Demography and Lifelong Learning: New strategy needed for the over-50s

[1 May 2009 - Independent Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning, sponsored by NIACE - Report by Professor Stephen McNair] Older people need more opportunities to learn if they are to actively contribute - rather than be a cost to society - during the twenty or more years they spend in 'retirement', a new study of learning and population changes reveals. The report - commissioned by the Independent Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning, sponsored by NIACE - argues that the current narrow focus on skills for work and on younger people is inadequate to meet the challenges of demographic change.  These challenges include:

• Most people can expect to spend one third of their lives in ‘retirement'.
• There are now more people over 59 than under 16.
• 11.3 million people are over state pension age.
• Life expectancy for a 65 year old today is now 85 for men and 88 for women.

Read "Demography and Lifelong Learning" (PDF)

Genius: The Modern View

[30 April 2009 - New York Times - Opinion by David Brooks] The key factor separating geniuses from the merely accomplished is not a divine spark. It's not I.Q., a generally bad predictor of success, even in realms like chess. Instead, it's deliberate practice. Top performers spend more hours (many more hours) rigorously practicing their craft. The recent research has been conducted by people like K. Anders Ericsson, the late Benjamin Bloom and others. It's been summarized in two enjoyable new books: "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle; and "Talent Is Overrated" by Geoff Colvin. More

On Sustainability and Collective Intelligence

[23 April 2009 - All Together Now (or, Can Collective Intelligence Save the Planet?) - MIT Sloan Management Review] Interview with Thomas Malone: "'Sustainability' as a concept doesn’t take into account that sometimes things are sustainable but aren’t good, and sometimes things are good but not sustainable. ...  Radically open computer modeling will be a key way to harness collective intelligence toward bigger picture goals." More

Innovating During a Downturn

[30 April 2009 - MIT Sloan Management Review] In the last 12 months, “innovation has become more important, not less,” according to Vijay Govindarajan. More

Multiple-intelligences theory helps charter teach children to learn

[April 2009 - Edutopia] A charter elementary school in Georgia is helping children better understand their learning styles, strengths and weaknesses under the multiple-intelligence approach. "In order to motivate and teach a child, you have to find out where their strengths are and what they're passionate about, and use that to move them in the direction of learning new skills," said Sally Meadors, the school's former principal. More

Visual Journals

[22 April 2009 - HOW blog] Designer Ken Carbone explains the importance of keeping a personal, visual journal in this video for Fast Company Magazine.

The five ages of the brain

[April 2009 - The New Scientist] Throughout life our brains undergo more changes than any other part of the body. These can be broadly divided into five stages, each profoundly affecting our abilities and behaviour. But we are not just passengers in this process, so how can we get the best out of our brains at every stage and pass the best possible organ on to the next? New Scientist investigate. More

Scientists show how a neuron gets its shape

[3 April 2009 - Rockefeller University via EurekAlert!] For the brain to work, neurons have to be connected in the right places. Now, new research shows that rather than growing like the branches of a tree -- extending outward -- certain neurons work backward from their destination, dropping anchor and stretching their dendrites behind them as they crawl away. More

Managing innovation: Pages from Alessi’s handbook

[3 April 2009 - McKinsey Quarterly] In February, we published an interview with Alberto Alessi, head of the iconic houseware design firm in Italy. Alessi talked with the Quarterly about how the firm manages to sustain innovation over decades. The multimedia interactive featured here offers a behind-the-scenes look at the design and operational processes of one of the world's best-known design firms. The feature showcases Alessi's formula for evaluating the risks and rewards of new product designs. It also includes video commentary by Alberto Alessi and a narrated slide show on the design firm's roots in open innovation. More

Author: Educated girls are key to peace

[14 March 2009 - Inservice, ASCD Blog] Author and activist Greg Mortenson says he places high value in educating girls around the world, pointing to statistics showing that in countries where girls are educated, infant mortality is lower, population growth is more sustainable and the overall quality of life is improved. Mortenson says education is a conduit to peace because ignorance fosters only hate. More

