You see a lot of things when you're sitting in a cafe.You can think of lots of things as well. Cafes can be great places to sit and think.
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This is hardly one of the world's great secrets, and cafes are filled with people who are doing everything from eating lunch to enjoying a solitary coffee to meeting friends to typing assignments or sales proposals on a laptop .. to sitting and thinking. The more pertinent point is that cafes are generally abuzz with people. Well, the successful ones are anyway.
I also notice that many of those successful cafes, those 'popular' cafes, are often filled with examples of creativity. Call it decor, call it interior design, call it the 'vibe', call it the deliberate and intentional display of artworks for display or sale, they can be abuzz with creativity. Cafe operators know that their own distinctive vibe is an important part of their success (as well as good food and coffee, of course). I was in a cafe yesterday and sat staring for a while at these two features.. not intentional displays of creativity, but rather just ways of creating their 'vibe'.
But this had me thinking. Back in 2024 I wrote about how we need to take 'learning' and creativity to
where the people are.
Re-read this too if you like. It's one way in which we could democratise learning and creativity, how we could surface it, how we could connect people in ways that support their wellbeing, that help them to thrive.
In that regard I love the idea of being slightly 'subversive', of being a little 'guerilla'. I've met some outstanding 'guerilla bureaucrats', folk who are slightly subversive in stepping outside organisational norms to better achieve organisational goals. And I love the idea of the guerilla gardener.
Ako Ōtautahi - Learning City Christchurch uses the concept of nurturing a permaculture to help people understand what they do. If we think about nurturing learning systems, a 'learning city' in fact, then guerilla activity may be one way to go.
If we want to nurture learning and creativity, why not do some guerilla gardening in our city's cafes? I don't mean doing illicit things without the proprietor's approval. Wouldn't it be rather cool to seed each table in a cafe with a printed poem during World Poetry week (or any week for that matter)? Or copies of small artwork sketches? How would you feel if something like this sat randomly on the table as you sat down with your flat white or your espresso?
Or this?
What conversations could this create? At the very least it might create curiosity..... What is this? Who put it there" Why did they put it there? What does it mean? I can hear the conversation now - seven year old to mother "Mum, what does that say?" There are some great possibilities.
Amongst the problems is the issue of access and privilege. Just as museums and art galleries are often only visited by those with privilege, so too with cafes. Your daily caffeine fix comes at a cost, and when you are struggling to pay the rent and feed the children, sitting in a cafe with a mocha or a chai is unlikely to be any part of your weekly routine. The question is, by spreading this mahi across cafes and into the minds of those that can afford it, would we potentially improve the lives of others? I am a great believer in the power of art and poetry to change thinking, to grow empathy, to broaden perspectives. Perhaps that could be the big win. Social engineering? Yup.. unashamedly so.
Take the learning, the creativity, to where the people are. Some cafes already offering up examples of creativity, because it's good for business. Let's get a little 'guerilla'. But most of all let's get more deliberate and intentional about it. Let's not wait for people to come to us. Let's generate curiosity, inspiration, creativity, and learning, in those informal everyday spaces where we find people. Let's take the curiosity and the creativity to them.
