CREATOPIA
In a competitive and high pressure society like Singapore, creativity in young children is easily overlooked and quickly replaced by pressure to perform well academically in schools. There is still a very strong sense of stigma that surrounds individuals who do not do well in schools, is deemed a failure.
Inspired by Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk speech about "Do schools kill creativity?", founders Johnny and Stephanie knew that something had to be done to keep the natural creative juices of our young children burning beyond their pre-school years. As children grow, it is vital that they keep the right brains working just as hard as the left brain, so that they can grow up equipped with creative problem solving skills and confidence to be ready for their future. This led to the creation of "Creatopia".
MISSION
"Creatopia" is created with the sole mission of keeping the creative flames of our young children alive.
We aim to
- Build a community of like-minded parents who share common goals of raising kids to have growth mindset
- Providing a creative platform for youths to share their artistic talents within and beyond the shores of Singapore
- Be the mecca for attracting creative professionals who are passionate in their crafts and love to pass on their skills and knowledge to the next generation through our bespoke workshop offerings
- Husband and wife team Johnny and Stephanie are both from the creative industry. Both came from humble family backgrounds and both have experienced similar obstacles when it comes to choosing a "lesser known" career in their teens. Luckily, Johnny met his mentor & art teacher, who went through great pain and effort to grant him his passion of pursuing Fashion as a GCE 'A' Level subject during college. This led to him scoring a scholarship at Art Center College in Pasadena Los Angeles and the rest is history. Today he is a successful creative professionally, having built a career in New York City to leading creative agencies BBDO and BBH in Shanghai and is now Chief Creative Officer leading the 72andSunny Sydney & Singapore offices.
- Stephanie was not as fortunate to have met a mentor but found herself getting into the creative advertising agency for half of her career, starting as an Account Executive in MRM McCann, and then BBH Singapore and finally BBH Shanghai. After leaving advertising, she taught yoga for a couple of years before getting married and had a daughter. It was through her research into education for her daughter that she chanced upon and was inspired by Sir Ken Robinson's most watched Ted Talk video "Do schools kill creativity?". She realised that there is no perfect school system anywhere and decided to embark on this project to strive to provide a more balanced and holistic approach for her daughter's education. She hopes to provide this as a platform for like-minded parents and influence the Singapore culture that academic success is not the only way to success in life.
