker you see in people to unleashing their creative energy?
BP: Fear is a major factor. When I ask people in my creativity workshops to list the obstacles to creative thinking, they tell me: ‘My boss doesn’t give me time/resources’; ‘I’m under pressure’; ‘I have to deliver more and more in less time.’ They give external factors. Then I ask them about the attitudes that would help them unleash their creativity and they say: curiosity, positive thinking, and optimism. We very quickly come to a duality: on the one side, you have the external obstacles, which are really a fear of suffering and death. On the other side, you have a search for enlightenment. That’s the battle going on inside us. This brings a creative tension; except, for most people the strategy is pain avoidance as opposed to active searching for joy. Once people become aware of these forces we can work on them. First they need to be aware of the fear.
CR: What techniques do you use to help people connect with their creative energy?
BP: First you need to deconstruct the mantle: the dominant left-side brain. I do this through intuitive drawing exercises. I get them to draw lines in a simple shape for six minutes; a sort of artistic mantra. The purpose is to reawaken the forces of imagination: it’s physical, colourful, and messy – it gets people back to kindergarten time. One of my former workshop participants explained it really well. At first he was upset about the exercise. He was thinking: ‘What are we doing? Why are we doing this? I want to control. I am the one in charge.’ Then after a while, he said to himself: ‘Oh well, what the heck, I have to do this.’ That let him go about what he was doing without judgement. He stopped thinking and just went with the flow until he got to: ‘Wow, this is fun.’ You need to feel the shift from left to right – from control and managing things to letting go and being in free flow. It has to be physical. You can explain a concept and everyone nods in agreement, but they have to feel something and experience the change in their body.
CR: Once people are aware of the fear, how can they move beyond external obstacles to embrace and live their purpose?
BP: It’s the difference between being a victim or creator of your own life. If you think that life is what it is and you’re at the short end of the stick then it’s difficult. You need a mind-set shift – to see yourself as a creator and actor in this thing called Your Life. It’s about taking charge; not being a passive recipient to forces beyond your control. Everything is a choice. Even if you make a bad choice along the way – with whatever knowledge you had at the time – you can be at peace and accept this as the path you chose. It’s about taking responsibility. That’s the first level of consciousness: becoming aware and believing you can do something about it.
“What’s going to make us move as a species? Beauty, love and a vision of what we can become.”
CR: What comes after you consciously decide to make a change?
BP: Find something you love. When I began doing work in creative thinking for organisations it was kind of a rebellious act because I had quit the corporate life. I first went into international marketing when I was 18. At the time it was a conscious choice, although a limited one – I needed to choose a path. But it was a struggle for many years: I felt like a fraud, playing the game and lying to myself. Then, when I was 30, my wife passed away. It was a life crisis and I became more acutely aware of who I was through that experience: a part of me is spiritual, a part is artistic, a part is business, and another part is a teacher. My creative consultancy blends all of these aspects – it is an expression of who I am. Whatever you end up deciding to do, you first need to know who you are. Take a look back at your early years and ask yourself what you loved to do and what inspired you.
CR: How do you find the balance between these different aspects of yourself?
BP: In West African culture there is a social role called griot. The griot is a poet and teacher. He transmits knowledge of ancestors to the next generation. He is the wise man of the village. He’s an artist, through poetry or music; he’s a teacher, because he transmits this knowledge from one generation to the next; and he’s also a politician. All of these roles are embedded into one person in that culture. When I heard about this, I thought, I’m not crazy! It’s just that in the West we compartmentalise roles. You’re either an artist or a business guy or a teacher or a politician. My quest became blending these different parts of who I am into something I could do in my work – a sort of white Canadian griot.
CR: You went from a successful career in international marketing to starting a creative consultancy and filmmaking, which brings together these different parts of yourself. How did you make the transition?
