How to Support a Creative in Your Life

If you’re walking around on this earth, chances are you know someone who identifies as a ‘creative’ person. Perhaps they are already fully living in their creativity, completely confident in what they offer to the world and in their zone of creation. More likely: they have creative yearnings or potential that you or they can see, but they haven’t fully stepped into it. They probably put out work seemingly randomly. Some of it might be ‘good’ to you and some of it might not speak to you at all. They might seem a little bit sad sometimes, perhaps plagued by self-doubt. Maybe they joke about their lack of creativity to you, but you can tell that it’s just pent up desire that they’re not willing to express yet.

Am I describing myself in that paragraph above? Yes, of course. It takes one to know one. I’m fully on my creative journey as we speak. I’m finally getting to a place where I feel more confident in expressing myself creatively, but I’m still a bit of a creative baby. While I know that creative expression is an inward journey, I can’t deny that the little snippets of support that I’m receiving from friends and family over the past few months are helping fuel me through the hard times of self-doubt, so I decided to put together a little guide on how to support a creative person. My hope is that this knowledge will help all of us to provide the support system that anyone creative needs to keep moving forward toward their creative dreams. Because I believe that we’re all creative people and that we all deserve support.

How to support a creative person who you love/like/admire/know casually/have a crush on/date/parent:

1. Encourage them. This is key. Acknowledge that you see them and see their creativity. Ask them about a project that they talked to you about a few months ago to see how it’s coming along. Like their posts on social media that have to do with creating. Send a private text/message/email to tell them that you enjoyed their work and why it resonated with you. Open the door to them sharing with you what’s going on in their mind privately that they aren’t yet sharing publicly. Give them caring, thoughtful advice that acknowledges the little baby nugget of an idea that is still so fragile. Check in on them frequently. So much of creativity is private and personal and often plagued by self-doubt. Use your connection to them to help give them the confidence to break through that self-doubt and create anyway.
2. Support them. All art is fueled by patrons. If you have the money to buy something to support a creative, I highly encourage it. It’s THE best way to support a creative artist you admire. Even if their product seems a bit amateurish to you or doesn’t fully fit into your life, if you have the money and you believe in their creative potential, buy it. You are investing in them and literally funding the expansion of their creativity. This goes for patreon accounts, too. I’ve been guilty of thinking that my attention is enough, but I really want to do more to support artists I love online with more than my eyeballs. Beyond money, support them with your voice. If a post resonates with you, share it. Tell a friend about it. Send out a link. Ideas spread via word of mouth. If you like something, feel free to pass it along. It’s a service to your friends and family and it’s a service to the creative you love.
3. Give them space. Perhaps as a chance to cop out of the bravery it takes to create, most creatives put their art on the bottom of their list. They’ll allow themselves to write/draw/paint only after everyone they love is cared for, the dishes are washed, the meals are prepped, the laundry is done, the bunko game is over. Help them see their creativity as a life force that will fuel everything else. Encourage them to use the time you’d spend together as creative fuel. Instead of gossiping in a coffee shop for your catch-ups, why not take a painting or pottery class or go to a museum? Offer to read through their latest draft when you are together or to postpone your time together if they would rather use it to work on their latest project. As Oprah says on her podcast, she believes that the best gift you can give yourself is time. As a friend of a creative, use your influence to give them time to unlock their creativity.
4. Create connection. If you know someone who wants to take up figure skating classes, send them a link to one you found online. If you know someone who wants to be an online writer and happen to know a person who knows a person who hires freelancers for The Atlantic, pass along your connection. Don’t wait for your creative friend to ask for support because they probably never will. You or your friend of a friend could be the big break they are looking for. Believe in the power of sharing connection. Don’t hoard your abundance. You are likely where you are right now because someone was generous with their own abundance and gave you a shot. Pass it on.

Do you have anything to add to this list? Feel free to share!