Apathy is the enemy of creativity. As the summer season kicks in it is all too easy to find ourselves on autopilot. Whether boiling our brains on the Northern Line, or navigating the mental gymnastics of summer childcare logistics, summer can be a difficult time to maintain momentum. For creativity and curiosity to thrive we need rest and inspiration. Be it recommending a book, a breathing method or developing a craft, this summer BITE is asking leaders to share how they are making the space to nurture their creativity and find their pace.

Martin Severs, Head of Strategy; Merlyn Gray, Creative Director; Will Mutter, Senior Experience Designer, Collaborate Global document their foray into the arts for design inspiration. They discuss how a work day out can build team spirit and side-step a summer slump.

It would be nice to say ‘take it easy, enjoy the weather’ but actually for experiential agencies summer can often be the busiest time of the year. 

However, at Collaborate we all enjoy an initiative called Personal Development Days - a day where you’re free to explore activities for personal growth with a budget per person of £125.00. Just the type of activity that resulted in The Sunday Times naming us one of the best places to work in the UK. Some colleagues use this to explore their more adventurous natures; surfing, karting and even compete in Hyrox competitions.

Three of us: Merlyn (Creative Director), Martin (Head of Strategy) & Will (Senior Experience Designer) saw this as an opportunity for a kaleidoscope day of cultural exhibitions - partly for design inspiration but also as an outlet for team bonding, something we take seriously as a majority remote working agency.

To unleash our creative juices, we chose five exhibitions that covered five areas of creativity – Science, Art, Music, Fashion and Architecture. The beauty of a budget is that you’re free to take risks on things you’d not normally be sure you’d enjoy. But all five skewed towards the experiential or edutainment type of events now booming worldwide.

The risk pay-offs were mixed, but there was always something that tickled enjoyment, drove learning and piqued curiosity.

‘Moonwalkers’ at Lightroom has amazing content, great storytelling, but the light projections don’t integrate quite so seamlessly as last year’s Hockney in the same venue.  A reminder of the power of technical details no matter how rich the subject.

Yoko Ono at TateM is a vivid reminder of how this iconic woman has paved the way for so many. The numerous interactive elements were playful, thoughtful and inspired a few giggling fits.

‘Reverb’ 180Studios has 17 rooms of music driven content. A few truly blew our socks off, yet again, integration of tech and sound had often been more interesting at previous 180 shows.

Charles Jeffrey, ‘Loverboy’, at Somerset House was great at showing the transition from low budget ideas-only fashion college works to higher end budgets and being able to apply craft to out there ideas.

And ‘Tropical Modernism’ at The V&A brought to life post-colonial architecture with great imagery, models, parallel references and text.

A great day out – inspiration, no arguments, nobody got lost, and all washed down with noodles and a couple of pints.  No summer slump for us – but a terrific reminder of the adventurous nature of our creative business.