Archive / RSS

gridleyblog

Hi, I’m Andy.

I’m an artist, producer, and creative leader. A few years back I left the safety of a “day job,” and started contracting live performances and zany think-tank ideas as a way to make my living. Turns out people liked my performances, leadership and other creative stuff! Today, I use my leadership and ideas to help navigate a larger multigenerational church through a changing landscape. I’m most excited about creativity when it intersects and affects people.

Each week I post a thought, drawing, video or song that deals with the stuff I care about.

Check out my homepage, my music page

Send me an email - I always write back.

Jun 17
Permalink

If it ain’t broke - break it (Willow 2008 Arts Conference)

I just got back from a 3 day arts conference in Chicago. It was hosted at Willow Creek Church. A team of 10 people who lead the creative charge back at Calvary Church came with me. We ate deep dish pizza, walked Navy Pier, and I even dipped my toe in Lake Michigan.  You can check out a slide show here. At the end of the week, we hung out in Lake Forest and had a really awesome and intense debriefing time together.

Katie Nobriga and I took a pic with one of the speakers, Dr. Richard Allen Farmer. He spoke in a main session and also did a break out session focused on the components of a good message. He was one of the most humble and eloquent guys I’ve ever heard speak (an UBER smarty). One of my favorite things he said was, “If it ain’t broke - break it.”

The thought behind the quote is that we often choose to leave a creative formula alone because it’s worked so well for us (i.e. we meet our deadlines and people “buy” our product over and over again so we just keep cranking out the same stuff over and over again). His challenge reminded me the value of cultures that are not pass/fail but rather cultures of experimentation and lessons learned. Equally, nothing puts artists back into our creative ruts faster than having to meet the deadline of tomorrow. I look forward to getting my own stuff organized and planned out so that I have room to breathe and experiment.