Our Guiding Beliefs
Our foundational value - community - is built into our name. In order to build the lives and world we want to live in, we cannot work alone. To build anything of substance, we must co-create it with others. Everything we do at Co-Create Studio is grounded in the value of community and our 10 guiding beliefs:
- As humans, we are born creators and creative. Though many of us have been taught otherwise or had our creativity actively squashed. Growth (individual and collective) is a process of unlearning, just as much - if not more so - than learning. (Re)learning to create is a way of (re)connecting with a core aspect of our shared humanity.
- We all have the power to craft a life of meaning for ourselves - but what that looks like will vary from person to person, as well as over time for each person.
- Process is (almost always) more important than the end product - we are all a work in progress. There is no way - the way is made by doing.
- Asking questions is strongly encouraged. Curiosity is key - about self, others, and the world.
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Being an adult doesn’t have to be boring. It’s ok (and encouraged!) to laugh and have fun - even especially while doing hard/meaningful/serious things. Play is an integral part of the process.
- We are all our unique, weird, and wild selves. AND we are all also shaped by the cultures, communities, and narratives we live and have lived in. Our collective mission is to think deeply and critically about who we have been, who we are, and who we hope to become.
- Collaboration is more important and fruitful than competition (though these aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive).
- It’s important to see the world from perspectives other than your own. Your truth is not The Truth.
- Structural inequality, individual differences, and/or flows of power and privilege exist in our world and communities. Acknowledging their existence and critically examining your own position in these systems, as well as working to reduce and eradicate the negative effects of them in “big” or “small” ways are crucial parts of crafting a world built on love, abundance, and mutual support.
- A world (and communities and relationships) based on love, abundance, and mutual support are possible NOW, not just at some distant point in the future
Come create with us!
Whether you're local to the lakeshore or across the world, we invite you to come create with us.