Being creative is not a choice, rather a must – at least in creative communication. The recently held 7th Communication, therefore, initiated a workshop that would enrich the participants with something creatively different – something that would help them to expand their horizon of imagination. The thought-provoking and interactive workshop session conducted by Prolific Visual Artist Nazia Andaleeb Preema, had the whole audience enthralled till the very end.

Ms. Preema is the Director and Creative Editor of Bangladesh Brand Forum. She is an artist, a singer, a performer, a curator, a writer, an entrepreneur, an activist and a motivational speaker. Not only is she a truly gifted artist but also a staunch activist, who has dedicated herself to issues surrounding women’s uneven representation in professional settings. Her creations span over genres, ranging from traditional to digital. She was awarded the “PRIDE OF BANGLADESH” for her outstanding contribution to the arts and promoting women in professions.

She started the session by expressing what creativity means to her- “Creativity is freedom, creativity is being fearless and creativity is being able to say what you want to say without hesitation.” She explains that there is a creative person in every one of us, but many fail to explore, realize and nurture it. She believes, not everyone can be creative or pursue creativity, however, to be aware of using one’s imagination creatively can give a new and dynamic dimension to their expressions. Her main aim of this workshop was to bring out the creative person in all of us and make us realize that being creative and nurturing creativity is imperative. So in order to do that she divided the workshop into 3 different segments, with each and every one of them proving to be thoroughly engaging and interactive.

ILLUMINATING THE IDENTITY
She went around the room and picked 4 individuals who were then asked to pick 2 more individuals randomly. These 12 people were then asked to stand in front of the white screen and describe him/herself in 30 seconds without mentioning their names or designations. The 12 individuals then described themselves in various creative ways, some of which were quite praiseworthy. Through this session, Ms. Preema made it clear to the audience that we are just not limited to our professions and our names but that there is a lot more to us that gets unleashed when we get creative.

EUPHORIA OF COLORS
The session then quickly shifted to being extremely colorful when the audience were provided with glass bowls and some colors. They were asked to pour water into the bowls and then introducing colors to it so that the colors are reflected on the water. Every single person in the audience seemed thrilled by the very idea of coloring and slowly but surely they started to paint to their heart’s content. They were then asked to take a picture of their artwork and upload it on Facebook with the hashtag #7thCommunicationSummit and were told that the winning artwork will be presented with a prize from Bangladesh Brand Forum. This session reflected that practicing creativity is important because we fail to be aware of the potential of our creativity. Art and creativity has no time bound; it has timeless appeal and unbound possibilities.

PERFORMANCE PORTRAYAL
What is Performance? Ms. Preema explains it to be a situation where we tend to come out of our bounded and comfortable zone to do something truly extraordinary. She highlights the fact how we are all performers in our day to day lives i.e. when faced with challenges we somewhat come out of our comfort zone and bounded rationalities to do something extraordinary to overcome those very challenges. She then picked some individuals from the audience and asked them to portray themselves through a performance. They were told to act out their persona, to communicate it to the audience. Through this session, Ms. Preema shed light on how important it is break out from ourselves, to go out and talk, to connect.

Ms. Preema ended the workshop by stressing on why it is important to pursue uniqueness rather than being just anybody and to nurture and harness creativity at every point in our lives.

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Glimpses of the Workshop