New club looking for creative and motivated students

The Creative Change Initiative is one of the newest clubs as Central, offering a way for students to use forms of art in order to inspire social change. The club welcomes artists of any form to participate, whether they specialize in painting, drawing, acting, writing, or any other art form. The club was founded by Isabella Manhart and Sophia Mason.  

Manhart and Mason founded the program based on influence from Van Gogh, who is one of their favorite artists and a believer in creating a collective of artists that lived and worked together to inspire each other. Creative Change Initiative looks to embrace that mentality while also challenging ideas in current society. “We are creating a safe space to talk about the issues facing our world that we, the young people and future leaders think are important,” said Manhart.  

The club has already began working on discussing topics that are important to the members of the club. For example, the club spent a week working with sound, where they used the ideas of traditional forest and jungle sounds but altered them to represent what is currently happening with climate change and how it could affect forests in the future. They have also had guest speakers and a round conference about art relating to social justice issues.  

Eventually the club wants to expand to include more guest speakers. By inviting guest speakers, Manhart and Mason are hoping that hearing other people’s experiences, more people will be inspired to use creativity to solve problems currently facing society. Eventually, the club wants to use these inspirations to create their own performance that they will be able to share with other people. “We are looking forward to welcoming more local artists and creators in the coming weeks to speak on what they do and how to use creativity to inspire change,” Manhart said.  

The club has received a lot of interest so far, but Manhart and Mason are always looking for more people to help promote the causes being discussed by the peers. Manhart said, “If someone is creative or passionate about social justice or just wants a group of supportive people, they should think about joining.” 

If students are looking to get involved with the Creative Change Initiative, they should feel free to talk to Manhart, Mason, Jennifer Stastny, or listen to the morning announcements. Manhart said, “We are a student lead group and we welcome everyone from writers, to theater artists to visual artists to musicians to dancers and anyone who wants to inspire change in the community and in the world.”