Jodie Cunningham | CEO + Artistic Director, Craft + Design Canberra | May 2025
At Craft + Design Canberra, we believe that making is a way of being. Engaging in daily creative practices allows us to reconnect with our creativity, materials, bodies, minds, and each other.
As we enter the fourth year of our Daily Creative Practice Challenge, we invite you to rediscover inspiration and inner peace through daily acts of making.
In July 2025, the Challenge explores the theme of Rewilding, a call to return to untamed creativity, embrace imperfection, and connect with the raw, natural forces that shape both art and life.
7 Benefits of the Power of Daily Creative Practice
1. Making Calms the Mind and Supports Positive Mental and Physical Wellbeing
Humans are inherently creative beings, and by engaging in making activities that provide purpose and pleasure, wellbeing is enhanced. The act of making by hand, learning new skills, and engaging in daily creativity all have positive psychological outcomes.
The physical act of making, especially through slow, rhythmic movements, mirrors the benefits of meditation. Engaging in repetitive, tactile processes like stitching, carving, kneading clay or sketching can slow our breath, settle our thoughts, and balance our nervous system. Daily making becomes a ritual for emotional regulation.
‘When you’re making, you’re present, you’re quiet, and your body and mind start to heal from the chaos of the world’ (Greer, 2014).
Focused making often leads to a mental state of flow, a deep immersion where time fades and self-awareness softens. This mental state fosters clarity, purpose, emotional satisfaction and improved wellbeing. Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as ‘a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
The sensory act of using our hands when making is inherently satisfying and triggers an effort-driven reward system. We are biologically wired to use our hands, we express ourselves with them, and historically we needed them for survival.
‘Our brains are hard-wired to respond positively to physical exertion by rewarding us with deep satisfaction when our labours produce tangible results’ (Tahsin and Davidson, 2019).
Previous participants in the Craft + Design Canberra Challenge have reported lowered stress, reduced muscle tension, improved sleep and higher levels of happiness through daily creative engagement.
2. Daily Creative Activity Sharpens Cognitive Function and Curiosity
Each creative act challenges the brain and supports neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt and change. Whether experimenting with materials, learning new techniques, or solving problems, creative making activates key brain regions tied to planning, imagination, and adaptability (Beaty et al., 2015).
Even short-term engagement in creative activity has been shown to strengthen brain connectivity and support emotional regulation (Bolwerk et al., 2014). Over time, this daily stimulation helps build mental agility and may even protect against cognitive decline (Fancourt & Steptoe, 2018).
By engaging in experimentation and play, challenge participants activate their sense of curiosity, immersing themselves in creativity as a stimulating process rather than a means to an end.
‘Creativity is a spiritual practice. It is not something that can be perfected, finished, and set aside. It is a process, not a product’ (Cameron, 2000).
3. Creativity Builds Self-Confidence and Purpose
Completing even a small daily creative act strengthens and reinforces participants’ capabilities, validating their creative identities. Throughout the Challenge, these accumulated, consistent moments build resilience, increase confidence, and deepen participants' connection to their unique artistic voice. The regularity of the practice embeds creativity into the rhythm of daily life, gradually transforming it from a peripheral activity into a core aspect of personal identity.
‘Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives... most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the results of creativity’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996).
Through daily engagement, even on a small scale, individuals not only refine their skills but also affirm their connection to their creativity, fostering both personal and artistic growth.
4. Making Together Fosters Community and Connection
Throughout July, makers across Australia and beyond will respond to daily prompts, share their creations on Instagram, and connect through the hashtag #CDCCREATIVECHALLENGE25.
What emerges is not just a body of work but a living, digital community archive. Sharing our practice publicly affirms that we’re not alone in our creative journey and connects us to like-minded people, inspiring us, building our networks and making us feel part of something bigger than ourselves.
5. Daily Practice Builds Routine and Discipline
Turning up each day to make, even when uninspired, creates artistic resilience. Daily word prompts serve as starting points, but the real growth comes through commitment, repetition and reflection. There is a theory that it takes 21 days to solidify a habit, and the 31 days of the Challenge ensure that creative activity continues into the future.
‘Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits’ (Tharp, 2003).
6. Creative Practice Generates a Cohesive Body of Creative Work
By the end of the month-long Challenge, participants often look back in awe at what they’ve made, a cohesive catalogue of personal and meaningful work. This becomes both a record of their dedication and a launchpad for exhibitions, grant applications or larger projects.
According to research, sustained creative practice not only enhances artistic skills but also contributes to the accumulation of a unified portfolio over time. A study by Conner et al. (2018) found that daily creative activity is associated with increased positive affect and flourishing, which supports sustained artistic output and the realisation of larger creative goals.
7. Publishing Creative Responses Regularly on Instagram Builds Audiences
Publishing images of their creative responses daily on Instagram helps participants build a consistent online presence, making their work more visible to wider audiences. This expands their network of followers and supporters and can lead to sales, commissions and other opportunities.
REFERENCES
Beaty, R. E., Benedek, M., Kaufman, S. B., & Silvia, P. J. (2015). Default and executive network coupling supports creative idea production. Scientific Reports, 5, 10964. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep10964
Cameron, J., 2000. The artist’s way: a spiritual path to higher creativity. Tarcher/Putnam.
Conner, T.S., DeYoung, C.G. and Silvia, P.J., 2018. Everyday creative activity as a path to flourishing. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(2), pp.181–189. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2016.1257049
Csikszentmihalyi, M., 1990. Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. Harper & Row.
Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention
Davidson, R. and Tahsin, A., 2019. Craftfulness: mend yourself by making things. Harper Wave.
Greer, B., 2014. Craftivism: the art of craft and activism. Arsenal Pulp Press.
Tharp, T., 2003. The creative habit: learn it and use it for life. Simon & Schuster.
Unknown author, 2024. A study published in Frontiers in Public Health found that crafting can contribute positively to well-being, beyond other aspects of life. BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2yr0d3m1no [Accessed 29 May 2025].