What if sharing your creative work didn’t feel like a chore, but a celebration? That feeling is why Sam Furness created Release Day.

Born from his own struggles with procrastination, Release Day on May 29th is a collective deadline for launching your personal project and a ritual of accountability and support.

This story is part of a series celebrating people who participated in Release Day 2025. We hope their stories inspire you to join us this year.

Sam Furness is a cultural producer and the founder of Creative Quest, a global community and playground for people fueled by curiosity. In 2025, he launched the first Release Day.

(Please note that this interview has been edited for length and flow.)

Interviewer: What is Release Day?

Sam: In simple terms, it’s a 24-hour celebration where creative people collectively release their work. It’s a shared deadline for individual projects.

But the bigger ambition is to establish a new day in the creative calendar like World Book Day or Record Store Day. It’s a shared ritual of sharing the things that we’ve been working on and celebrating our creative lives.

Interviewer: How did the idea for Release Day come about?

Sam: It came in fragments. Part of it was realizing I was procrastinating on my own projects. I wanted a way of putting creative projects out in the world that feels less lonely.

Then I remembered working in the music industry. The day an album was released was always special. People would say “happy release day,” and it felt like a shared moment.

I missed that.

So, I started wondering: what would it look like if we created that feeling for all creative work?

^{Fragments of inspiration that lead to Release Day.}

Interviewer: Why do so many of us struggle to share our work?

Sam: There are so many reasons. Fear of what people will think, perfectionism, procrastination. A lot of it comes down to wondering if what we’ve made is “good enough.”

And often with personal creative projects, we don’t give them deadlines, because we associate deadlines with work. And we don’t want our personal projects to feel like an obligation.

What we’re trying to do with Release Day is reframe the deadline, not as something looming and stressful, but as something exciting. Like a festival you’re looking forward to.

Interviewer: You mentioned procrastination and perfectionism. Do those fears show up in your own work too?

Sam: All the time. I don’t believe anyone who says they don’t feel some kind of fear around sharing our work.

Every single thing that I’ve put out into the world that has felt fulfilling or has been successful is because I didn’t wait for the thing to be perfect before going for it.

It’s about publicly experimenting. Playing with an idea and seeing what happens.

It’s like being a runner. I did a marathon a few years ago. And you don’t just go straight to the marathon. You have to train, right? And actually, part of what makes you a better long-distance runner is getting better at running short distances faster.

And I think the same applies for working on creative projects. ‘I’m going to give myself a week to deliver this thing’ and I’m gonna learn some stuff along the way.

Interviewer: The funny thing about training for a marathon, you can’t do it just by thinking about running.

Sam: You have to run! In creative terms; getting to that book manuscript, or the art show, or the new website, or whatever it is that you’re working towards - it gets easier if you release things along the journey.

Dismantle the enormity of feeling like you have to run the entire thing right away.

Interviewer: You also run Creative Quests. What is a creative quest?

Sam: It’s a global community for people fueled by curiosity. We host learning programmes, live creative experiences and last year we released our first book. In our flagship Quest programme we set a theme for one calendar month and challenge people to immerse their curiosity in a shared theme. We host workshops, invite guest speakers, and set creative missions along the way.

^{Each Creative Quest explores a different theme.}

The world looks incredibly different when you channel your curiosity in a certain direction.

And when you have other people exploring with you, it multiplies your creativity.

Release Day became a natural extension. Questers take their explorations and the output becomes a release.

Interviewer: What makes creating in a community so powerful?

Sam: If we’re all working towards the same deadline, you’re actually growing an audience for your work, because suddenly Brian’s invested, Tina’s invested, all these people participating are invested in my project because they’re putting projects out too. And I’m invested in their projects too.

It’s like skateboarding.

At a skate park, everyone’s working on their own trick, but you’re cheering each other on, learning from each other. Seeing someone else nail their trick raises the bar for everyone.

Interviewer: Do you think it helps for people get past the self-consciousness of talking about their work?

Sam: I think it absolutely does. It’s a way of starting a conversation around being part of something bigger than yourself.

Interviewer: The default setting for a lot of creatives these days is just making an Instagram post. What are some other ways people can think about releasing a creative project?

Sam: Start with why you’re releasing. Think about what you want. Is it growing your profile as a creator or artist? Or maybe it’s because you just need to let this idea go. Or maybe it’s about building community where you live or online.

A release isn’t just the mechanical process. A release is a feeling. I did it! I did the thing that I wanted to do.

If you finish a painting, don’t just post a picture of it. Throw yourself a reception in your home. Invite your neighbours!

Depending on your goal, there’s all kinds of things you can do. You can put posters up around your town, you can make a zine, or put on a performance at a park.

One time, I took a giant laminated world map and sat on the steps by the sea in my town and asked people to tell me a story about places they’re been. We had amazing conversations and I met new friends.

^{An IRL release that fostered new connections.}

Interviewer: What are you most excited about Release Day this year?

Sam: Well, obviously the collaboration with CreativeMornings and Adobe.

Last year was a small experiment.

This year, we have all the programming in the lead-up to Release Day. Co-working sessions to help you focus and workshops with Adobe experts to help you develop your skills to actually bring your idea to life.

It culminates in Release Day but we’re traveling on a journey together to get there. It’s the road to Release Day!

We’re honouring each other’s their ideas and the act of putting them out in the world. Because the world needs what you’re making.

Interviewer: Speaking of bringing things into the world, you have a new baby. How has becoming a father changed how you think about your creative output or how you approach your creative practice?

Sam: Time is a very different resource now. My creative practice has always been very exploratory. Following my curiosity and seeing where it leads me.

There’s less opportunity right now while we have such a small child because I want to be around, support my partner. So, it’s making me re-evaluate, how do I still live a curiosity-fueled life?

Because there’s a lot of negative narrative that your own life stops when you become a parent.

But if questing has taught me anything, it’s hold your assumptions lightly.

What kind of creative life do I want my daughter to see? I want her to see me making things, being playful, taking risks. Not just sitting on a laptop and looking at my phone.

One day we’re going to explore together. That’s a big motivator.

^{This new Dad is still exploring.}

Interviewer: What are you releasing on Release Day this year?

Sam: I’m hoping to put out two things.

One is a song for my daughter that I’ve been writing for a while.

And I’ve been questing for 10 years, so I want to make a zine about 10 lessons from 10 years of living a curiosity-fueled, creative life.

Interviewer: I can’t wait to see that.

Sam: Seeing what everyone else releases in one of my favorite parts!

What are you going to release on May 29th?

Learn more about Release Day and join us