Coming soon

This month we headed back to the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Chiado, returning to the sunny garden for some delicious breakfast. We were surrounded by the beautiful blue paintings of one of the day’s speakers, Nelson Ferreira (the colour would gain more significance as the event went on). The atmosphere was relaxed but curious, with plenty of new connections being made over coffee.

Everyone went downstairs to the auditorium for the talks - on this occasion we were lucky enough to have two great speakers lined up. Pauline Foessel was the first, describing her interpretation of September’s theme ‘Depth’ in relation to her work.

As founder and director of Artpool, Pauline has successfully connected thousands of artists and curators. She told us about the rich and nomadic history of her career, spanning business school in her native France, her first connections with gallerists and how she moved to Shanghai and ended up in Portugal (the latter initially in collaboration with the artist VHILS). 

Pauline is passionate about using technology in order to help finance artists, and uses NFTs in her mission. As a startup founder she told us she struggles to incorporate depth in the process, but it can be found in her interactions with artists, curators, festivals and more. She left us with the assertion that when you really believe in something, you can find a way. In Pauline’s case, this means discovering exciting new digital revenue streams for the art world.

Nelson Ferreira is a visual artist and designer who imparted his wisdom on the depth of colour. He started with an introduction to the science of how humans perceive colour, and how it doesn’t exist outside of the human and animal experience. And yet, he pointed out, empires have risen and fallen, wars have been fought and love stories have played out in awe of this visual spectrum. He told us some fascinating stories involving the history of colour.

An entertaining speaker, he kept the audience involved throughout his various anecdotes. He lamented the “fake colours” and pigments which were dangerous in their application or created in stomach-churning ways.

Eventually he arrived at what he described as the only colours which have depth: purple and blue. This involved tales of Caesar and Cleopatra, the alchemy of glaziers, Boudica, the controversial history of indigo, puritans and the mines of Lapis Lazuli. And, lest we forget, a time when the UK commissioned the city of Newcastle to provide its citizens’ urine for the production of a desirable blue pigment.

 After all the laughs and learning, Nelson left us with something to mull over: “What you see a lot in the symbology of colours, is that colours do not exist.” We returned to the garden for another round of coffee and chats, buzzing with the excitement of the talks.

Text by Alexis Somerville

Photos by Anastasia Panina

Photos by Evelina Cassari

BE WATER 

In June, CreativeMornings Lisbon welcomed visual artist, lecturer and filmmaker Barbara Veiga to give a talk that was inspired by the month’s theme of #wilderness.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Barbara has always had a close connection to nature. Already at the age of 14, she and her friends became activist, engaging with local issues in their community. By the time Barbara was 21, she left Brazil to start growing in activism on a larger scale.

Combining her passion for photography and her observational skills, has chronicled her journey around world in defence of the environment in her book, “Seven Years In Seven Seas”, writing about ocean crossings, overcoming challenges, human displacement, and activism.

In total, Barbara has travelled to 84 different countries on her journey - many of those with her sail boat named Papaya. While she has experienced different cultures, she says that there is something that connects all of us.

The question of how one can follow in her footsteps she answers by saying that we all have to listen to our own call. Whether it was spending time with and learning from the indigenous in the Amazon or documenting the killing of whales in Antarctica, we all have to find our own ways.

Text by Peter Schimke

Photos by Eglė Duleckytė

If not now, when? May’s event was at Fintech House, in the heart of Lisbon. A historic building now home to new ideas, where guests gathered in a lovely light and cosy space on the ground floor. A surprise extra touch really added to the atmosphere at breakfast: live music with an electric harp. The turnout was great once again, with many first timers getting involved.

The crowd then moved upstairs for Filipe Macedo’s talk on the theme of ‘Now’. He talked us through Web3 and its connection with Blockchain, DAOs and NFTs - not easy concepts to grasp for the uninitiated. Luckily he gave us some simplified explanations and metaphors.

He also detailed his unconventional career path, which led him to Web3 via a stint as a computer engineer, “the shortest modelling career in history”, DJing, advertising, turning down a partial scholarship for an MBA, and trying out various short-lived projects. He emphasised that learning what you don’t like is also useful when navigating what you want to do for a living.

Next he told us what he’s currently building: Talent Protocol, which is a Web3 professional network with the purpose of allowing anyone to invest in their own careers and those of others. The team want to address the issue that careers are currently “single player games where few people can win” and build a supportive community. Filipe noted that it’s an experimental and long-term project, but one which he’s excited about.

He shared his enthusiasm for Web3 and its opportunities for people to contribute and earn within a community. His desire to get everyone involved led to giving the audience the homework task of installing MetaMask, a cryptocurrency wallet. He also provided a free Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) for everyone present.

The Q&A section happened organically this time, as people wanted to know more about how Talent Protocol worked. This led to a more detailed description of how people can use the network to further their careers or help others while also benefitting from a decentralised system.

