Mehjabeen Price (South West Screen, Bristol) about creativitys impact on society

Mehjabeen Price started her career at First Women Bank in Pakistan in 1995 and was awarded a scholarship from the Bank of England to complete an MBA at the University of Exeter. Working at a private international trading business in London, and as UK Director for Stakeholder Forum, an international environment NGO, she was responsible for the organisation's finance and operations as well as its national policy and programme activities on environmental issues.{C}{C}{C}{C}

Which conditions encourage people to be more creative?

The feeling of empowerment brings out creativity in people. If you feel empowered you don’t feel afraid of making mistakes which is what so important for creativity. Creative thinking at one hand is something that can be instant and spontaneous at the same time it needs encouragement, right environment and right sort of impetus to flourish.

Creativity must not be mistaken with innovation – as creativity is about coming up with new ideas and innovation is about bringing new ideas to life. Creativity will lead to innovation if right environment and support and partnerships are in place.

How can the promotion of creativity as societal strategy be planned?

We cannot plan for creativity to happen, but we can plan providing the right sort of environment for creativity to flourish. We have seen it in regions across Europe and rest of the world over the last couple of decades, where policy makers, cultural and creative sector organizations and practitioners alike have realized the power of creativity in bring about social and economical development of societies. It has acted as a tool for speeding up regeneration and enabling the communities to play an important role in the future development of a nation.

What are the limits in promoting creativity?

There is no shortage of people with new great ideas,but it is true that in some cases there are many obstacles to promote creativity – not least the risk factor involved in generating a new and different idea and hence related fear of failure. In the world of small enterprise we operate in, the lack of incentives and need for doing day to day to stay afloat hinders creativity.

The best way to promote creativity is to not look for one right answer, don’t worry about being wrong and to make oneself receptive to new ideas.

What is the relation between creativity and the culture?

For me there is no difference – creativity is a way of being and culture is one of the by-product of that way of being.

Will creativity play a collaborative or competitive role in an increasingly cultural diverse and migrated society?

Creativity spans all cultures and communities – and, yes – it can be a common bidding factor to bring together diverse cultures and communities. Whatever culture or community one belongs to creativity is a common theme for development of new ideas. Culture is not static and neither is society – creativity is what keeps cultures and communities reinventing themselves.
 

About...

Name       
Mehjabeen Price

Current occupation
Director of Finance and Operations at South West Screen, taking a lead on new developments around European projects, leading SWS role in European Creative Business Network.

Three crucial turning points in your professional life

Leaving Islamabad, Pakistan as a successful Banker and studying in England for a Year to do my MBA, Joining Stakeholder Forum – an exciting environmental organization and deciding, with a heavy heart to leave Stakeholder Forum and come to Bristol to join South West Screen

The three most important regions in the structural process of transformation are..

There are many regions in the world which have that ‘claim to fame’ of being the regions which have made the move to more diverse, modern, and high-productivity activities and have fostered an environment that promotes entrepreneurship and investment in new activities.
Though there are only few which have truly transformed the very foundation of the economy of their regions through investment into diverse entrepreneurship activities.

One regions that springs to mind is off course Austin where creative and high tech industries have transformed the city’s economy, and came to be known as "Silicon Hills" and "The Live Music Capital of the World". This region is an example of how creativity and culture can transform a city. And of course the developments in Ruhr regions are not to be overlooked – the changes are great and going from strength to strength

Which issue is vital for you?

Allowing creativity to flourish and not limiting creativity to just creative and cultural sector. In my view creativity is the key for human development – it leads to new discoveries and new ways of working.  For creativity to flourish – we need collaboration; working together rather in silos is very important for our success

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• Creative People - Members of the creative industry in London

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Go to channel:

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