Our Approach to Creativity

The CCC Project is grounded in the belief that creativity is not merely a skill to be developed, but a disciplined, reflective practice through which we learn to imagine, build, and inhabit meaningful lives.

Through a philosophically informed mentorship model, the Creative Youth Collective approaches creative work as a formative process—one that shapes not only writing, but the development of the self and a young person’s way of engaging with the world.

Meet our Mentors

The Creative Youth Collective is led by Kathryn Ian and Joshua Levi Ian Gentzke, whose work across the arts and humanities shapes a shared approach to creativity as a disciplined, reflective practice grounded in deep thinking, sustained work, and meaningful creative development.

Kathryn Ian
Founder, The CCC Project & Creative Youth Collective

Kathryn Ian is the founder of The CCC Project and the Creative Youth Collective, an arts and humanities initiative dedicated to cultivating imagination, creative agency, and long-form thinking through sustained mentorship. An interdisciplinary artist, musician, and educator, her work spans visual art, sound, and experimental narrative, with a sustained interest in how creative practice shapes perception, identity, and ways of being in the world.

She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Practice from California College of the Arts and an MA in the Theory and History of Contemporary Art from International University Bremen. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including SFMOMA, the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, among other venues in the United States and Europe.

As a mentor, Kathryn brings a studio-based sensibility to writing and creative inquiry, working closely with young authors over extended periods of time. Her approach emphasizes depth, attention, and process—supporting writers in developing strong creative work while cultivating sustainable practices and a clear, enduring creative direction.

Dr. Joshua Levi Ian Gentzke
Co-founder & Director of Creative Inquiry

Joshua Levi Ian Gentzke is a writer, musician, and scholar whose work explores imagination as a formative force in ethical, ecological, and personal life. He holds a PhD and MA from Stanford University in Modern Religious Thought, Philosophy, and Ethics, as well as an MA in the History of Religions from the University of Amsterdam. He was a Fulbright Scholar to the Netherlands, where his research focused on comparative traditions of imagination, mysticism, and ecological thought.

His scholarly work has been published by Cambridge University Press, Harvard’s Center for the Study of World Religions, and Routledge. In parallel with his academic work, he is an internationally released musician and the author of experimental fiction. His recent multimedia project, New Wilderness Gospel, brings together music, narrative, and visual art to explore resilience, meaning, and world-making in times of cultural and ecological crisis.

As a mentor with the Creative Youth Collective, Joshua works closely with young writers to develop long-form projects, reflective habits, and intellectual frameworks that sustain a lifelong creative practice. His approach emphasizes imagination as a disciplined mode of engagement with the world.

Our Approach to Mentorship

Mentorship is at the core of everything we do. We do not operate as a class, a workshop series, or a formula-driven program. Instead, we work through sustained, one-to-one mentorship that supports each writer through the full arc of a long-form creative project—from the earliest glimmer of an idea through revision, publication, and public presentation.

We believe that serious creative work develops over time, through attention, conversation, and trust. Our mentors work closely with each author to clarify and strengthen their voice, make thoughtful decisions about form and structure, and develop habits of reflection and revision that support lasting creative growth. This depth of engagement allows us to meet each writer where they are while also challenging them to move beyond what they already know.

Mentorship in the Creative Youth Collective is collaborative rather than prescriptive. We help writers articulate what they are trying to make—and why—while offering close guidance, honest feedback, and sustained intellectual partnership.

Because our work unfolds over extended periods of time, the outcomes are both creative and personal. Writers leave with a completed book and, just as importantly, a clearer sense of direction, a more resilient relationship to their process, and the tools to continue working independently.

Our Approach to Creative Work

Creative work, as we understand it, is a practice of shaping meaning—of imagining, testing, and bringing into being worlds that did not previously exist. Whether working in fiction, poetry, or experimental forms, writers are engaged not only in expression, but in making sense of experience and learning to inhabit their ideas with care, intention, and responsibility.

For this reason, we place particular emphasis on worldbuilding: the sustained imaginative work of creating coherent, meaningful worlds on the page. Through long-form projects, writers begin to see how ideas develop over time, how choices accumulate, and how imagination, reflection, and action intersect in lived experience.

We are especially happy to work with writers who are curious about how their work connects to larger questions of meaning, identity, ecology, culture, and possibility. Our program encourages experimentation and intellectual risk-taking, while grounding that freedom in rigor, revision, and sustained attention.

Ultimately, our aim is not only to support the creation of compelling work, but also, to help young writers develop a practice that can accompany them across many stages of life—one that fosters agency, depth, and a lasting relationship to imagination.