I strongly believe that every work of art has three acts. And the first act is the buy-in. You decide to listen to a podcast, you listen to the album, you buy a ticket to the concert. I have no control over the buy-in. The second act is the thing that we make. The book, the concert, the television show. That, I have control over. The third act is the most exciting. It’s what that sparks. Will somebody go home and say, “Oh, I can do that. “Let me draw that!” or “Let me sing to that!” or whatever that is. So, my whole goal in everything that I do is to focus on that third act. How is what I am making going to engender somebody else to feel that they can do it?
-Mo Willems, on Lightning Bugs with Ben Folds
Our educational system is focused entirely on the second act: getting people to do the thing. I’ve written before about how we need to focus on the first act, but even more important is the third act. How are we engaging our students so that they inspire others to seek knowledge, to pursue opportunities, to engage with the world and grapple with their own creativity?
How about as a creator? How much time do you spend making your art, and what percentage of that time would be better spent thinking about how others will engage with those works of art?