The January Challenge 2024: Facts, Feelings, and Reflections.
We’ve been crunching numbers, reading your feedback and reflecting on everything that happened over The January Challenge 2024!
What is the January Challenge?
The January Challenge is 31 days of fun, quick and accessible creative prompts. Each creative prompt is an invitation to ‘do, think and share’ - do something creative, think about your approach, or how it made you feel, and share in a way that is meaningful to you (share in your journal, with friends, family, your pet dog, or online with our friendly social media community.) The creative prompts are designed by people and communities right across the UK, and explore everything from music to making, poetry to people and dancing to drawing.
This year, with the support of Arts Council England and Arts Council Wales, we put together our biggest, and best campaign yet!
Over 160,000 people took part in The January Challenge 2024, right across the UK, and across the world. 93% of people agree that taking part had a positive impact on their wellbeing and have shared stories and reflections that capture joy, momentum, new connections and moments of learning about themselves and others.
“My children and I did the January challenge together. We loved the simplicity of the challenges though and that none of them required anything other than everyday resources.”
Who was involved?
The creative prompts were designed by the brilliant brains of 31 people, community groups and organisations. You can meet all 31 by clicking here (what a beautiful bunch!)
Together, we hosted and co-hosted 30 events, training sessions and workshops, with over 1,700 people coming along and taking part.
Events happened online, and in venues and spaces across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland. We created zines with Lea Cooper in Kirkcaldy, made stop-motion animation in Belfast with BlackBox, explored the forests of Llanrwst with Sian Wiliams, and made music with NEONE the Wanderer in Wolverhampton.
Ava Riby-Williams hosted a singing circle and Pan African celebration, Nathan Mann hosted a script-writing workshop for people with Autism and Zesty’s Collective hosted several Queer Crafternoons in Nottingham. We got masterclasses in poetry writing from the Children’s Laureate of Wales Alex Wharton, and the bear-hunting, chocolate-cake eating Michael Rosen (you can watch his workshop by clicking here.) 64 really went on tour!
Access is a fundamental component of The January Challenge and all of the events and workshops that happen alongside it! We worked with the brilliant BSL interpreter Vivi Valiamé to interpret online events, only ever work in accessible venues and consistently work as a team and with others to create accessible spaces, and to support Creativity Champions to do so too.
Subscribe to our events page to be the first to know about the exciting events coming your way. 🎉🚀
Being a Creativity Champion
Over the years, we’ve heard from people in different workplaces and group settings that The January Challenge has helped or inspired them to bring people together to get creative - and that doing so has kickstarted connections, conversations and community. We call these people Creativity Champions, and we create resources, training and networking opportunities to support Creativity Champions to make the most of January.
Creativity Champions are the people who work with people! They are people interested in how creativity shows up in groups, communities and the world around them, and interested in how that creativity can be a tool for positive change.
This year, over 2000 Champions downloaded the Creativity Champions Pack, which includes all 31 creative prompts ahead of time, including top tips for inclusive and creative facilitation.
We also worked with our brilliant partners CILIPS, Learning for the Fourth Age and Hill Care Homes to tailor the Pack for use in Libraries and Care Homes - and the Pack was available in the Welsh Language.
Are you a Creativity Champion in your workplace or local community?
All four resources are still available for FREE download and we programme training and networking sessions for Creativity Champions year round.
Make sure you’re on our mailing list to be in the loop of all upcoming opportunities.
The January Challenge experience
We’ve been going through all the feedback we receive each year that tells us more about the experience of taking part in The January Challenge. The key themes that emerge consistently are…
Community and Connection: People taking part value the sense of community and enjoy engaging with others' interpretations of the prompts. The feeling of being part of a creative community, sharing ideas, and supporting each other is often celebrated!
“To keep it simple, I loved the sense of community. No matter a person's perception of the prompt, all attempts were celebrated, and that, for me, made the experience.”
Mental Health and Wellbeing: Often, we hear from participants how taking part in the Challenge positively impacted their wellbeing and mental health, providing a focus, distraction, or outlet during difficult times. It helped them cope with challenges and brought joy or light into their lives.
Variety and Inspiration: As always, The January Challenge is 31 new creative prompts, designed by different people and communities. It’s a celebration of all sorts of ideas and interests! Participants appreciated the variety of prompts offered, finding them inspiring and thought-provoking. There’s something for everyone (and often people will stretch themselves to try out new things!). People enjoy the opportunity to explore different forms of creativity.
Personal Growth and Exploration: This year, many people reflected on The January Challenge as an opportunity for personal growth and self-discovery. It provided opportunities to explore new ideas, push boundaries, and develop creative skills. Some discovered hidden talents or found inspiration to pursue further creative endeavours…in fact, 84.6% of people agree that The January Challenge has inspired them to continue being creative!
Consistency and Routine: The daily prompts provided a sense of routine and structure for some people, helping them stay engaged and motivated. It became a regular part of their day and contributed to their overall wellbeing.
Fun: We hear consistently that The January Challenge is a source of FUN to the thousands of people that take part. And if we can have fun in January, exploring creativity, building community, supporting ourselves and others - then perhaps we can have fun in February and beyond.
“Having daily prompts inspired me to be creative everyday. I promised myself that no matter what the prompt was I would commit to doing it each day. Some, I started feeling it would not be for me - but in fact it turned into something new and exciting. On the last day, I joined the online group with the intention of not speaking and having the camera off. I soon put the camera on, joined in the small chat group and was then invited to share with everyone - which I did, and now feel so pleased and grateful to have had this opportunity. For me the creativity of art in all its forms gives me "headspace" and 64 Million Artists has given me confidence to create art without restrictions and expectations. Just Do It. Thank you all so very much.”
64 Million Artists is passionate about creativity because of its unique ability to put us back in touch with a part of ourselves, and connect with the world around us in a different way. We think that supporting others to do this has the possibility to have a profound effect on the world - and we are exploring those ‘Stories of Change’ throughout the year ahead. You can read more here and sign up to our mailing list to keep up to date with all of the latest news and opportunities.
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