The Creative Adventurer's Survival Guide

The Creative Adventurer’s Survival Guide aims to help all artists to navigate their way along their creative path in an age of uncertainty and chaos for creative industries.This podcast fuels artistic conversation and collaboration to spark ideas, because we want to support every creative hero to reach their goals, however challenging the journey.Every episode the Survival Guide hosts, Mark Pattison and Claire Driver, meet the writers, musicians, performers, sculptors and designers, and use s...

In our first episode, we rip the bandaid off to talk about the state of creative industries in the wake of the pandemic and consider the challenges that lie ahead for artists like ourselves.Although this might seem a pessimistic subject, it’s an acknowledgement of where things stand with an emphasis on the positives that can potentially come out of what we’ve experienced together, and whether creativity can fundamentally change in its value and importance.We can examine the imagination and ta...

Navajo mythology refers to a trickster known as Coyote. Creatives probably know this better as the Impostor, a trouble-making syndrome that sneaks about in our subconscious and tells us that we’re not good enough, or that we’re a fraud rather when it comes to artistic talent.Some have a knack of ignoring Coyote, but others find Impostor Syndrome a constant challenge, to the point that amazing ideas remains hidden from the world because the artist is too caught up in how that idea will be perc...

Phil Mews is the Author of Orphan Boys, the bestselling memoir that lays bare the loss of both his parents when he was just seven-years-old. Not only did he have to deal with grief at such a young age, he also had to cope with a whole new way of life at boarding school with his younger brother, Roger.But Orphan Boys isn’t just consumed by grief. Phil’s debut book is a coming-of-age story that celebrates cherished childhood memories and the immeasurable importance of love, family and community...

"I believe that we form our own lives, that we create our own reality, and that everything works out for the best. I know I drive some people crazy with what seems to be ridiculous optimism, but it has always worked out for me." - Jim HensonCreating the right conditions just to create is half the battle, when it comes to giving your project a chance of getting off the launchpad.How many times have we seen a rocket ready to blast off to the International Space Station, only to see the mission ...

"Creativity is contagious, pass it on." - Albert EinsteinIf a design charrette is like a good gym workout, then you know it’s been an effective exercise when you have creative fatigue, when your mind is over-spilling with ideas and you need a good sit down with a cuppa to drink in all that creative goodness.That's how powerful a great collaboration can be; when you begin to spark inspiration after inspiration, it becomes infectious and before long you're stoking a blazing fire. So in this epi...

When it comes to turning a passion into a creative vision, Neil Cole has probably achieved what for most of us would remain a pipe dream. Neil has taken his love and enthusiasm and created... The Museum of Classic Sci-Fi!A permanent exhibition that has materialised in Allendale, an unassuming village in the heart of North East England, the Museum showcases a substantial collection of original alien props, monstrous costumes, artwork and visual effects that many would recognise from the realms...

"The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety." - Deepak ChopraBack in the day, when you were lost on an Alpine Pass with all hope lost, you might have looked to the horizon and seen a barrel-chested St Bernard standing over you in your hour of need with a keg of warm liquor to offer you a glimmer of hope.It’s a whimsical thought, but in reality there are times of crisis in our lives, when creativity can be a lifesaving force. One creative act can distrac...

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." - Maya AngelouMarketing… the modern business sales pitch to describe what mankind has been doing since the dawn of time - storytelling!It’s the most basic and fundamental driver of the human experience and what gives our lives meaning. Stories are the backbone to creative practice and expressed through music, painting, architecture, CGI and sculpture… and even predates writing.Wow, we’ve already been on an epic human adventu...

If living through a global pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the value of community, and by community we mean the family, friends and locality that we’ve been restricted to through our respective lockdowns.While there are boundless opportunities to discover creativity across the digital landscape, online distraction can distract from your creative tribe, and exploring the wealth of talent that lives right round the corner.In this episode of the Survival Guide, Claire and Mark share the va...

Lisette Auton is a disabled writer, performer, activist, and creative practitioner based in North East England. She is a white woman with freckles and brown hair of changing length.And her creative adventure had a significant breakthrough in 2018, winning one of 10 coveted spots in the Penguin Random House UK’s WriteNow Programme, which aims to find, mentor and publish new writers from communities under-represented on UK bookshelves.Lisette is now busy working on her debut middle grade novel ...

Feeling energised from our previous Adventurer's Charrette (Episode 5) we're limbering up for another creative gym session!In this episode of the Survival Guide, we begin to develop a creative 'happy hour' - starting with an ancient fossilised relic, we let our minds wander beyond the barriers of time to which we're bound and explore mysteries that we'll never ever know.And a good mystery can always let the imagination run wild! What ideas will those mysteries uncover for you?Here...

In the first episode of a new series of The Creative Adventurer’s Survival Guide we re-introduce ourselves and reflect on the creative journeys we’ve been on over the last year.Many creatives find themselves going through a state of flux, periods when they can feel exceptionally laser-focused and other times when it’s necessary to go on a walkabout and to just let the imagination run free and untethered, but flux take us further off-course than expected.This state of flux has been magnified b...