Filipe gave us the advice to learn by doing, not by reading, and left us with his final thought: live your career as an experiment. A concept that takes the pressure off to some extent, moving forward from traditional ideas and fitting perfectly with May’s theme.

Text by Alexis Somerville

Photos by Tessy Morelli

Fate & Intention: A Cosmic Collaboration

Relentless rain and a Metro strike might usually be a recipe for a drab and stressful morning, but the atmosphere at Centro de Inovação da Mouraria told a very different story. Guests remained warm, dry and cheerful, enjoying the free coffee and breakfast. There was a great turnout for the talk, with the venue at full capacity.

Our speaker was Nana Martins, a Communication and Relational Coach who also runs the thriving Resvés Coworking Space. April’s theme was ‘Kismet’, which originates from Turkish and was a new word for many. Luckily Nana was on hand to give us her interpretation. As kismet is related to fate, she talked about how we can combine it with intention in order to access magic in our lives.

A likeable and funny orator, Nana managed to get everyone interacting in pairs, speaking about their experiences of synchronicity. The audience were enthusiastic to get to know each other and share their stories.

Nana detailed her own recent experiences which have mirrored her ideas on fate, intention and the magic of the universe. Setting intentions and being open to synchronicity resulted in various positive experiences for her (including being asked to speak at Creative Mornings!)

She also told us an incredible story about a difficult time while processing a breakup, which ultimately resulted in a great career move. She’d previously been keeping her coaching business small for various fear-related reasons, but a mystical experience in the countryside and a timely missed bus gave her the motivation needed to make big changes. She described the conversation she had with the ‘creative spirit’, and the helpful lessons she learned from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, ‘Big Magic’.

After telling us her own inspiring kismet stories and how she guided her experiences with intention, she encouraged us to: “Do something, do your best, keep showing up, have fun,” and not to ignore the signs. She left us with a quote from Elizabeth Gilbert: “Curiosity is this faithful, steadfast, friendly and accessible energy that is never far out of reach.”

The Q&A section at the end was very lively and interactive, with audience members joining in to give each other advice. As things were wrapping up, the rain suddenly got much heavier and there was thunder in the distance. Fortunately everyone was welcome to stick around and indulge in some more coffee and breakfast before heading out into the world, inspired and open to synchronicity.

Text by Alexis Somerville

Photos by Eglė Duleckytė

March event was all about creativity, freedom, arts and such a cool ambience! It was such an amazing event! Saturday morning, for a different kind of vibe, everyone joined in the gardens of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Chiado for some breakfast, talking and networking, ah, and coffee, of course. This was such an extraordinary event: first time ever in the history of CM Lisbon having an event at the National Museum of Contemporary Art!

We had two talks and a creativity workshop run by Nelson Ferreira, where the participants were guided through the process and took the piece of art with them. And at the same time, chalk painting happened on the floors of the garden, near some cool sculptures. We were surrounded by art and creative vibes.

Jorge Moita was the first speaker, presented a project of high-hand eco-bags called La.Ga and all its versions that have been created over the last years. So cool and inspiring to see how this project grew and got involved in the community, making design accessible, even in a Women’s Jail.

Then we had Nelson Ferreira, a professional painter, passionate about arts, technique and painting. He shared some Greek ancient stories of the most impressive painters of that time. Full of lessons about technique, being the best at what we do and how doing things out of love is the best recipe.

This was a different and inspiring Creative Mornings event. Such a good way to start the weekend! Inspired, creative and artistic! Thanks, Nelson and Jorge for such a journey!

Text by Ana Sousa

Photos by Tessy Morelli and  Eglė Duleckytė

February brought us an inspiring talk in an inspiring location. 42 Lisboa, housed in a former industrial printworks, is now a coding school with a difference. The space is vast and well-designed: stylishly minimalist while remaining warm and welcoming.

The February theme was ‘Monumental’, and our speaker was Pedro Santa Clara, the director of 42 Lisboa. An entertaining speaker, he led us through the story of how he ended up in his current position after a career change. A Finance PHD in France was followed by 10 years in the US, where he worked his way up to professor status at UCLA. He then returned to NOVA, his alma mater in Lisbon, this time in a teaching capacity.

Pedro was instrumental in getting a new campus built in 2018, for which he needed to leverage partnerships with companies and the municipality. He joked about his predilection for doing difficult projects with little money, as he went on to do the same thing multiple times.

In 2020, 42 was launched in Lisbon, in response to a huge lack of software engineers in the country. Pedro fell in love with its pedagogical concept: learning is collaborative and there are no teachers or books, and the school has no requirements in terms of academic background or experience. However, with high demand and currently only 400 places available, it’s naturally very hard to get in. Candidates must complete online tasks and a four-week bootcamp to be considered for selection.

