Towards A Contemplative Creativity

The paper will:
a) Outline a reflective and transformative pedagogy, the imperative for which could be
described as contemplative;
b) Present an analysis of the project, leading to an argument for the importance of “practice”
within a creativity-enhancing pedagogy;
c) Outline the subsequent project proposal to which this analysis has led: “Towards A
Contemplative Creativity.”

“Building Creative Capacity” was a funded three-year “Teaching Quality Enhancement Project,”
designed to develop creativity skills in both staff and students. The pedagogy developed by
the team drew on their experiences in training performers and writers, and was informed by
contemporary psychological research and by paradigms expressed in the writings of a number
of Western Buddhist teachers. Whilst the teaching was comprised of experiential learning, this
paper will argue that it lacked a “practice” dimension. Thus, I will propose a rationale for the inclusion of contemplative practice in the development of transferable creativity skills, and in the training of creative artists. That thesis will be tested in the proposed new project, Towards a Contemplative Creativity, which I will also briefly outline here.