The Creative Now

So I am asking, with the purpose of sharing, and of supporting and caring for this creative community in its current, uncertain reality. I asked what people are doing, how they are feeling, how they are sparking creativity. It feels important to share what we do, when we can’t do all our doing.

Reaching out first to some of 200-ish the talented people I’ve had the good fortune to profile through the Capitol Communicator portrait series. It’s my version of a virtual dinner table of sorts. Grab a chair.

Antonio Alcalá, Co-Owner, Studio A

What, if anything, are you doing differently?

Overall, I’m not doing a whole lot differently although I miss my occasional visits to the local coffee shop or restaurant. Each weekday, I’m still walking the six blocks from my house to my office to take care of business. Lately, I probably take a slightly longer lunch break and leave a little earlier each evening to go back home. My wife works with me so we still have company while we’re working. One of our employees transitioned to working from home last year and the other did at the onset of the coronavirus concerns. I miss their presence in the office but we’re doing okay.

I already had a client who conducts our meetings using Google hangouts, so transitioning to online meetings has not been too painful (although some platforms are easy and others terrible).

Otherwise, it’s business as usual.

Are you staying creatively active?

I still have a few clients with active jobs to work on, so I keep busy with those during the day. Amonth I was in Northern Italy for work (I know) and at that point the museums and churches were all closed. But there was still so many interesting things to see just wandering around Verona and Milan. I must have posted a hundred photos from those few days, none of which were the usual images of the Duomo or the Last Supper, etc. 

In a different form of creativity, I often pepper my (very patient) wife with unusual questions. "Do you think these marks on the sidewalk are worm ‘footprints'?” and the like. It’s not creativity like drawing a picture, but any activity to elevate our lives from their prescribed norms or ways thinking can be thought of as being creative.

How are you sparking yourself creatively?

Mostly it comes from looking around and thinking about the world. But it can also happen by making a card by hand for someone, or leaving an interesting note for someone, or reading an unusual story, finding an interesting IG feed, or really, just about anything. Be curious and the creativity will come.

View Antonio's original Capitol Communicator profile here.