Creativity Partners is a new collaborative effort by professional artistic fundraising companies to offer innovative professional, artistic fundraising for Chicago non-profit arts organizations. Launched in January of this year, Creative Partners serves in a nationwide basis, serving in a variety of cities such as Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Miami, New York City, Memphis, Dallas and Atlanta. This national initiative is intended to build creative partnerships between artistic fundraiser companies, music groups and the artistic community to raise funds and support artistic events. These relationships will foster artistic growth within the local communities.

In order to be accepted into one of the Creative Partnership partnerships, a non-profit organization must meet certain criteria, among them having a mission statement, membership, a board, regular meetings and ongoing communication. A creative partners program usually requires a minimum of two years of experience in community arts, a long-term commitment to one artist in a given group, and involvement by artists with long-standing experience in the local communities. In addition to these standards, creative partners programs often require that an artist who becomes a member of the partnership to be involved in one or more of the arts sectors in their community. It also requires that the participating artist meet various criteria for being a resident of the area. For example, if an artist wishes to raise funds and build relationships with the younger members of a community, he/she must live in the area. As well, if an artist wishes to create meaningful connections and opportunities for one of his/her projects to impact the lives of others, he/she must reside in the area.

Through creative partnerships, artistic organizations are able to build long-term relationships with other artistic organizations and benefit from the experience of working with other like-minded people. For this reason, creative relationships can be very beneficial to a non-profit organization. The most successful creative partners work in collaboration with one another, not competing. In Agency to achieve success, creative relationships need to be nurtured. This will lead to greater morale within the artistic community, increased camaraderie, and the ability to attract and retain talented artists who are looking for venues and opportunities to exhibit their art.

On a flip side, some creative services organizations function quite differently. At these venues, the artists may compete against each other, or they may collaborate simply with others in the same field. At such venues, creatives often collaborate on short term projects or on a yearly basis. At such venues, collaboration is not always synonymous with competition.

To foster creativity, creative partnerships need to have a few key tenets. First, the artistic community needs to understand the concept of the partnership. Creativity is often defined as coming up with an original idea, product, or process while working in collaboration with others. Therefore, a creative partnership requires that creatives are open to collaborating with others in the same field and with similar ideas. Creativity isn’t limited to having an original idea; it can also require the sharing of an equal number of ideas and visions.

Second, when working in a creative partnership, both parties need to recognize and value one another’s uniqueness. Differentiation within a partnership creates tension within the team and sometimes leads to conflict. When such differences do arise, the solution isn’t usually a solution that leads to long-term growth. Long-term growth rarely happens when creative differences exist only in the short-term. This tension between similarities and differences creates the possibility of long-term growth.

Last, the creative services organization needs to offer its creatives useful feedback. In fact, the most successful creative partnership occurs when the partners take turns providing helpful feedback. Creativity feeds off creative energy, but unless the energy generated comes from feedback, there is no growth. Creativity thrives on receiving constructive criticism, and when the company you work for or the agency you work for offers constructive criticism, you’ll thrive. It may not be easy to hear, but constructive criticism is always the best kind.

Creativity feeds off creative energy. The more constructive feedback you get, the better you can use your energy. The more helpful feedback you get, the better you can use your creative services. Start now by applying these principles to your creative services strategy.