BP: I began making films totally off-the-cuff, with no training. I got a camera and started shooting. After a few of those I went to the next level. Then I took baby steps to move up the ladder of sophistication. My dream was to make a feature-length film but the jump was too high at the beginning. It was like I was crawling and then immediately wanted to win a 100m race in the Olympics. For many years I did nothing because it was just too big. That’s where the Creative Lifestyles portraits came in. I had made a film here and a film there. I wanted to do films that I could easily produce within a few months: something accessible, deliverable, and which could be done. Then the plan grew to produce six such films. After three years I had completed six films under the umbrella concept of Creative Lifestyles — and when I put them together I had 42 minutes. I had made a medium feature, which means I’m almost there. It really is a step-by-step process.
CR: In the Creative Lifestyles portraits you show the multi-faceted nature of six individuals on unique creative paths. What was your goal with this project?
BP: We’re all multi-dimensional beings. My films, in a humble way, show people in all of what we can be. It was a deliberate choice to focus on the beauty of these individuals rather than their pain and suffering. Instead I wanted to shed some light on them, figuratively and literally, so these people become examples. Not unattainable geniuses or exceptionally lucky and talented individuals, but ordinary people that reflect all of us. Everyone is made out of these multi-dimensional light beams. While darkness exists in all of us, I choose not to go there. 99.5% of what we look at focuses on the dark side of things.
“The world has always changed through war and revolution. Maybe we can learn to change, not because we run away from something or fight against something, but because we want to do things differently.”
CR: This year you revealed your Creative Lifestyles series at a public screening. How was this important to the creative process?
BP: The show was really important because you’ve got to unveil the work. If you keep it somewhere on your hard drive or desktop then you have not accomplished anything. Part of the creative process is the difficulty of unveiling yourself and feeling vulnerable – of putting your true self into a piece of work. You have to show it. If your work is true and authentic, it’s an expression of your deep love and the most vulnerable part of who we are. It’s meant to be visible. The visibility is part of the learning. It’s also there because your work is meant to inspire others and bring light to the world – it’s an act of generosity. Martin Luther King may have had a great plan for social transformation but if he kept it in his drawer and didn’t go out and beat the pavement, then he wouldn’t have accomplished what he did.
CR: And what did you accomplish with the screening of Creative Lifestyles?
BP: One thing was a friend of mine with a teenage daughter who didn’t know what to do with her life. She said she saw my films and it trickled down somehow that she wants to be an art therapist. She chose a path for studying, partly as a result of seeing the films. And she took action. Another friend of mine said, ‘I finally wrote my blog!’ That is the impact I want to have. I didn’t hear from everyone (that attended the show), but for this teenager and friend, it somehow inspired them to action.
CR: What’s next for Bruno Poirier?
BP: I’ve always loved temporary ephemeral immersive environments, like Cirque du Soleil or Expo (now in Milan). My dream is to create a physical structure where the piece itself becomes an imagination-inducing space: a physical environment that people can walk through and experience transformation and creativity – a sort of transformational entertainment experience. The purpose of my Lift-Up work is to contribute in a small way to the beauty of what we can become. How do you help people overcome the fear of change? Beauty, love, and vision of what you can be. The thing that will make people move is rekindling the desire to take a risk: the willingness to do something and put yourself on the line. That can only be done when there is a loving dream in front of you.
CR: And what is your ‘loving dream’?
BP: For me personally, it’s to be fulfilled. To live a spiritual journey of being a harmonious person that does beautiful work and is a positive force in the world. My ultimate dream is to live in a world of peace, which is harmonious and where everyone can fulfill the being that they are. I truly mean that. It’s to be part of a wide global movement that brings a new way of living and higher level of consciousness – and individual and collective fulfillment. I see so much untapped potential around and it saddens me so much. I’m very happy when I see people awakening. It’s like flowers blooming in the garden. The world is ready for a creative force and I’d love to be part of that. There is something big to be created. The world has always changed through war and revolution. Maybe we can learn to change, not because we run away from something or fight against something, but because we want to do things differently.
For more about Bruno Poirier and the LIFT-UP movement, visit www.liftuptransformation.com.
Catch the full Creative Lifestyles series on Vimeo.
