Interview conducted by Katie Brown in the The Crossings’ series on creativity and diversity within Bethel University’s student body. The heart behind this series is to explore creativity in a broader sense and to be encouraged and inspired by the creatives on our campus and the things that they are doing.
Autumn Holtgren is a Senior majoring in Worship Arts at Bethel. She spends most of her time in either the library or the ER. Autumn likes listening to music, hiking, puzzles, and being outside.
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How would you define creativity?
I would say creativity is the ability to think outside the box and being able to take something and run with it as well as making it unique and your own.
How do you express your creativity?
For me personally, I am able to be more musically creative. I’m not really good at drawing, but I can sing a melody or some lines or phrases and create some sort of music that can speak to someone personally.
At what age did you discover your outlet?
I was in sixth grade. I discovered my passion for music through my church group when they gave me opportunities to lead, and they showed me ideas of different ways to worship.
Do you have a routine? If so, what is it?
I do not have a fully gotten-together routine, but I wake up, go to classes, go to work at the library, and sometimes in between that I’ll stop and play the piano, sing, or write whenever I consider it. It’s not necessarily a set time during my day, but more sporadic. My specific creative method is writing out melodies and then writing words and lyrics with the melody as well as creating and adjusting what I’m thinking about writing.
Where do you find inspiration?
A lot of the time, I find my inspiration in the Bible, through the word of prayer and conversations with other people and real-life experiences. All of that encompasses the music I write.
How do you balance your workload with being creative?
My focus right now is on school. I usually spend time getting my schoolwork done, going to work, and then the evening is where my creativity comes out. I go to what are called ‘Student Nights,’ where I go to the studio on campus and get with other students and sometimes just sit down and write down our ideas and share them. It’s a good outlet where we all come together and be creative and share our ideas with each other about music and stuff.
Is there a way that you specifically explore your creativity on campus?
I feel like walking and being outside because hearing other people’s thoughts can be ideas and being able to and having those translated into what my personal creativity is like.
Do you have any words of wisdom you’d like to give our readers?
For readers who are not feeling very creative, I would tell them to be creative in their own ways, and it doesn’t have to be art, it can be other things as well as long as you make it your own.
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