We encourage our city to embrace creativity as a powerful tool for community connection and expression. By creating opportunities for neighborhoods to share their voices through art, music, and performance, we can foster pride, healing, and unity. Let’s come together to host events that inspire us to create, express, and celebrate our stories—together.
We need more creative spaces
FROM MARYVILLE UNIVERSITY • It’s no secret that creativity and the arts help with children’s well-rounded development. A study published in Educational Researcher and Education Nest found that exposing children to museums and other cultural institutions can help them develop a high level of cultural tolerance, historical empathy, better memory, and stronger critical thinking skills. To promote children’s creative development, it’s important for parents, educators, and counselors to understand creativity’s impact on a child’s mental and emotional well-being.
Creativity pays positive dividends in numerous ways. It supports mental growth through challenges involving elements like equality, balance, spatial relationships, and problem-solving. It also supports the development of key skills such as sensory perception, verbal skills, and hand-eye coordination. Additionally, it supports divergent thinking via activities involving reflection, wonder, and curiosity. Creativity also provides children with opportunities for experimentation, imagination, and freedom of expression. Finally, creativity shapes social skills through activities that involve different perspectives and values and understanding the needs of others.
