Just two weeks ago, I had the privilege of speaking to this year’s Green County Leaders group at the Monroe Arts Center as part of a session on creative leadership.

Creativity gets a lot of credit. Credit for making things. Innovating. Motivating. As I listened to a handful of answers about how creativity is a part of different lives, it became increasingly evident that creativity shows up in all of us.

Standing in the Monroe Arts Center, it’s especially easy to see the finished products that creativity leads to…a historic church now filled with rotating exhibits, a dedicated performance hall, and areas for children to take classes.

What all of that signifies, and how it ties together, is that creativity is not necessarily about making art. It is about seeing possibilities. They are there in the ordinary. The answers shared in the group reflect that: rearranging their kid’s room, cooking without recipes, how you dress.

And speaking of finished products, we hosted our second Plein Air on the Square event at the beginning of the month. Plein Air is French for open air. Typically, people will sit outside and paint whatever they see, such as landscapes. Of course, for the people who participated, it was capturing activity at the farmers market, a building downtown, the changing colors of the trees.

Plein Air is a perfect example because the artists aren’t creating the scene. They’re taking time to pause and notice something that most of us might not.

Creativity has more to do with seeing possibilities and appreciating what is already there. That is a simple distinction, perhaps, but an important one.

A historic building, for example, can simply be an old building. It can also be a place for a new business. A storefront can be a storefront, or it can become a gallery for a local artist. An empty lot can remain an empty lot, or somebody can look at it and see a pocket park.

Same building. Same lot. Same downtown. Different imagination and different outcomes.

Marie Perry, the director of Monroe Arts Center, made the point during our session that the most important thing is that we try.

My hope, but really my belief, is that we keep finding new ways to make downtown as good as it can be.

Next Saturday, the 17th, will be our 4th annual art walk. We have 21 artists who will be spread out across 20 businesses, making downtown a very walkable gallery.

The art walk will feature returning artists and new artists, as well. We are still focusing on artists in our region, who I am convinced rival those anywhere in the state. The entire event started because a few dedicated volunteers wanted to highlight the creative expression and especially the visual arts in the area.

So yes, the art walk will be about seeing art in its finished stages. Jewelry, oil paintings, water colors, woodworking, mosaics, glass cutting. You name it. But the art walk is also about what happens when you put creativity in places where we’re already living. And hearing from the artists.

So I hope you attend the art walk next weekend, take some time to look around at the finished creativity, but also at all the things that are possible.

— Jordan Nordby is the executive director for Main Street Monroe. He can be reached at MonroeMainStreet@tds.net. Anyone interested in finding out more, including on how to volunteer, can at mainstreetmonroe.org.