A practical guide to managing innovation

[24 March 2009 - INSEAD Knowledge] What does innovation mean? It used to relate mainly to products and that's still important. But over the last decade or so, businesses have been putting more and more emphasis on innovating new services and business models as well. In light of this, it's time companies take another look at how they manage innovation. More

The Key to Job Creation: New Ideas

[12 March 2009 - CNBC via FastTrac Highlights] Carl Schramm appeared on CNBC's Street Signs with Erin Burnett yesterday. The segment featured the message that entrepreneurs are the key to the economic recovery and told the story of Daniel Kivatinos, a laid off information technology worker who took a FastTrac program offered by ITAC in New York with a college buddy: Michael Nusimow. They are now both working full-time on their company: Dr. Chrono, which provides online appointment and billing services to doctors' offices. More

Book Review: Chasing the Dance of Life

[17 March 2009 - Book Review by Connie Tyler (via Facebook)] Chasing the Dance of Life, by Cynthia Winton-Henry -- A review by Connie Tyler

Want to laugh and cry, and say, "Oh, my?"

And then, "Oh, yes, oh, yes?"

Read Cynthia Winton-Henry's new book, Chasing the Dance of Life – a faith journey.

Cynthia, co-founder of InterPlay, speaks with candor and honesty about her struggle to find a place in the world for her dancing spirituality. She says of herself, "What do you do if you hear voices or see things? ... You should shut up. However, if there are voices that prod you to quench the thirst for big human needs like Love, Justice, and Freedom, you might become a blabbermouth performance artist like me." (p. 9) Like a ballerina doing tour jette's in a china shop, Cynthia plunges into confrontation with church officials and august parishioners, while we stand with our mouths open in admiration and fear.

She starts with her struggles as a child, teenager, and college student to pull her love of dance and her spiritual inclinations together. Her joy at finding Carla DeSola, Doug Adams, Pacific School of Religion, Judith Rock, and the Sacred Dance Guild is tempered by the struggle as an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to carry dance into the church. When, eventually, she finds she needs to renounce her ordination she doesn't just slip away from the church, she demands the right to have a ceremony of de-ordination to counter the ordination ceremony.

She wrote this memoir specifically to show why she eventually renounced her ordination, but her struggles go beyond just the struggle with this particular denomination or even with "the church" in its larger sense. She is struggling with the way of life she grew up with, finding new ways to approach people who are different, new ways to live in a material world, new ways to see our world, our life.

When subtle acts of humming birds and eagles speak to her, she dares to see them as prophecy. She analyzes marriage and comes up with new metaphors that better fit reality than the older ones that don't seem to work. She jumps dancing feet first into life and discovers, "For young or old, the universe loves a dancer." (p. 216)

And the message? She says:
Stubborn standers, beware.
Planted on twin pillars
Of righteousness
And self-righteousness
Your footing stiffens
In that precarious pose.
Resist -- you stand against.
Consist -- you stand with.
Persist -- you stand through.
Insist -- you stand in.
All stands degrade.
Want peace?
Release your footing.
Dance life's stubborn dance

(Winton-Henry, Cynthia, Chasing the Dance of Life – a faith journey, Berkeley, CA, the apocryphile press, 2009, 255 pp)

On Hope

"Hope doesn't come from calculating whether the good news is winning over the bad. It's simply a choice to take action." -- Anne Lappé

Why Bad Times Nurture New Inventions

[13 March 2009 - New York Times - Opinion] With consumer confidence plunging, the jobless rate rising and the gross domestic product falling at a rate second only to the decline seen in the 1982 recession, there's little hope of good economic news anytime soon. But some economists and historians point out that such fallow ground can make a fertile bed for seeds of innovation and invention. What kinds of businesses thrive in recessionary times? How do entrepreneurs get a running start in a recession? More

Help Support Strong Arts in Connecticut -- a Budget Issue

Please read the following letter written by artist Mark Patnode to Connceticut Gov. Rell. And then consider sending your own letters to the governor and your Connecticut legislators.

