Happy Anniversary, Exquisite Collaboration Project!
Five years ago today I posted the first collaborative poem, an experiment to bring strangers together to create poetry during Covid lockdown.
Just a few moments ago, as I was finishing posting the current Exquisite Collaboration Poem, I realized that it was on this day five years ago that I posted the first poem, “Dawn”. I had been wanting to try this collaborative poetry technique for ages, and I did try it once at an in person workshop, just before Covid closed the world. I wondered if it would work virtually, so in February of 2020, I threw out the prompt and waited to see if anyone was interested.
They were. By April we had our first poem!
Five years and 40 poems later, more than a hundred strangers from around the globe have collaborated on a regular basis. The project has spawned friendships, launched creative projects, and empowered everyday people to use their voices and creative energy to better the world.
The experiment also worked for me, helping to launch my own workshops and events, using words, paper, paint, and play to inspire humans of all ages to embrace their inner artists.
The poem I just posted, “Letting Go Takes Time,” was from the last prompt I’d offered, a year ago this month. There are no poems in waiting, no prompts accepting submissions.
Which means it’s time to regroup and set out on the next collaborative creative adventure. I’ve been toying with some ideas that would incorporate visual art and stories for collabortive creations, as well as relaunching the poems.
Sometimes you need to pause something that you love but which has lost its call. I needed a chance to breath new life into my own work. I’m ready to again create together. I hope you are, too.
Today is a day to celebrate! Happy anniversary, Exquisite Collaboration Project!
Well done, my friends. Well done!
Happy creating, lovely humans!
Joanne
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This Exquisite Collaboration Project is based on the Exquisite Corpse, a technique created by Surrealists in the early 1900s, in which participants add to a work with no one seeing what the other participants contributed. My goal is to encourage non-writers and artists to embrace their creative selves in a safe, supportive, “you can’t fail” environment. What began as a way to maintain some sort of connection with other people during the early days of the Covid lockdown has continued to unite strangers from around the world in creative collaboration.