CreativeMornings Santa Barbara – November

Join CreativeMornings Santa Barbara and host Michaela McGinnis, better known as Literally SB, for our next event! As a reminder, CreativeMornings is a breakfast lecture series for the creative community. Our monthly events are always free and open to everyone; each month, a theme is selected and covered for chapters around the globe. Check out more details for November’s theme below!

Our theme for November is DEVOTION. It was chosen by our Shenandoah Valley chapter in Virginia and illustrated by Matthew Phelan.

Creativity is often portrayed as a lightning bolt of inspiration that strikes in a flash. But most creative work is toiled over and tended to. Page by page, rehearsal by rehearsal, brushstroke by brushstroke. We feel called to bring our vision to life

For centuries, illuminated manuscripts, hand-written Qur’ans and Torahs, Buddhist sand mandalas, and Hindu temple carvings were made by people who didn’t separate making from praying. 

But creating doesn’t always feel like a revelation. The drafts that go nowhere. Practices when nothing clicks. Every sketchbook page you want to tear out. Every version you save then start over. You must keep the faith during the dry spells and blocks.

Practicing your craft is a ritual. It is an act of love. 

Our Shenandoah Valley chapter had this to say about the significance of this month’s theme:

“In a world constantly competing for our attention, “devotion” invites us to pause and ask: to what, or to whom, do we truly give ourselves? It is a return—a quiet, daily choosing. Devotion lives in what we tend to with care: creative practice, meaningful work, each other. Not loud, but steady. Not rigid, but rooted. It offers clarity amid distraction and asks: where do you place your attention, your love, your time? Whether in the calm of a morning ritual, the intention behind our art, or the care we offer our communities, devotion grounds us. As Mary Oliver’s Devotions reminds us, reverence lives in the everyday. Devotion is presence—a way of saying: this matters.”

Watch this video from our Shenandoah Valley chapter for more on what “devotion” means to them.

And remember, devotion is not blind loyalty. It opens your eyes to what is possible.