Music, Creativity, and Mental Health: Emily James - Roundtable

This roundtable discusses the podcast Music, Creativity & Mental Health with Emily James. Terry McBride, Chairman & CEO of Nettwerk, Coleen Novak, Artist Manager, Chris Norwood, Chief Strategy Officer and Caren Mix, Director People & Operations reflect on the podcast just as the dust was just settling on the United States election, so you’ll see some pretty interesting ways this discussion integrated the two! We discussed many things: tolerance of ambiguity and Emily’s metaphor of ‘things that fall between the cracks’; the Buddhist parable of the 2 arrows and how we can influence our reaction to the inevitable difficulties in life; how there is always hidden opportunity in adversity; how focusing on what we can do (rather than what we cannot) leads to enhanced wellbeing by building a more internal locus of control; using music as a therapeutic outlet that creates a shared emotional understanding with the audience; the centrality of prosociality as a strategy to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity; and the way that the creative arts can unite people across polarised politics by highlighting what we all have in common.