It's the stories....

I like the idea that we are all ultimately stories. In her 2008 short story collection 'Moral Disorder' Margaret Atwood wrote "In the end, we'll all become stories". In a similar vein, in the opening line of her 1979 collection 'The White Album', Joan Didion wrote "We tell ourselves stories in order to live". Stories are important, we are all story tellers, and we've probably used stories to enrich our lives, to give ourselves meaning, for as long as humans have walked the planet. Our stories connect us, they help us to 'find our tribe' and they help us to build bridges. Sometimes they can also destroy bridges.

Our stories carry our voices through time.  Of course, "You have to listen to the voices" probably isn't something you should say to a stranger sitting next to you on a bus. If you do, the wild eyed reply "like, yeah.. it's the voices, man" is probably one you don't want to hear.  However, in the work of creating and realising a shared vision for the future our stories, our voices, are a powerful way of harnessing the synergy of collective action, of building the future that we want. I've often seen the situation in which, when challenged with change of some sort, professionals are stuck in inaction and will say 'I understand why you want the change, but what would it look like? What would I be doing that would enable this change?' Stories are one means of showing others what change looks like, what they can do to be a part of the change, to feel more in control of their own change journey.

Gathering the voices, curating the stories, are things that Ako Ōtautahi - Learning City Christchurch does as it slowly brings people together to realise its vision of a learning city. In 2024, during the course of its Learning Days celebration, the Trust brought together a range of voices from around the city to consider what a vision of Ōtautahi as a learning city might look like. This year the Trust brought a range of voices together to discuss strategies and actions that might start to make that a reality with a workshop titled 'From vision to visible'.

Some of the participants in the recent 'From vision to visible'

This is important and powerful mahi. The connections that are made, the kōrero that takes place, the realisation that others share things in common with us, are all important antecedents to change.

In a similar vein Ako Ōtautahi has begun to curate and amplify stories of some of the amazing learning opportunities and journeys that already take place in our city. with the 'Ōtautahi in Practice' podcast, hosted by Sam Woolf and Erica Austin. The podcast serves as a platform to "humanise learning" by amplifying the stories of local Learning Champions and Ambassadors. The first ten episodes, concluding with a milestone reflection in Episode 10, explore how curiosity and connection drive the city's evolution. 

There are some key themes coming from the early episodes.

• Curiosity as Practice: Moving beyond passive interest to active, intentional exploration of one's environment and self.
• Systems Change & Futures Thinking: Exploring how individual learning journeys contribute to wider regenerative and inclusive futures for the city.
• Identity & Belonging: The deep connection between understanding one’s own culture or identity and navigating the city’s landscape.
• Collective Wisdom: The "ripple effect" of asking for help and how shared knowledge builds cultural movements. 

Some key examples of specific things you might see in a Learning City, in OUR learning city, that have been highlighted are:

• Tūranga (Central Library): A flagship "living learning space" offering free access to technology, storytelling, and innovation for all ages.
• Tagata Moana Trust: Founded by Nina Oberg-Humphries to empower Pasifika learners through STEAM-based education rooted in identity.
• Community Spaces: Locations like the Richmond Community Garden and the University of Canterbury campus are highlighted as welcoming hubs for pursuing personal passions and creative action.
• Social Enterprise Ecosystem: Collaborative work within the city to support the hearing difference community and other social causes. 

A number of interesting themes have come through in these early podcasts. I love the way that interviewees have urged that we need to normalise failure, because learning is often "messy" and failure is a necessary part of growth. We also have much to learn by way of cultural exchange, as Hana Kininmont describes when looking at the differences between learning in Japan and Aotearoa.

For several decades now formal education has made much of the need to develop personalised learning pathways. Whatever the success of the formal education system, we need to see a shift toward self-directed learning where residents can tailor their experiences based on interests and age. 

Interviewees have also raised some interesting future challenges:

• Systemic Inequities: There is an ongoing need to remove financial and social barriers to ensure learning is truly accessible to everyone.
• Te Tiriti Obligations: We need to continue to navigate this "challenging time" for Te Tiriti o Waitangi, emphasizing the importance of protecting language and culture in education.
• Digital Equity: There is a lot of mahi to be done if we are to bridge the gap in digital access and literacy across the region.
• Actionable Curiosity: It is essential that we move from "pockets of promise" to a fully coordinated city-wide vision where learning is integrated into every facet of life. 

