Everyone's Creative 2024 Review
Wrapping up the year and looking into the future 🔮
Hi,
In 2024 I killed my childhood idea, Robot Fan Club. Like a phoenix from the ashes, or a zombie from a maggot-infested grave, Everyone's Creative rose to take its place. That may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but to me, that was a pretty big deal.
Every year, it feels like a justified reaction to the past twelve months to lament that "this year was especially horrible because..." and 2024 isn't an exception. Things aren't great globally, and honestly they weren't great personally, either. 2024 will be a year I remember with grief, fatigue, and a bit of defiance because, as difficult as it was, here we are. What else can we do but keep going?
In 2024 I published 12 posts on Everyone's Creative (including through the previous incarnation of the newsletter as Robot Fan Club). It's less than I had planned and more than I realized. I think averaging one post a month is a pretty admirable feat, considering I needed to take several months long breaks from thinking about it in order to avoid burning myself out. I'm pretty proud of what I managed to create here this year.
The things I wrote about this year shifted as my focus moved away from just examining my own work and creativity towards Everyone's. I think art and creativity are always central to the political and social moment - that's sort of the point - but I also feel like this is a truth we're acknowledging less and less. While we debate whether or not AI art is "real art" or if working artists deserve a livable wage (or even the shade of trees to picket under), I think we're often missing the clearer point that art and creativity are fundamental to what we're doing all of the time. Until we sort out that misconception, dispelling the myths that some people are creative and others aren't, that some things are art and others aren't, we're going to be stuck arguing about definitions while the bigger issues go unaddressed.
The good news is that I think things are moving in a positive direction, or at least not stagnating. There's hope in the spread of dialogue around Luddism and non-commercial approaches to making art. People are using their creativity to try to solve big issues around the world and to unpack why the status quo isn't going to do it anymore. The bad news is... well, everything else.
I'd like to share a point that I thought was well made by Louis Rossmann, a computer repair technician and right-to-repair advocate. I don't always love everything Louis has to say - he can be a bit... blunt? Direct? Maybe a bit too American for my sensitive Canadian palette? But I appreciate his point of view and I think he has strong values that guide what he does. When addressing the idea of "influencers" in the video linked above, he shares the story of his grandfather who spent his time working to fix up some of the more run-down parts of his neighbourhood. While influencers today are seen as people with reach, with a potential audience that can be leveraged to advertise to, Louis makes the argument that his grandfather, a man who did some thankless work because it aligned with what he thought mattered, is actually what an "influencer" should be. Someone you can look to to see how you could be, if you tried to follow your values, too. Someone who creates something. Even if it’s something small.
Speaking about his grandfather, Rossmann says "Until the day he died, he took pride in always cleaning up his corner of the world." It's a modest statement, but a powerful one that I think we could all stand to embrace.
The world just keeps getting bigger, and there's a lot of pressure to have an opinion or even a solution in mind for all the problems in the world. But we can't all be working on everything all the time. We need to step back and ask ourselves what matters to us, what we want to do, and how we can help. That's what Everyone's Creative means to me right now. I think creativity is the key to how each of us can work to clean up our corner of the world. When we do that collectively and collaboratively, the world will get a whole lot better. This is part of how I'm hoping to contribute.
Meanwhile, I think it's important to fill your life with art and new ideas. I encourage all of us to read more and watch more movies. Go for walks without your headphones and see what you end up thinking about. Talk to an old person in your life. Talk to a baby. Talk to yourself. I've been trying to read more, and this year managed to read more than a book per month - I wrote about it on my personal blog.
I've also made a new ritual around watching a movie on Sunday mornings. Over the past few Sundays I watched Godzilla Minus One, The Antisocial Network, The Northman, Rashomon, Kiru and Prey. All great watches for 7am on a Sunday that I recommend.
Happy New Year! Things are likely going to be difficult tomorrow, in 2025. But we'll still be here, and we'll still be making things. What will you create?
I'll see you soon.
Love,
Simon 🐒