The learning is problem-based and students’ work is evaluated by their peers. In the fast-moving world of technology, everything is going to become obsolete, therefore Pedro stated that the most important skill is to learn how to learn. He talked about the importance of failure and how it frees you to be creative (an idea which also came up in Liz Melchor’s talk last month).

As well as learning about coding, the students develop their soft skills such as resilience, communication and self-evaluation. Pedro likened the collaborative process to a pool full of novice swimmers dealing with a set of challenges: it just takes one person to try and the rest will follow, helping one another to solve each problem.

The Q&A at the end brought up some interesting facts, such as the different life paths which have led people to 42 Lisboa - among them an airline pilot, a musician and a pastry chef. Pedro himself changed careers at the age of 45, and he’s really happy to have this second act. We also discovered that the name 42 is a reference to the supercomputer’s Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Pedro responded to a request for advice regarding pitching ideas. Clearly rejection is part of the process when trying to obtain new sponsors, and he calculated his success rate at 8%. He said that you have to be unreasonable, to be self-confident but not arrogant, and to transmit enthusiasm as well as credibility. His knack for metaphor left us with an inspiring image: “It’s a castle in the air, but you need to convince people that it can be grounded.”

Text by Alexis Somerville

Photos by Tessy Morelli

The year started triumphantly, with the first in-person event since before the pandemic. It was also the debut of our new host, Irina Konova, who kicked off 2022 in enthusiastic style. We saw the return of the much-missed coffee period, when friendly and animated guests chatted in anticipation of the main event. The mood was celebratory.

The global theme this month was ‘Free’. Here in Lisbon, Liz Melchor shared her inspiring journey of learning to be playful in her work. Liz is an artist as well as founder of Creative Monkey, the venue in which the event took place. It’s intended as “a playful place to explore creativity”, and as such was the perfect location for this talk.

Liz started by recounting an experience which reignited her urge to play and be free with art. She was drinking hot chocolate in Austria when, on a whim, she decided to draw a monkey using the melted chocolate. It was a freeing experiment, and while it only lasted around 15 minutes, it was in fact the result of 10 years working at reconceiving notions of talent and creativity. She began painting monkeys regularly throughout the pandemic, experimenting with materials and embracing the freedom of play.

A long time ago, Liz gave up on creating art when preconceived notions led her to believe she wasn’t talented enough. Her new perspective developed when, living in San Francisco, she started a course in which the students were told not to look at the paper (for several months!) Various activities encouraged the artists to detach from their egos and aim instead for what the teacher referred to as “the honest mark.” Liz found it hard, especially at first, but it ultimately kick-started her creativity.

During this time, Liz discovered the importance of embracing failure, which helped her to learn and grow in various areas of life. In terms of her art, it had the powerful result of giving her access to her talents. It was refreshing to hear someone speak openly about this process, and to show us images of her work that she was both happy and unhappy with. She’s now much more satisfied with the images she creates than when she began the process all those years ago.

At the end of this incredibly motivating talk, Liz summarised that every single person is creative, and there’s a way to work at finding your own creative voice. We were left with her galvanising words: “I encourage everyone out there to go out and play!”

Text by Alexis Somerville

Photos by Eglė Duleckytė and Nia Carvalho

Matriarchy

Our June event was about Matriarchy and we had the talented storyteller Mariana Barbosa, a journalist and recently working in the communication department of a start-up. She is also part of Chicas Poderosas, a global community that exists to empower women in media. In this talk, Mariana shared with us what she feels about matriarchy and how her experiences led her to construct those ideas.

“Matriarchy starts every time a woman is born.” she said. And what a statement! This is such a beautiful view of matriarchy and female power. Mariana believes everyone has personal constellations that, in her life experience, also led to this constant women’s presence and inspiration. She comes from a matriarchal family which was a huge boost to value women’s power. Then, also friends, daughters if so, idols, people we want to be and even ourselves. All these constellations inspire us and motivate each other in our daily life to feel empowered and help empower other womens.

And talking about matriarchy always makes some people think that women want to be above men. But it’s not that. To Mariana, matriarchy must be about equality between women and men in terms of opportunities and justice. And to achieve that we, as a society, still have a lot of work to do. To close this talk, Mariana shared three conclusions:

1. Matriarchy is empowerment.
2. Matriarchy is to help each other.
3. Matriarchy as an equality strategy.

Thank you Mariana for your honest and true shares about this theme. I believe we all are more connected to the importance of valuabling women around us, in our daily lives. And we all need to do something to reach that equality that is so needed!

Text by Ana Sousa

Photos by Sónia Ramalho

Procrastination and the creative process

April’s theme was Procrastinate. In our chapter, we really took it seriously and procrastinated our event to the first week of May! We can definitely say it was worth the wait! Mario Rosa, a creative mind, was our speaker and shared a lot with us about procrastination and how it relates to the creative process.

