Collaborâte with Amanda & Kristian Jones
Collaborâte
Today we'll be interviewing Amanda Jones (Graduate of our dance course in 2008) & Kristian Jones (graduate of leadership and ministry in 2007 and C3 Music Coordinator). Amanda & Kristian are the founders of The Honest Jones, a creative studio in Sydney.
Tell us about yourself.
What do you do for work?
Our studio is called The Honest Jones, and we make One Minute Films for brands. These are entirely custom made films for our clients - capturing, editing, composing soundtracks and all!
Amanda does this full time and Kristian part time, while also being on staff in the Music department at C3 Oxford Falls.
What's the dream for you?
We live it everyday. Live by the ocean, eat home cooked meals, drink cacao smoothies, have people in our home regularly, build the church, work creatively, help others live their dreams.
Let's talk about creativity and collaboration.
Why is collaborating important to you?
Amanda Jones (AJ) : Because it’s way more fun!!!!! Fun is essential to any creative process and what better way to have fun than with others! We are better together. Our creative work is better in the fullness of community.
Kristian Jones (KJ): Totally! You can only be so good by yourself, but we’re always better with others. Sometimes I’ll have part A and C, sometimes I’ll have part B…but I’ll never have part A B and C.
How has working with friends who are creative helped you?
KJ: It's helped me realise that my ideas aren’t always the best ideas - but sometimes they are the best ideas!
AJ: Yeah, I think it’s important that I don’t start to believe that all creative brilliance starts and ends with me. Firstly, my creativity flows from my relationship with the Holy Spirit and secondly it flows from the team around me…always pass on the credit!
How do you collaborate well with people who have different creative strengths to you?
AJ: Different creative strengths is the ideal scenario for a collaboration. Hunt these people down and never let them go! I know that I am a big picture creative, and NOT a detailed perfectionist. So it’s extremely rewarding (and challenging) to work collaboratively with Kristian… who will put pressure on me to get the details right!
KJ: Let them be strong where they’re strong and you be weak where you're weak.
Living as a creative.
Have you ever felt your creativity made you feel isolated or different or misunderstood?
KJ: Yeah in high school, I never really fit in with any of the groups. Back then a ‘creative group’ didn’t exist. I wasn’t sporty, I wasn’t a nerd, I wasn’t a goth. High school was focused on a specific way of learning and living and thinking, and I didn’t fit into that. Being a creative kid didn’t exist.
AJ: Absolutely! Coming to c3 college was the first time I felt truly understood in a lot of ways. I think before that I misunderstood myself mostly. I didn’t really know what it meant to ‘be creative’ or that I was ‘creative’. I honestly wondered if I was mentally ill! It wasn’t until I sat in classes at college and heard the lecturers talk about the creative mind and the special set of side effects that come with being creative (that look surprisingly similar to mental illness) that I realised why I was the way I was. It genuinely changed my life and set me up for literally everything I am doing now.
Have you found ways to overcome that feeling?
KJ: I grew up. I found other people who thought the same way as me, who experienced life the same way. I read books about the creative mind and realised I wasn’t the only one.
AJ: I spent three years at C3 college.
What would your advice be to someone who is feeling that way?
KJ: You’re not the only one. There’s nothing wrong with you, you’re perfectly normal. You’re crazy, but you’re perfectly normal.
AJ: Go to C3 College! I know I’m sounding like a broken record right now, but I can’t recommend anything better.