Steve Dahlberg
International Centre for Creativity and Imagination
Willimantic, Connecticut
http://www.appliedimagination.org

================

Governor M. Jodi Rell March 8, 2009
Executive Office of the Governor
State Capitol
210 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Dear Governor Rell,

As the focus of much of government turns to the financial sector and the word "crisis" is foremost in the media's dialogue, it is important to remember the fundamental contribution The Arts make in our culture and to our cultural stability. Yet, in Connecticut the artistic endeavor is
being undermined.

For example, the proposed incorporation of the Commission on Culture and Tourism (CCT) into the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is not a hallmark of efficiency; but rather it is a damaging consolidation. Keep in mind, of the 50 state arts agencies; CCT is the only state arts agency to not define itself as arts-centric. No other state is making arts as inaccessible, or proposing such consolidations. Should Connecticut have the dubious distinction of taking a lead role in arts exposure reduction?

Often the arts are considered frivolous and non-essential to education. I would contend that society is measured by its art, architecture and literature. Furthermore, science and art are not mutually exclusive. You may be aware that the Mars space rover unfolded from its transport ship because the NASA engineers were familiar with origami, the Japanese art of paper folding. This is a wonderful example of the confluence of art and science. Children learn in different ways and the language of art makes that learning more accessible.

As The Constitution State, Connecticut has a distinction of leadership. As Governor, your exemplary contributions can help ensure Connecticut arts programs continue to lead. Respectfully, I suggest the following:

1. Assure the arts division will maintain staffing and funding to carry out their work.
2. Ensure the right staff are in place and available to meet the challenges.
3. Creation of a Volunteer Arts Advocacy organization, similar to Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, to maintain Connecticut Arts posture and integration.
4. Convene a forum to assess the status and needs of CCT arts programs.

Through CCT, I have been featured on the cover of the CCT Teaching Artist Directory (left), my work is displayed in Senator Lieberman's Washington, DC office as part of CCT's Art in Public Spaces program, and Senator Lieberman selected me as Connecticut's 2008 White House
Christmas Ornament Artist. I mention this, not out of self-interest or self-promotion, but to establish credibility.

Sincerely,

Mark Patnode

Making the Sale: How to Pitch Your Ideas

[ March 2009 - Leading Effectively - Center for Creative Leadership] In the best of times, it can be a fight to get your ideas implemented at work. In today's organizations -- where resources are under siege and uncertainty abounds -- advocating for your approach, idea or product is tougher than ever. The time is right to take a more disciplined approach to pitching your ideas, says CCL's Harold Scharlatt, author of Selling Your Ideas to Your Organization. "If you don't have a strategy for selling your idea, you put yourself, your group and potentially your organization at risk," says Scharlatt. "If you have a project that you believe will improve the organization, you've got to find the best approach for getting it implemented. You can't afford a false start," says Scharlatt. To be successful in getting other people to consider and adopt your ideas, you need to consider two important things: the environment and your tactics. More

Can Fearful Memories Be Erased?

[13 March 2009 - Talk of the Nation - NPR] Scientists studying how the brain forms memories have found that by targeting brain cells expressing a certain gene in mice, they can erase a fearful memory association days after the event. Steven Kushner and colleagues describe the research in the journal Science. More

Isolating creativity in the brain - On improv, music, the brain and creativity

[5 March 2009 - The Harvard University Gazette] How -- exactly -- does improvisation happen? What's involved when a musician sits down at the piano and plays flurries of notes in a free fall, without a score, without knowing much about what will happen moment to moment? Is it possible to find the sources of a creative process? Aaron Berkowitz, a graduate student in ethnomusicology at Harvard, and Daniel Ansari, a professor in the psychology department of the University of Western Ontario, recently collaborated on an experiment designed to study brain activity during musical improvisation in order to get closer to answering these questions. The Harvard Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative awarded the collaborators a grant to look at musical improvisation in trained musicians, utilizing brain scans done with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology. Their paper, Generation of Novel Motor Sequences: The Neural Correlates of Musical Improvisation," was published in the journal NeuroImage, and received the journal's 2008 Editor's Choice Award in Systems Neuroscience. More