When searching on the internet about the theme, he found nothing positive was mentioned about procrastination. It was all about psychological issues, anxiety, stress and so on. However, for Mario and his positive outlook, his vision of procrastination is all about creativity! One can look at the creative process as a combination of four steps: preparation, incubation, illumination (eureka time) and verification. He shared with us how procrastination can be part of the creative process, particularly in the incubation phase. It’s exactly in this step that the act of procrastinating enters.  It helps increase the connections between several half-incredible ideas we have in our brain, which are just waiting for us to connect with someone else and join the parts. Incredible ideas usually come to our mind when having a shower, sleeping or in movement (in the bus or walking). So why is procrastination so relevant for this process? When we relax, we stop pressuring with the “now” moment.

“The world does not belong to him who has the ideas, but to the one who implements them”, said Mario. We couldn’t agree more! He shared how most often, we need to collide our big ideas with someone else’s big idea to get that really huge and amazing idea that will be the winner to be implemented! Sometimes the procrastination process starts with a coffee and is the perfect occasion to accelerate the creative process; it’s the social serendipity!

In short, we learned from Mario that although everyone usually looks at procrastination as a delaying part of the process, it actually can be the place and time to grow new ideas. It can be the time needed for our mind to relax from the creative pressure and really get into flow.

At the end of his talk, Mario shared some tips to be a successful creative individual:

1. Write your ideas
2. Increase your ideas database
3. Sleep with the ideas
4. All the ideas are a half idea
5. Share your ideas
6. Take a chance

We thank Mario a lot for his insights and really true sharings! It was so light, funny and truly inspiring to listen to him! We believe everyone left this month’s event really inspired to do things, to have ideas and to connect with everyone else so that winner ideas could grow! It was fascinating and exciting to listen to Mario! Thank you so much for your energy, positivism and creativity!

Text by Ana Sousa

Photos by  Irina Konova and Sónia Ramalho

Ripple Effect

Our March event was all about books, writing and ripple effects that bring us new opportunities! We gathered online once more and started with our amazing host Rafaela who welcomed everyone and shared some of her favorite creative magazines. She then led us through different breakout rooms to talk and share about some ripple effects the pandemic has brought to our lives. It was a really good start, to share and to connect with each other.

Then our speaker took the stage: Lénia Rufino, a reader-turned-writer. She shared with us her journey of dreams and setbacks that led to her first book published some weeks ago!

When Lénia was a child, she started reading young adult literature, such as “Uma Aventura,” a very famous Portuguese collection. Since then, she has been in love with reading! After some years, Lénia started seeing that she could also write stories. She began writing short stories while she was at school. She even wrote a story with weekly chapters that she shared with her colleagues. At a young age, she started having some short stories published in DNJovem, which was a part of a Portuguese journal for younger people to share their talents and where many well-known writers have started publishing.

Then, as it goes, ife got in the way and Lénia went for plan B and got a masters in Marketing, working in that area for a while. However, her love for writing was still there and in 2003 she started a blog. That was the first step to get where she wanted to go, though she mainly focused on short stories.

Years went  by until a day in 2012 when a friend of hers shared a photo of some trees near a cemetery and it really inspired her. Quickly, she wrote three paragraphs about it. However, she really felt that a longer story could grow from there.  Rather than moving forward, in came the imposter syndrome, the self doubt and self sabotage that most of the creatives feel in some period of their lives. Although Lénia was comfortable and feeling good when writing short stories, she felt that she didn’t know how to write a book, a longer story. That feeling made her pursue a writing course with João Tordo and she learned so much from the experience. Perhaps the most important lesson? She learned there is no set formula for writing a book, you just have to begin! She finished writing her first book in 2017 and then the next phase started, which included reviewing and sending the manuscript to publishers. It was only in 2019 that she received a positive response. At last there was a publisher ready to make her book a reality… With the happiness from being accepted, Lénia started then working on the review with them, preparing to publish the book in May 2020. However, when the pandemic arrived and turned the world upside-down, it also meant that her contract was canceled! This was terrible news for Lénia and she admits it was one of the saddest days of her life. She totally lost hope in accomplishing her dream!

Yet! Here comes the ripple effect that changed everything for her! She posted about her disappointment on Instagram and one of her followers worked for a publisher. This publisher reached out and within a very short time, she got a new contract! She feels the book is all the better for it. As you see, things really turned around and her book is now available, 32 years after the beginning of this dream!

“It is possible, it is achievable!” said Lénia and her story really proves it! So if you have a book idea, a tool, a course, a painting, or a project in your mind that you would like to put out to the world, do it! Work for it! Let life lead the way! Thank you Lénia for your honest sharing and story!

Text by Ana Sousa

Photos by  Irina Konova and Sónia Ramalho