We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Carroll. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.
Emily, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
I run summer camps for kids that incorporate inclusivity, kindness, peace, creativity, and art. I used to work for Unitarian Universalist churches and we called them Peace Camps. They’re weeklong, full day calls with a curriculum but there’s a lot of free play, creative time, and field trips. When kids feel safe and are having fun, they automatically learn. I have a gift for working with kids in terms of understanding them and helping them feel seen, heard, and valued. I’ve been running camps for over ten years now in addition to programming in schools and in our store and studio, but when I’m running these camps, I have a sense they’re what I’m meant to be doing on earth.
Emily, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am the Executive Director for a nonprofit called ReCreate, a creative reuse center that offers education services along with a craft thrift store and maker studio. Our mission is to create more art and less waste by diverting clean but unwanted materials from the waste stream and turning them into art supplies and creative reuse projects. We visit close to 200 schools per year to offer hands-on STEAM and art projects along with hosting monthly classes, workshops, and other events in our maker studio.
Our craft thrift store has the mission to make art more accessible to all and we receive dozens of donations every week of crafting supplies including fabric, yarn, paper craft, sewing notions, needle art, beads/ jewelry, office supplies, home goods, and more. People are happy to donate to a place where they know the supplies will go to use.
We want people to know the power of being a creator and not just a consumer, know the beauty of making, and believe in their own creativity and imagination to build the world we want to live in where all are valued, safe, fed, housed, happy, and healthy.
Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?
The book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, a spiritual path to creativity, and especially the tools of the morning pages and artist’s date have been so helpful to nurture and listen to my inner artist. Daily life doesn’t seem to prioritize creativity but this book and the resources and tools within it showed me a way to make space for art and creativity and tend to the artist within.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The mission of my creative journey is to focus on building the world I do want. I believe we are powerful creators and can sculpt our lives with our imagination. We each have the responsibility to be more in touch with the world I want to build and the solutions than the problem. The more I create with my hands and inspire others to do the same, the more we activate the power of imagination to build the world we dream about.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Recreate.org
- Instagram: @recreateorg
Image Credits
Kara Uyeki
Emily Carroll