The Courage to Create on the First Day of Panic of Covid-19

“How did Homer, confronting something as gross as Trojan War, fashion it into poetry which became a guide for the ethics of the whole Greek civilization?” –  writes Rollo May in his classical book “The Courage to Create”.

In the face of Covid-19 paralyzing our normal lives and businesses, I felt a need to share some examples of quick, creative and socially responsible reactions of the local organizations ON THE DAY ONE after a government suspended all educational, cultural, sports and leisure activities in Lithuania due to the coronavirus threat.

Shall we become paralyzed businesses and crawl in our caves? Or shall we keep our creative brains open and leverage this event to creatively engage our customers?

Here are some the-first-day-of-crisis reactions of organizations, operating in Lithuania, walking an extraordinary mile for their customers or switching from their standard offerings to things that are more easily accessible.

Story #1:

The biggest country’s Vilnius Film Festival (Kino Pavasaris) becomes the first virtual festival in the country.

The next day after the government suspended all mass events due Covid-19 threat, the festival organizers announced that the festival WILL happen with making films available on streaming platforms to allow viewers to prevent the spread of virus, to meaningfully spend time at home and to improve their emotional state during this period of isolation. With a solid number of films in the program, more than half of films have already been approved for home screening and the number is growing every day. Organizers also promise to extend the movie watching experience and will organize virtual meetings with foreign filmmakers.

https://bit.ly/2TPmlU0

Story #2:

Avia Solutions Group, an aviation holding, initiated transportation of Lithuanians trapped in Italy and unable to return home after all regular flights from Italy to Lithuania were suspended.

According to company representatives, passengers were served free of charge as the company had a charter flight and the plane would have returned empty. The local pharmacy company joined the initiative and donated protection masks to all flight passengers.

https://bit.ly/3b7ZOYH

Story #3:

LRT (the Lithuanian public broadcaster) puts an extensive program in place to educate and entertain children who all stay at home now.

In response to the closure of the country's educational facilities and schools, LRT presented a special program grid for kids and school students. It includes not only selected animation, evening tales and documentary, but also specially designed interactive programs with educational and inclusive content for kids, also engaging various well-known Lithuanian specialists, including teachers, to join the project.

The message about this program travels with the slogan - “Turn-off corona, turn-on LRT”??

https://bit.ly/3cY9jew

Story #4:

National Library of Lithuania opens a 24/7 book return box outside the building, removes delay fee and promotes online educational resources.

This is an example how little things (a box outside) could reduce stress for your customers. Library also stated that it will not charge customers for being late to bring borrowed books back during this stressful period.

https://bit.ly/2WdgIRb

Story #5:

Mo Museum (a private museum of modern art) introduces a special rubric to experience the art online

While temporary closing due to the virus threat, the museum introduced an online project called #menasnaMO (Lithuanian for Art@home). It features authentic content to explore art at home – video documentaries from previous exhibitions, introductions to the most interesting artist of the museum’s collection. As it’s written in the program description in English: “Unfortunately you will need to learn Lithuanian first, but we promise you, some nice pictures will be there”??.

https://bit.ly/2U5HcSa

There are much more stories to tell and, hopefully, much more to happen soon. I’m a strong believer in my nation’s strength and creativity to navigate this uncertainty.

Another line from the same Rollo May’s book sounds very relevant today: “We are called upon to do something new, to confront a no man’s land, to push into a forest where there are no well-worn paths and from which no one has returned to guide us.“

We’ll get through this. Let’s approach it with a lot of patience and the courage for a creativity.