'Mind-reading' experiment highlights how brain records memories

[12 March 2009 - EurekAlert! / Wellcome Trust] It may be possible to "read" a person's memories just by looking at brain activity, according to research carried out by Wellcome Trust scientists. In a study published today in the journal Current Biology, they show that our memories are recorded in regular patterns, a finding which challenges current scientific thinking. Demis Hassabis and Professor Eleanor Maguire at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging at UCL (University College London) have previously studied the role of a small area of the brain known as the hippocampus which is crucial for navigation, memory recall and imagining future events. Now, the researchers have shown how the hippocampus records memory. When we move around, nerve cells (neurons) known as "place cells", which are located in the hippocampus, activate to tell us where we are. Hassabis, Maguire and colleagues used an fMRI scanner, which measures changes in blood flow within the brain, to examine the activity of these places cells as a volunteer navigated around a virtual reality environment. The data were then analysed by a computer algorithm developed by Demis Hassabis. "We asked whether we could see any interesting patterns in the neural activity that could tell us what the participants were thinking, or in this case where they were," explains Professor Maguire, a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow. "Surprisingly, just by looking at the brain data we could predict exactly where they were in the virtual reality environment. In other words, we could 'read' their spatial memories." More

An Undaunted Soul

They think of me as a scholar, an intellectual, a pen-pusher.
And I am none of them.
When I write, my fingers
get covered not in ink, but in blood.
I think I am nothing more than this:
an undaunted soul.

-- Words Nikos Kazantzakis used to describe himself in 1950

On the Creative Life

"Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives ... most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the results of creativity ... when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life." -- Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (h/t: aestheticflow)

On the Creativity of Young People

"Our future depends on the creativity of young people. And how to do you stimulate young people? By getting them to ask questions of themselves. This work is a battery of ideas, as Joseph Beuys would say, which can recharge and fire the batteries of young people." -- Anthony d'Offay (More)

Special People Deal with the Unknown and Unknowable and Make Things Up

[5 March 2009 - The Guardian (UK)] Facts are tedious. People who put great store by them even more so. Who wants to be stuck with the club bore or local know-it-all? Yet last week the country went weak at the knees before members of Oxford University's Corpus Christi quiz team, winners (and now, losers) of a TV panel show. Why? Just because they were able to chime back some speedy answers to some fairly arcane questions. Now they are being told they are special. They are not. Special people don't deal with facts; they deal with the unknown and the unknowable. Special people like to make things up. More

[Plus, read more in this same article about German artist Joseph Beuys -- "My life in art: How Joseph Beuys convinced me of the power of conceptual art" ... Beuys's strange work changes the status quo into a world where facts and fiction are indistinguishable]

Developing entrepreneurship among the world’s poorest

[McKinsey Quarterly - March 2009 Newsletter] In this video interview with Jacqueline Novogratz, posted alongside an excerpt from her new book, The Blue Sweater, she shares her experiences, from encouraging entrepreneurs in Africa to founding and running a "venture" philanthropy. More

Everyone an Artist

Global voices calling for the development of "every human being (as) an artist" (Joseph Beuys). Shot by Steven Dahlberg at Weimar Sommerkurse 2007 in Weimar, Germany.

