Meet the co-founders: Krzysztof Filipiuk

Today we’ll be introducing Kris – one of our co-founders and project managers.

What inspired you to co-found Creatosphere, and what do you hope to achieve through this organization?

Not What, but Who – I had the luck and the privilege to be assigned to be Toni’s mentor in Mentor the Young program. It quickly turned out that we have similar ideas, approaches to art and education, and dedication to those.

I have always walked the road of NGOs, from back in my scouting days in Poland, starting a board game association there, co-creating creative communities ever since I moved to Bulgaria more than 10 years ago… Always searching for like-minded people who cannot live without art and want to take it further, step at a time.

I know that the way I can best contribute to the lives of others around me, and what excites me the most, is helping others see something that they haven’t seen so far in themselves. These moments of “wow, I didn’t know I could create like this, express myself like this, that I have it in me”. It is worth living for, and if through Creatosphere we can help someone experience it – it’s worth the hustle.

How do you live through art in your daily life?

It’s as much living through art as arting through life. I feel expressing myself through art is the most liberating for me, and I like to think about life as a series of artistic choices. It takes the pressure off.

To give a less abstract answer, I play in a couple of musical projects, run quite regular poetry game workshops, organize community jam sessions, and other experimental forms of expression. I love meeting and getting to know people through art activities, as well as having in creativity my own personal refuge of solitude when it is needed.

How do you see Creatosphere making an impact in the community here in Sofia, Bulgaria, and beyond?

By bringing people together to do cool stuff. I think it is as simple and as complicated as that. I think that everything people need is already inside them, they just need enablers to let it out to the surface. Other people to be among, other ideas to explore, other resources to use, other spaces to be in, other types of events to attend, other types of expression to try, and other points of view to be challenged by. And I see Creatosphere as a vehicle of enablement, putting all of those on the table, and letting people play with it. And see what happens.

Can you share a moment when you witnessed the transformative power of art in someone’s life, and how it impacted you personally?

Years ago I was hired to do a one-time cultural workshop in an academy for priests. Entering a room with a dozen devoted, serious young men studying the laws of God, and announcing that by the end of the workshop, they would be writing poems. Seeing the “Is this a joke?” look on almost all of the faces, they weren’t really expecting this. And me and them being surprised, heart warmed, and touched by what they have created by the second hour. I just love it when people surprise themselves. When they tap into the potential they didn’t know they have in them, even if it is just a sneak peek.

As a founder of Creatosphere, what’s the most unexpected skill or talent you bring to the team?

Unexpected for a co-founder of an NGO based on creativity and artistic expression? Then I guess an unexpected skill would be that I’m fairly handy with Excel spreadsheets. And probably designing systems based on rules, giving structure to chaos. Because there is space for both sides of the world – wild garden, and strict architecture.

Finally, if you could sum up the mission of Creatosphere in one sentence to inspire others, what would it be?