‘Remove the risk and there is nothing left to make’: Crispy Studio Co-Founder reflects on creative sectors

Stephanie Bonello, Co-Founder of Crispy Studio, has shared her perspective on creativity and the risks involved in the industry, following controversial remarks made by Culture Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea.

Her comments come after the Minister described his first months overseeing the culture portfolio as “traumatic”, while reflecting on how his medical background had taught him to associate creativity with being “presumptuous” and “dangerous”.

In a LinkedIn post, Ms Bonello, who works in film and content production, took those same three words and explained how they form part of everyday life in the creative industry.

“Dangerous, yes. Every brief I take on starts by questioning something the client had already accepted,” she wrote, explaining that creative work often involves challenging existing ideas and finding new ways to tell stories.

She also argued that being presumptuous is an essential part of the creative process, as it requires believing that something better can be produced before there is any evidence that it will succeed.

“Take the presumption away and you are left with what already exists,” she said.

Addressing the Minister's description of his experience as traumatic, Ms Bonello highlighted the uncertainty that creative professionals regularly face, from starting a project with a blank page to discovering whether their ideas work during the editing process.

“We sit in that for a living and we do it again the next morning, because the alternative is to stop making things,” she wrote.

Ms Bonello stressed that creativity should not be viewed as a problem requiring management, arguing that risk, uncertainty and discomfort are fundamental to producing meaningful work.

“Remove the risk, the presumption and the discomfort and there is nothing left to make,” she said.

She also highlighted the wider importance of the creative industry, arguing that it plays a role in shaping how businesses establish their identities, how destinations attract visitors and how countries preserve their cultural memories.

“Those who carry creativity, and keep pushing to make it known, are the reason anyone remembers a place, a brand or a story at all,” she concluded.