The Valentine Peace Project

[11 February 2009 - Ode Magazine - Blog - By Susan Corso] The Valentine Peace Project was created to expand the vision of Valentine's Day to include public participation in creative peace action. On February 14 poems surrounding the themes of peace, love and community, will be wrapped around thousands of different flowers in various cities to give away. The mission is to rediscover some of the mystery and magic of love and how that relates to peace. What does Valentine's Day mean to you? More

Loneliness as Harmful as Smoking - Loneliness Affects Brain

[16 February 2009 - Psych Central News] A new study finds that social isolation affects not only how people behave, but also how their brains operate. University of Chicago scientists presented their research, "Social Emotion and the Brain," at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The work is the first to use fMRI scans to study the connections between perceived social isolation (or loneliness) and activity in the brain. Combining fMRI scans with data relevant to social behavior is part of an emerging field examining brain mechanisms. Researchers found that the ventral striatum -- a region of the brain associated with rewards -- is much more activated in non-lonely people than in the lonely when they view pictures of people in pleasant settings. In contrast, the temporoparietal junction -- a region associated with taking the perspective of another person -- is much less activated among lonely than in the non-lonely when viewing pictures of people in unpleasant settings. ... John Cacioppo, one of the nation's leading scholars on loneliness, has shown that loneliness undermines health and can be as detrimental as smoking. About one in five Americans experience loneliness, he said. Decety is one of the nation's leading researchers to use fMRI scans to explore empathy. More

Selling Culture as an Economic Force ... Saving Federal Arts Funds

[15 February 2009 - New York Times] The challenge for culture boosters in Congress was to convince a House-Senate conference committee that the arts provide jobs as other industries do, while also encouraging tourism and spending in general. "We had the facts on our side," said Representative Louise M. Slaughter, a New York Democrat who is co-chairwoman of the Congressional Arts Caucus. "If we’re trying to stimulate the economy, and get money into the Treasury, nothing does that better than art." ... As the details of the final bill were being hammered out, tens of thousands of arts advocates around the country were calling and e-mailing legislators. Arts groups also organized an advertising blitz arguing that culture contributes 6 million jobs and $30 billion in tax revenue and $166 billion in annual economic impact. The tide turned. In addition to preserving the $50 million allocation, the final bill eliminated part of the Senate amendment that would have excluded museums, theaters and arts centers from any recovery money. "It’s a huge victory for the arts in America," said Robert L. Lynch, the president of Americans for the Arts, a lobbying group. "It's a signal that maybe there is after all more understanding of the value of creativity in the 21st-century economy." That Senate amendment, proposed by Tom Coburn, Republican of Oklahoma, had grouped museums, theaters and arts centers with implied frivolities like casinos and golf courses. More

On Education - Our Greatest National Shame

[15 February 2009 - New York Times - By Nicholas Kristof] So maybe I was wrong. I used to consider health care our greatest national shame, considering that we spend twice as much on medical care as many European nations, yet American children are twice as likely to die before the age of 5 as Czech children -- and American women are 11 times as likely to die in childbirth as Irish women. Yet I'm coming to think that our No. 1 priority actually must be education. That makes the new fiscal stimulus package a landmark, for it takes a few wobbly steps toward reform and allocates more than $100 billion toward education. ... So for those who oppose education spending in the stimulus, a question: Do you really believe that slashing half a million teaching jobs would be fine for the economy, for our children and for our future? More

Richard Florida on How the Crash Will Reshape America

[March 2009 - The Atlantic - By Richard Florida] The crash of 2008 continues to reverberate loudly nationwide -- destroying jobs, bankrupting businesses, and displacing homeowners. But already, it has damaged some places much more severely than others. On the other side of the crisis, America’s economic landscape will look very different than it does today. What fate will the coming years hold for New York, Charlotte, Detroit, Las Vegas? Will the suburbs be ineffably changed? Which cities and regions can come back strong? And which will never come back at all? More

How to fix the innovation gap: A conversation with Judy Estrin

[15 January 2009 - The McKinsey Quarterly] In this video interview, the author of Closing the Innovation Gap: Reigniting the Spark of Creativity in a Global Economy says we are living off the previous generation's research investments and thus failing to make the basic research investments needed to seed innovation in the future. Estrin taps her years of experience in nurturing Silicon Valley companies to describe what’s necessary to help new ideas thrive. She also offers some advice to the incoming administration on how to begin reinvesting in fruitful research. More

Ken Robinson Encourages Creativity, Passion and Talents

[15 January 2009 - Applied Imagination - By Steven Dahlberg, International Centre for Creativity and Imagination] Creativity writer and consultant Ken Robinson launched his new book, "The Element," last night at the Ridgefield Play House in Connecticut at an event sponsored by The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.

