Talking creative impact with Szept, from CREA, UvA's cultural center
Szept, CRO (Chief Relaxation Officer) of CREA, cultural center of the UvA and HvA (Image: Dennis van Galen).
Who are you?
My name is Szept, I’m the fluffy CRO (Chief Relaxation Officer) of CREA, the cultural centre of the UvA. I live with the director of CREA, Dennis van Galen, and his husband Jordy, both cultural omnivores with a background in the arts. I’m a Nizinny, a Polish Shepard of the Lowlands. My name means ‘A Whisper’ in Polish but my bark can be heard all over the REC campus.
What is the Impact of CREA?
As a four-legged friend of all students, I know the importance of fun, games and training in one’s life. But CREA is more than a place to throw sticks and catch balls. It’s a place to meet people (yes, I’m not ashamed to say I like a cuddle or two) and find new experiences in the art and cultural courses they teach and the activities they organize.
Experiencing art and participating in cultural activities is essential for the development of every human. Art touches the deepest being of every human’s existence and is of essential value for the resilience of people and society. I know that cultural awareness is an important precondition for everyone to be able to move in an increasingly diverse society. Cultural participation helps people to shape their identity. It leads to deeper questions about art and meaning and gives direction to the way people, and even a dog like myself, relate to the world.
CREA, Roeterseiland Campus (Image: Jordi Huisman)
CREA: Personal development as part of a better society
My encounters with students, my CREA-colleagues and the games I played here helped me to become a social, playful and agile dog. A creative dog as you will. It’s at CREA that I experienced that being actively involved with art and culture offers students (and employees) the opportunity to shape their own identity, the way they view the world and their relationship with others and society.
CREA: gym for imagination and creative skills
My highly developed nose makes the world around me a sensory overwhelming place, especially in a city like Amsterdam. Although students’ noses are not as sensitive as mine, the VUCA world (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous) that they live in cannot be traversed without a new generation of creative minds. I’ve sniffed how CREA equips young minds for a complex society with countless new issues that require a new skill: creativity. Issues such as the climate crisis, new financial systems, inequality of opportunity, exponential technological developments and the migration issue require new solutions that can only be solved with creativity. Like a muscle, humans can train creativity. CREA is the place where you train your imagination, creativity and playfulness through experimentation, trial and error. And if you are creative at the micro level, you automatically take this into account at the macro level.
CREA: home of all voices and new stories
CREA is also the place where groups that currently do not see themselves represented in various cultural expressions find their voice, bark and bite and can shape their narratives. Art has been a place of empowerment and identification since time immemorial. Visual arts, music, theatre and dance emphasize developing a different creative way of dealing with the reality around you.
CREA: the square of encounters
As I said CREA is an important meeting place for students. Not only do you meet other students here, you will also meet fellow students from other faculties and departments in a natural and accessible way. At CREA you will also find other views and ideas. You enter into a dialogue with each other during and after courses, debates and lectures. The courses and activities at CREA forge friendships for life.
Where can we meet you?
As your personal fluffy Chief Relaxation Officer, I spend most of my days both in the office of CREA and in the rest of the CREA building behind the CREA café. But around lunchtime, I always go for an inspection of the REC Campus. See you then!