Toma Liutike: “Being a creator does not necessarily mean creating, you can simply live creatively”

Gargždiškė, Klaipėda Youth Theater communication and marketing specialist Toma LIUTIKĖ told why she fell in love with Gargždis all over again and how she came up with the idea of ​​founding a creative writing club, where like-minded people gather every Wednesday evening in the Jonas Lankutis Public Library of the Klaipėda District Municipality.
– You are from Gargždi, but you lived in Vilnius for a long time. Why did you move back to your hometown?
– My soul did not find a place in Vilnius. I wanted a quiet country, and Vilnius seemed endless to me. I returned to Gargždis 7 years ago, but in fact, I only just now started to rediscover them. At first, I thought I was taking a step back. Although my family and friends are here, I was confused for a long time. But over time, I began to see Gargždus differently. I realized that there are really many enthusiastic people here who have the motivation to create, to beautify the city with their ideas, to raise it to a higher level, and I really liked that, it changed the attitude. Now I really like Gargžda, as the local politicians said, it is a good playground. It is a place where you can try and see many things, because you know that you are surrounded by a cozy, familiar environment, a very friendly community. So this year I tried to “play” the circle of developers.
– How did the idea of ​​starting a creative circle come about?
– I have many friends who write, I write myself. One day I suddenly thought, why don’t we all get together. We could help and inspire each other. After the idea was born, at the beginning of the summer I bought a lot of books, read, analyzed, lived with this idea all the time and planned what we could do. It is very close to me. I studied journalism, created a magazine, now I work in the Klaipėda Youth Theater. Creativity has always been close to me, but I have never allowed myself to admit that I am a creator. Now that I understand that, I want to share it with others.
– Do you think everyone can create?
– I think that everyone. Some develop creativity from childhood, parents often help nurture it, others forget creativity, it is just stifled by the family. It is very easy to influence young people. It’s enough for parents to be in a bad mood, come back tired from work and say what kind of nonsense you drew or wrote here. Children take these words very deeply into their hearts and neglect their abilities. I have children myself and I see their desire to create. Therefore, I try to encourage them to draw, I am happy with every piece of work. Actually, I think all children are creative. Even those boys who like to play football. Just recently, a former classmate who is now a firefighter came up to me and told me, you know, I’m an artist too. And he organizes rally races in Gargždai in his spare time. He creates the event himself, spends all his money, his wife does not understand why the man does all this, wastes a lot of time, travels from Vilnius, but he likes it very much, he enjoys it. Creativity is not necessarily drawings, poems, poetry. Creativity is everywhere, it can spread widely. You don’t have to create, you can just live creatively and everyone can do it.
– What kind of people inspire you to live creatively?
– My teenage love was Jurga Ivanauskaitė. Now one of my favorite creators is Jonas Mekas. I recently read the book Lifetimes: John and Adolf Mekai. I really liked it, as I read it, I could feel their constant longing for their homeland, the rest of their family.
– You read a lot, what kind of literature do you like the most?
– Personally, I would like to read even more. Therefore, I encouraged all the girls in the creative circle to join the book club as well, so that we could all read fiction. Most of all, you have to choose professional books in order to improve, as well as about raising children and self-knowledge. But I like fiction classics or biographies the most, I want to spend more time on them.
“Are you still looking for yourself?”
– I think not anymore. Now I feel very good working in the theater, I’m writing a book, I founded a group. Everything is perfect. Both I work with marketing, where I strategize a lot, think about sales, and I am constantly surrounded by people with an artistic soul, with whom I get along very well and understand them. I am now at a place in my life where I feel really happy.
– And what is your favorite place in Gargždai?
– My favorite place in Gargždai is Minijos slenis. What magical mornings, when I swim in the river, I run. I spent my youth there, I lived nearby. To me, this is the most beautiful place in the world.
– What would you wish for people who are afraid to reveal their creativity?
– I would like to follow me (laughs – author’s note). In fact, it is very important first of all to want to reveal it and to pursue it. Then look for help, someone who will support you, help you and inspire you. And the most important thing is not to be afraid, it is a big step, it takes a lot of time, but you must dare. When you look for answers, you always find them.
Ieva MARTINKUTĖ
Vilnius University Journalism intern
Author’s photo.