I spent morning talking to Gaylene Gould, Cultural Explorer and Head of BFI Cinemas and Events about storytelling, about using imagination to explore vulnerability and kindness, and about making space for creativity.

“The thing that most pulls me through life is to understand who I am as a human being”

— Gaylene Gould

“If you are looking at creativity and imagination, you are driven by curiosity rather than goals. Creative endeavours are driven by exploration rather than outcomes”

— Gaylene Gould

“There needs to be an environment where you can feel that it’s ok to be curious and to simply explore”

— Gaylene Gould

“Everything is creativity in childhood, it’s how you navigate the world. And we all still have that.”

— Gaylene Gould

“What the imagination can do is condition us to spend our time watching and reading about really kind, compassionate people, and then believing that the world really is a kind place.”

— Gaylene Gould

“What we need to do is build more space for creativity – going for walks, looking out of the window, taking our minds off the task – and then the ideas start flowing.”

— Gaylene Gould

“Compassion really helps me. There is nothing that can erase the fact that we are human beings who feel pain. Life is hard and our feelings will get hurt – how can we move with some grace through this?”

— Gaylene Gould