Creativity isn’t a talent, it’s a practice. James Johnson reframes failure, iteration, and play as essential tools for innovation and reminds us that showing up to create is the real work.
In this talk, James Johnson, Executive Director of MAKE Santa Fe, explores innovation as the practical outcome of creativity. Drawing from his work as a designer, fabricator, nonprofit leader, and maker, James reframes failure not as something to avoid but as a requirement for meaningful creative work. Through stories from workshops, theater design, and personal projects, he outlines five essentials for creative mode—space, time, resilience, confidence, and humor—and invites us to protect our creative process, embrace imperfection, and keep making, again and again.
To Be Creative Is To Create
Creativity isn’t something we’re born with; it’s a practice. To be creative is to be creative. In this talk, James Johnson explores how our failed attempts and projects are the very act of being creative. Drawing from his journey as a designer, fabricator, and community builder at MAKE Santa Fe, he shares how the process of making teaches us to see failure as an essential teacher.
Through stories from the workshop, as a designer in the theater, and as an artist in the art studio, James reframes “the work” of creativity as simply showing up and choosing to create, again and again. This is a reflection on iteration, accepting imperfection, and using spaces like Make Santa Fe as a support structure for creatives.