Everyday Innovators: Celebrating World Creativity and Innovation Day (21 April)

By Colette McEntee, an Executive Lead within the IPS Consulting Team  
As someone who has always held creativity and innovation at the heart of who I am and what I love, it’s joyful to realise there’s a whole day dedicated to this! The United Nations established World Creativity and Innovation Day  in 2017 to recognise the power of  creativity and innovation in driving human development across cultures, technologies, and systems. 

I hold these things dear and am lucky that so many people I get to work with every day share the same passion. This passion manifests in really different ways, and really different forms. In the lead up to World Creativity and Innovation Day, I’ve been able to take a bit of time to explore the topic in conversation with a few of my colleagues: Melinda Ely, Karen West and Marlon Motlop. 

What I learned, is that for all of us, creativity shapes how we show up in the world. Whether we’re designing a project, facilitating strategy sessions on Country, performing slam poetry, carving gifts for Elders and friends, making music, playing major festivals, or exploring the intersection of theatre and artificial intelligence -it isn’t something we switch on and off – it drives how we think, work, and connect.
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From improvisation to intuition, from stillness to systems thinking, we’ve been talking about how creativity shapes the way we engage with clients, communities, and complex challenges. We spoke about innovation being something deeply cultural, relational, and responsive. It’s about listening, adapting, and creating with purpose – and doing so in ways that honour both old and emerging ways of being.

Creativity as Expression and Healing

For Marlon, creativity and innovation are more than tools – they’re expressions of self and healing. “It’s how I process, challenge and reframe,” he shared. “It helps me connect with my inner child, with habits I’ve inherited or built from lived experiences – some beautiful, some traumatic.” In spaces and systems and ways of life shaped by government systems or Western expectations, innovation becomes essential – not to replace or change cultural ways of doing, quite the opposite. I have learned from Marlon and many others that innovation can be about finding ways to keep culture strong and present, and to make sure we find new ways to practise culture and remember who we are at our core. 
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Both Mel and Marlon expressed this so beautifully, with Mel sharing that “creativity and innovation, to us, are grounded in culture, connection, and community. It’s about listening deeply, respecting the wisdom that’s already there, and being open to new ways of doing things—especially when they come from unexpected places.” 

And for Marlon, “Sometimes it’s as simple as changing the way we communicate. Sometimes it’s about transforming systems to work for us, not against us.”

The Balance Between Old and New

That balance – of holding onto the foundation while moving forward – came through strongly in our conversations. Cultural knowledge systems, ways of knowing and being, are not static. They adapt, evolve, and breathe. Personally, my fascination with the intersection of old and new has always fuelled my creative brain. 

For Marlon, the answer might lie in remembering that “Our foundations haven’t changed, but the way we move has. And we need to keep checking in – is this still true to who we are? Is it helping our people?”

For Mel, “It’s not just about thinking outside the box, it’s about asking whose box we’re in, and who built it in the first place.”

Karen added: “It’s universal – during the creative process we must always ask ourselves: whose voice is this? Is it my voice or a construct? Does this idea represent who I am now, or am I echoing a version of myself that’s moved on, that’s no longer relevant?”

Creativity as Conversation

Karen offered another fascinating lens, describing creativity as a kind of conversation – one that requires both input and output. Reflecting on a time when she needed to increase her ability to handle and manage change, she reflected that “I took an improv class to build my adaptability,” she said. “It taught me how to really listen, to respond in the moment, to play with the unexpected. That’s a huge part of how I work now – staying present, agile, and responsive.”

That sense of responsiveness resonated through our conversations. We are constantly responding – to clients, to context, to community. Creativity helps us meet the moment, in the moment. 

And innovation isn’t just about shiny new ideas. Sometimes, it’s also about responsibility.  Marlon put it so well - “In our work, we can’t take the opportunity to innovate for granted. We have a responsibility to use our position well, to create in ways that help our people. That deserves respect.”

Stillness, Focus, and the Space to Create

Something that we all spoke about was the quieter side of creativity – the importance of stillness, focus, and space. “I’ve learned I need stillness to create,” Karen said. “That’s when the ideas come. It gives me a singular focus – a moment to be with one thing fully. That’s good for my wellbeing, but also for the work.”

 I love that! I find it so hard to make space for that stillness, when life and work are so busy, finding stillness feels like another job! But when I do, I am absolutely definitely at my best across all areas of my life. As Karen said, “creativity is the antidote to busy-ness.”

Mel finds creativity in the quiet moments too, “yarning with Elders, written ideas in a notebook, or even out on Country, where you feel space to think clearly. It’s not always big or loud, but it’s always present. Creative practice gives us room to breathe, reflect, and stay connected to why we do what we do.”

On Reflection 

On World Creativity and Innovation Day, it has been so joyful to take time to consider what that means for me, and what it means for some of the amazing people I get to work with. Creativity helps us listen, adapt, evolve, and lead. It allows us to honour the old while shaping the new. And it shows up in in quiet, singular moments of inspiration and reflection as well as in big, bold change and innovation.

For me, creativity is something I sense and feel. It’s intuitive and systems-based. My brain is like a web of ideas that’s constantly changing as new synapses and patterns are formed. I feel my way through situations and look for patterns – connections between things that don’t seem linked at first. That’s how I make change: whether as an ally, a leader, or as a Mum. Not by breaking the system, but by collecting inputs and shifting it from within.

I am proud to lead with creativity – in my life and in my work. But, more than that I am so proud to work with such incredible colleagues, friends and communities around Australia to consider how we can honour old ways while creating change and impact. How we can innovate without severing ties that ground and connect us. I reckon it’s a pretty cool way to apply creativity and innovation. 

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