As the world slowly reopens in fits and starts, and at least some activities resume, we are all beginning to venture out. Often slowly and cautiously, but we are leaving the confines of our self-isolation and taking tentative steps toward interacting with other people. Which makes this a timely remined that we need - at least occasionally - the company of other creative people.
When the tide is high these rocks will look like islands, but low tide reveals that they are all connected - as are we.
The poet John Donne famously wrote in Devotions (1624) "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main." I firmly believe this is true, no matter who you are or how you choose to live. In a very real sense we are all connected, all part of a community. Even more, we are part of many communities.
We have a geographical community based on our state or city, or even just a district or neighborhood. We have a political and/or ideological community, a religious or spiritual community. We have our immediate families, our extended families, and the families of our hearts.
While we held a job we had a work community of co-workers, bosses, customers. We may have belonged to professional communities as well, organizations devoted to our profession or industry.
When we retire we lose a lot of the teamwork-based associations. We lose the professional and workplace communities. As we embrace our redefined identities we often find that our new identity needs new connections.
When we retire those work-related networks can begin to slip away, until they are just out-of-reach and we need to find new communities and connections.
While organizations and the workplace place a high value on teamwork, creative pursuits are often solitary activities. Writers, for instance, want to be alone with their pen and paper (or keyboard and monitor) whether they're by themselves in a silent room or in a crowded, noisy coffee shop.
It isn't a matter of silence or noise, isolation or crowd - it's a matter of being alone in our thoughts as we bring into the world something that may only exist in our heads.
As creators we still need a creative community. We need other creators, other makers and builders and writers, other poets and cooks and painters. We have always needed that community. But in retirement, when our professional communities move on without us, they become even more important.
Creative communities come in a wide range of types and styles. As a writer I have experiences many different creative communities, from four people meeting to critique manuscripts to conventions of thousands sharing information and support on an international level.
Finding your community is often a matter of trial-and-error, and what's right for you at the current stage of your creative life might not fit you farther down the road, and it might not fit someone else at exactly the same stage.
Finding your creative community is a lot like finding Mr. (or Ms.) Right, sometimes you take Mr. Right Now, knowing it won't last but it works for now. Besides, breaking up with your workshop crew or critique group isn't nearly as difficult as ending a romance or getting a divorce. Don't ask how I know that - I do have some discretion!
So how do you find your creative community? For starters, places like this - an online group. We are here because we're creative people, and we are sharing our experiences as both creative and retired (or hoping-to-be retired) individuals.
Thanks to the ubiquity of electronic communication we no longer have to be in geographical proximity to our creative compatriots. Face-to-face meetings can be great, but they are not necessary in order to share ideas, inspirations, techniques and support. Connecting to online resources can be as simple as searching for groups on services like Facebook, and getting recommendations from others in the group. The Nextdoor app is another free place to look for local resources and groups, as they focus on specific neighborhoods and you'll be talking with people in your immediate vicinity.
The library often has more than just books, and now that libraries are open again they can be a place to find your new community.
Don't forget the more traditional methods. Check your local community college for classes. Do you have a cultural center or a community center nearby? They may have classes, or studio time, or clubs where you can connect with people who share your particular creative passion. Visit the library and check their bulletin boards. Our small town has all three - community center, cultural center, and library - and I would bet your communities have at least one of these.
Remember that your needs as a creator are going to change over the course of your creative life. Early on you might need a group that helps you through acquiring basic skills and a knowledge of tools and materials. Later you may want to learn more advanced techniques, or explore ways to derive some income from your work, even if it's just enough to cover materials costs.
As your needs change so will the needs of those around you. The community will grow and change. It may move forward as a group, all of you learning similar things as you work together. Or you may begin to specialize in one aspect or another and be able to help others to develop those particular skills, just as you learn things from them.
Or you may change your focus while the group itself remains the same. You might need to move from a beginner to an intermediate class or workshop, or into a more specialized sub-group. Members of your community may move with you, or find their own sub-groups and specialties.
Your path will diverge from the other members of your community, but that doesn't mean you have to lose that connection. After all, it was your shared love of your creative pursuit that brought you together in the first place. You may choose different ways to express that creative urge, different forms or materials, different styles. You still share that basic passion, and the connections you build can endure far beyond that initial class or workshop.
That is, after all, the real basis of a community.