Education Research Current About VU Amsterdam NL
Login as
Prospective student Student Employee
Bachelor Master VU for Professionals
Exchange programme VU Amsterdam Summer School Honours programme VU-NT2 Semester in Amsterdam
PhD at VU Amsterdam Research highlights Prizes and distinctions
Research institutes Our scientists Research Impact Support Portal Creating impact
News Events calendar Woman at the top
Israël and Palestinian regions Culture on campus
Practical matters Mission and core values Entrepreneurship on VU Campus
Organisation Partnerships Alumni University Library Working at VU Amsterdam
Sorry! De informatie die je zoekt, is enkel beschikbaar in het Engels.
This programme is saved in My Study Choice.
Something went wrong with processing the request.
Something went wrong with processing the request.

Learn to master your own creativity

Sem01 (2025-2026) Mastering Creativity

The course Mastering Creativity offers an interdisciplinary approach of creativity, which will help you understand it and be creative in your own life.

Why Creativity?
Our future is an open question. More and more people struggle to find an adequate orientation on our reality, exposed to powers as climate change, digitization and migration. The elusiveness of the future asks for tools that help us in our understanding of the world around us, that enables us to imagine possible consequences of current developments and qualifies us to shape society. Tools that teach us how to translate our visions, values, principles and ideals into action. Creativity is of high importance, if we want to be able to imagine these possible alternative worlds and to actually realize innovation in thinking, learning and living.

Next to this problem-solving way of thinking about creativity there is the value way of thinking. Creativity in art, play, personal life (think about finding your style, your way of living and interaction with others) is of great importance to a human being. In a way, we are all creative in everyday live, just by choosing what to wear or which beauty we take in by looking at films, listening to music or choosing the colours on our wall.

What are we going to do?
The course has three pillars:

  1. Theoretical lectures that offer different perspectives of creativity,
  2. Reflection sessions with a practical approach and
  3. Direct observation of Creative Masters – leading creative figures within several professional fields.

The lectures will serve as input for a broad understanding of the concept of creativity, the reflection sessions will give you the opportunity to question the discussed ideas and to connect them to your personal life. Besides this, you will learn how to apply and combine several theoretical concepts. In the meetings with your creative master you will discuss her or his work, observe and use the experiences as inspiration for your own creative process as practical counterpoint of the offered theories.

Course details

  • Practical information

    Academic year
    2025-2026

    Semester
    1

    Period
    1, 2

    Day(s)
    Monday and Wednesday

    Time
    Mondays: 18:00-20:00; some lessons will be from 18:00-21:00
    Wednesdays: 18:00-21:00; some lessons will be from 18:00-20:00

    Number of meetings
    27

    Dates all meetings
    1, 3, 8, 10, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29 September
    1, 6, 8, 13, 15, 27, 29 October
    3, 5, 10, 12, 17, 19, 24, 26 November
    1, 3, 8 December

    Location
    Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam

    Room
    Tbd

    Credits
    12  (VD)

    Course Coordinator

    • Marijn Moerman (Philosopher and theatre maker)
  • Learning objectives

    After finishing the course

    • You are capable of defining a theoretically substantiated vision on creativity.
    • You are able to reflect on ethical, social, cultural, scientific and personal aspects of creativity and on your own (future) societal roles.
    • You are conscious of your own creative potential.
    • You are able to use your creative potential in concrete ways. You will find new ways to solve solutions and new ways of cooperating. You will create the perfect circumstances for your innovative and imaginative capabilities and discover how to translate them into solutions and decisiveness.
    • You are able to take ownership over your education by drafting, follow and evaluate your personal goals.
    • You are able to work together with and for others and give and receive constructive feedback.
  • Working formats & structure

    At the beginning of the program you choose your creative master within the tracks of politics and activism, entrepreneurship or art. Together with other students from the group, you are supposed to research creativity within the specific field. This is called ‘the master track’ and will take place outside the two weekly contact moments of the program. The first weekly lecture on Monday will cover the theory offered by several academical and practical experts, the second session on Wednesday is for practical reflection. Within these sessions there will be exercises such as visualization, creating a Gesammtkunstwerk, find solutions with The Pressure Cooker and practicing with different expressive media, such as writing, digital tools, performance, visual design.

    Who will guide this course?

    Thematical teachers, whom are expert within a certain theme and guarantee the quality of the substantive coherence of the components of the program (all to be confirmed):

    • Aynouk Tan (Fashion Philosopher and activist)
    • Dr. Laura van Steenbergen (Brain scientist)
    • TU Delft Dream Hall lecturer (name unknown)
    • Reina Ovinge (Sustainable entrepreneur Knitwit Stable)
    • Emma Heijdeman (Social creative entrepreneur & Buddhist)
    • Dr. Josephine Chambers (Assistant professor at the Urban Futures Studio)
    • Dr. Anna Snel (Economist and all-round change specialist)
    • Tahnee Didderen (Chairman of the Party for the Animals) and Igor Runderkamp (Member of the City Council Amsterdam, Labour Party)

    Theorethical subjects
    Creativity and neuroscience, philosophy, entrepreneurship, literature, sociology, art, psychology and politics

    Mastertracks

    The creative masters of the course will be (all to be confirmed):

    • Politics and Activism: Pelle Koppen (Campaign strategist and activist at BKB)
    • Art: Sijben Rosa (Visual artist)
    • Entrepreneurship: Ana Rangel (Art Director at DEPT Digital Agency)

    Practical subjects
    Creativity and art, politics, personal creative exploration and entrepreneurship

    Workgroup teachers
    The workgroup teachers are responsible for the practical assignments, reflection on the thematical teachers and the guidance of expression.

    • Marijn Moerman (philosopher and theatre maker)
    • Lot Frings (Homo Universalis)
  • Assessment methods

    There are three assignments:

    1. A flipped classroom: you teach your peers what you have learned in your track
    2. A personal work: you show your peers your personal fascination with the subject through a specific expressive form (film, dance, poetry, photography etc.)
    3. The final result of this course, a vision on creativity based on all discussed fields, will be ‘materialized’ and presented during an end event or product (f.i. a film, a website, an actual thing etc), that will be fully produced and created by the students of the course.

    Important note: this course is not graded. We work with attendance, contribution and the execution of the assignments to give you a pass or a fail.

Quick links

Homepage Culture on campus VU Sports Centre Dashboard

Study

Academic calendar Study guide Timetable Canvas

Featured

VUfonds VU Magazine Ad Valvas Digital accessibility

About VU

Contact us Working at VU Amsterdam Faculties Divisions
Privacy Disclaimer Veiligheid Webcolofon Cookies Webarchief

Copyright © 2025 - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam