“Connection”

Thank you for your interest in the Psychosynthesis Creativity Contest, which was announced recently in the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis’ Quarterly journal (December 2023 issue).

The theme of the inaugural AAP contest, which we believe is the first ever such competition in the psychosynthesis community, is “Connection”. We welcome submissions on this theme from AAP members and the wider PS community in all creative media: visual arts, poetry, music, paintings, prose, stories, film, photos, ceramics, multimedia, digital and others.

We have sent details out through a number of channels, and will be asking our partners in the various PS schools and institutes around the world to help give it as much publicity as possible.

Submission Guidelines

Please send your creative submissions to: creativitycontest@aap-pssychosynthesis.org   and mark For Creativity Contest in the subject line. We request that you include a short description/explanation of the work you have submitted, a short biography and contact details.

The closing date for entries is 31 December 2024. Please submit your work in any format that you prefer, but kindly note that we have limited technological resources and therefore can only accept submissions in standard formats such as JPEG or PNG, MP3/MP4 files, Word etc.

Entry is free for AAP members. Non-members are requested to make a small donation to the AAP (suggested $10) click here. If you would like to become a member of the AAP, click here.

Why are we doing this?

Psychosynthesis founder Roberto Assagioli wrote extensively about creativity, in the visual arts, music, literature and science and, in his well-known Star diagram, “imagination” is included as one of the essential psychological functions for Psychosynthesis.

There are numerous references to creativity, the arts and imagination throughout Assagioli’s work. He described the power of creativity as a vehicle for psychosynthesis and spiritual wholeness. “It would appear that in works of art, there is much more than mere aesthetic value; they constitute living forces, almost living entities, embodying a power which has suggestive and creative effects”.  (Psychosynthesis, 1965)

It seems appropriate to celebrate this aspect of his work in a Psychosynthesis creativity contest in a year that will mark the 50th anniversary of Assagioli’s death. Given the state of the world today, we thought the theme of “Connection” was appropriate for the inaugural contest.

Why a Contest?

We envisage this as a friendly contest intended to bring together the disparate parts of our wide and diverse Psychosynthesis community. We wanted it to be fun, and to spark dialogue within the world PS community. We do not want it to be about winning and prizes, but about the joy of creating and working together. For this reason, we decided to refer to it as a “contest” rather than “competition” but this was mainly to capture its emotional spirit rather than to be rigid about the terminology used to describe it.

Assagioli said: “Psychological training is a sport, a game. Do it with a sporting interest... smiling in a competitive spirit. Organise competitions with oneself and with others”. We hope the competition is fun, and leads to a dialogue within the PS community about the transformative power of creativity.

We will be celebrating the work submitted at the AAP 2025 conference in the United States. We are undecided at this stage whether we will select winner(s) from among the submissions, or simply celebrate their richness and variety. We will keep you informed as we get feedback and perspectives from around the PS community.

AAP Membership

We encourage those submitting creative work for the Creativity Contest to become members of the AAP. Membership fees are extremely reasonable, and you can find details of the benefits by clicking here.

 We are actively looking for new members and encourage you to send us an email if you would like to join the AAP to: membership@aap-psychosynthesis.org

Sponsors

We are currently looking for sponsors who may wish to support the contest. Please email info@aap-psychosynthesis.org if you would like to discuss sponsorship opportunities.

Call to action

Creativity knows no bounds! We hope the following words from Assagioli hope will encourage you to submit your work to the AAP Psychosynthesis Creativity Contest:

“Everyone must come to realize that criticism, disparagement, pessimism and predictions of failure are nothing less than poisons, whereas loving understanding, appreciation, encouragement and a healthy optimism are life-giving: they awaken dormant energies and can lead to a wonderful inner blossoming and precious works.”

Please submit your creative work, it will be welcomed with love and appreciation