January's Creative Quest theme is...
Issue #39 🪄 It's a new year, a new month, a new Quest! Lots of inspiration contained within...
THE QUEST DIGEST by Creative Quests is a treasure chest of ideas & stories exploring what it means to live an illuminating, creative life. Written by Sam Furness, delivered when inspiration and creativity strike. Subscribe to receive each issue or send to a friend in need of a creative boost.
Hello Questers!
Sam here 👋 I hope your 2024 is slowly hatching with wonderful things.
January is always a special time for us as it’s our birthday/month! 3 years after a leap in to the unknown, the clock strikes Quest #12… and it’s witching hour ✨
We have 61 curious humans in 8 countries joining us for this collective exploration over the next month - including our first Questers in Brazil and Malawi! 🤯
After we guided our community through a process of theme dreaming a couple of months ago - three themes went to a vote Archive, Magic, Upcycling.
One emerged as our winner…
A glance at the calendar may tell you it’s ‘January’ - but for us Questers the month ahead has been appointed a powerful alter ego… MAGIC.
Magic is something we all know. We feel it in moments. Serendipity. Awe. Inspiration. Love. The timeless sensation of being suspended in disbelief.
Yet Magic is also a deep mystery. The impossible trick. The vanishing act. When you chance a call to the universe… and it picks up.
Throughout time, magic has been a strand of belief that humans cannot help but be captivated by. Attitudes and cultures a swinging pendulum between celebration and shame. Magic in all forms is a powerful, transformative force after all.
How our Questers decide to explore the Magical this month and where it will lead us, will be different. But our collective mission as Quester is simple: believe.
Believe our creativity is magic.
Believe that curiosity can fill our lives with awe and wonder.
Believe in each other!
With Magic as our north star, our global collective will collectively challenge ourselves to follow the rabbit down a winding hole, conjure fantastic ideas and produce some serious WOW moments 😱
Abrakadabra!
Alakazam!
Let’s give this Quest all that we can.
👁🗨 🪄
Over the course of the next month The Quest Digest will be themed in line with our current exploration. We’ll be sharing our Magic learnings and makings with you.
Even if you aren’t signed up to this Quest - why not embrace a little magic in your life this next month?
We’ll share what we’re learning with you along the way.
🪄 Share your MAGIC knowledge and associations with us in the comments
Ideas / Books / Podcasts / Films / People / Communities / Culture / Art
Help fuel our worldwide creative collective and leave us a comment!
A round up of illuminating Magic-themed discoveries from our Questers so far this month…
🃏 The Art of Play produce the most beautiful magic products I’ve come across - they truly spread wonder!
🎨 Create Your Magical Book of Personal Creative Wisdom (via CreativeMornings Field Trips
🧙♀️ Author Chris Gosden, on the history of magic and how it’s developed a bad reputation
🪄 Magicpedia: the free encyclopedia, dedicated to preserving the history and techniques of magic
🪞 Posters from History's Greatest Illusionists via Google Arts and Culture
🃑 Check out this amazing routine of Markobi - last years World Champion of Magic
😆 These two street magicians bring me JOY!
…plus some more general creative things.
📧 Growing a mailing list for your project? This report from Beehiv on the state of email newsletters in 2024 is brilliant.
📸 This AI poetry camera blew my mind
❤️ Hinge are funding US based impact initiatives that foster IRL connection – one hour at a time. More of this please!
Finally…
Have you ever witnessed a group of adult, mostly strangers, on the internet be connected by a common curiosity? All full to the brim excited about the possibilities of exploring the creative unknown together? I have… and it’s a rare kind of thing to experience. The usual responsibilities, deadlines and KPIs eclipsed by a childlike joy.
Tuesday’s first Magic Quest session felt just like our first Quest exploring Poetry in 2021. Three years in and it still feels like the first time… that’s gotta be a good thing.
With magic 🪄
Sam x
🥾 Quest Guide / Founder
📲 @saaamfurness
THE QUEST DIGEST by Creative Quests is a treasure chest of ideas & stories exploring what it means to live an illuminating, creative life. Delivered when inspiration and creativity strike. Subscribe to receive each issue or send to a friend in need of a creative boost.
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