The current by-line for Ako Ōtautahi is 'cultivating courageous curiosity'. Curiosity and creativity go hand in hand, and to truly be a learning city we need to see curiosity and creativity in abundance. There is no cookie cutter answer to what this looks like. Examples of this are as numerous as we humans. These are our individual stories, amplified through our individual voices. Sing it loud and clear!!!! 'Listen to the voices, man'. "We tell ourselves stories in order to live".

Sparking creativity, fanning the blaze

Some sparks flicker into the night sky, float for a while, and are then snuffed out. Some sparks settle and sit for a while before being fanned in to life by the wind, itself sometimes a gentle breeze, other times a gale. I think creativity can be much like that. To extend the simile, it begs the questions: what are the sparks, and how do we create the wind that fans those sparks into life?

I was thinking about our own life in retirement, Lorraine and I. While it has at times felt empty, less than purposeful, at times even pointless, it has also been dotted with acts of creativity. 

Last winter the frost had frozen the moisture inside this terracotta pot, and broken a piece off the rim. Throw it out? No .. try this 're-imagining'.

Lorraine has always been a 'crafter', specifically a knitter and a crochet'er (is that a word?). She spends some time almost every day doing one or the other, creating garments for premature babies, or blankets and toys for cats at the SPCA .. daily acts of creativity.

Nearly five years ago I found myself writing poetry. Why? No idea... my experiences of poetry at school weren't positive so this came as something of a surprise.  My current 'thing' is to take old nursery rhymes and re-imagine them in some way.

These are our personal 'sparks'. Then I have friends who restore vintage and classic cars, who dance, who turn bowls from scrap pieces of timber,  put new handles on old knives, and create prints and paintings and pen sketches in their spare time. Friend Andy sketches while he waits as his daughter engages in her swimming training.

Credit: Andrew Gorman 2026

Our daily lives are dotted with examples of creativity. I do however recognise that I live a life of privilege. I don't have to worry about whether some unscrupulous landlord will kick me out of my house next month. I do know that I will have food on the table tomorrow, or the day after, or the week after, and I will be able to heat the house next cold snap we get. And I no longer have to turn up to work six or seven days a week, putting in 60 to 80 hours a week just to be abused by some angry parent who thinks their child has never done anything wrong in their lives.

That privilege allows me the time to stop, it allows my brain to be bored. Professor Peter O'Connor co-authored a great wee book titled 'Slow Wonder', a beautiful read that espouses the benefits of slowing life down. That 'slowness', that time, that boredom, is essential to creativity.

Heartily recommended....

These small examples of creativity in our lives will be dotted all through every community, but it's mostly too difficult to step back and see the coherent whole. I suspect too that because we don't see commercial benefit from these individual acts we think therefore that they have no value.

This is to miss the point that such creativity is an essential part of simply being human. It is central to our lives. There is no need for it to yield some dollar value. The urge to look for a dollar value reflects the degree to which we have lost the ability to simply 'be'. I well recall in my time on staff at Christ's College when the chaplain in sermons often urged the boys to see themselves as 'human beings', not as 'human doings'. This was his way of saying that we need to allow ourselves the time and the pleasure of sitting and being bored, of being at home with our existence.

These acts are the 'sparks' that float in the air of our communities. And like the sparks from a fire, some of these sparks of creativity will die in the rain. Others will, however, be fanned into life by the winds that blow around us.

The wind might be individual passion and self belief and the simple 'urge to create', perhaps the result of an urge as simple as curiosity. However that wind might also be the wonder and encouragement of friends and community. If we accept that creativity is central to learning, this is where a 'learning city' comes into its own. An idea attributed to Confucius, and voiced by Dan Siegel, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Richard Feynman, says that "the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name", the idea that to name something is to be able to understand and control it".

By naming our city as a 'learning city', we allow ourselves the opportunity to understand what learning is, what creativity is, and so be able to foster and grow our individual and collective creativity. That is one of the focii of 'Ako Ōtautahi-Learning City Christchurch'. It's LCC's job to encourage the sparks and send them into the air, and thento fan the flames, whether with a gentle puff of wind or a force 10 gale.

Let's acknowledge and celebrate the creativity that abounds within and between human souls. Then and only then can we gather the corresponding economic benefits as we reveal, nurture, and grow, a creative population, although that economic benefit should not be our main reason for doing so.  The whole will certainly be more than 'the sum of our parts'. We must first see creativity as a part of simply 'being', we must allow ourselves to slow down and simply 'be'. 

I think I feel another poem coming on.