Robinson began by reminding the audience of the power of the imagination. "All cities owe their existence to imagination," he said. "It's this power of imagination will take us into the future -- or not. And it's this kind of imagination that's most at risk. I think we squander it. Not only squander it -- but suppress it ruthlessly."

Robinson went on to talk about his concept of "the element," which includes:

1. Discovering what one's talents are. Doing something for which one has a natural aptitude. Doing something with which one resonates. "Many people have never discovered their real, natural talents."
2. Doing something one loves to do. "People achieve their best when they do what they love."
   

"Aptitude has to meet passion," he said. "And you'll never 'work' again."

He said finding one's element(s) is not only essential to finding personal fulfillment, purpose and meaning, but it's essential to the balance of our communities. Plus, he said it has a bottom-line economic implication. "We are living in times of absolute revolution," he told the audience of more than 500 people. "Revolution demands that we think differently."

He urged people to pay attention to what assumptions they make and what they take for granted. "Things we take for granted turn out not to be true," he said.

Robinson suggested this country has a "crisis of human resources" in which people area unaware of what they are good at, what talents they have, and how to do what they love to do. "Human resources are often buried deep," he said. "You have to go looking for them."

He said the conditions need to be right for these resources to reveal themselves -- and then one has to be ready to do something with them when they appear. He used the example of the flowering of the normally barren Death Valley in 2005 as an example how deeply buried seeds can lay dormant for scores of years waiting for the conditions to be right to sprout and flower. "Death Valley is dormant, not dead," he said.

Photo taken in the Ashford Mill and Jubilee Pass area by Ranger Alan Vanvalkenburg

As always, Robinson critiqued education's overemphasis on particular kinds of thinking and learning (a la his TED presentation on "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" which has been viewed online by a couple of million people).

"Education was devised to develop a particular type of talents," he said, adding that people think they are not smart because of the hierarchy of what kind of thinking is taught and shown importance.

Robinson shared what the three founders of The Blue Man Group are doing to address the lack of creativity in education. They have founded The Blue School. This will be something to watch -- if not participate in.

His final message came from the tag line of his book:
"Finding your passion changes everything."

===

I was honored to also participate in a pre-lecture Roundtable on "Innovation in Our Schools" with colleagues from education, arts, business and government. The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum hosted the Roundtable as a means of bringing together creativity advocates from different fields to move forward creativity and education topics. The question the Aldrich organizers asked was:

"What does it look like, feel like and sound like when all of the partners in a student's learning community (i.e. peers, teachers, administrators, parents, coaches, community organizations, businesses, etc.) model creativity and innovation in a way that serves the student?"

A brief summary of responses included suggestions to focus on:

• What "success" looks like and how it is defined -- and to include such components as passion, talents and creativity, as described above by Ken Robinson.
• Mentoring.
• The power of process.
• Communicating creative and critical thinking processes.
• The "making" of things.
  

Mead on Diverse Unity

[12 January 2009 - Higher Awareness] "If we are to achieve a rich culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place." -- Margaret Mead

Urban Education Commentary

[8 January 2009 - Annenberg Institute for School Reform] Annenberg Institute Executive Director Warren Simmons speaks out to president-elect Barack Obama, on ways to improve urban education. ... In this inaugural "speak out" message, Simmons suggests three areas the new administration can address:

• Building "smart education systems.”
• Changing the nature of teaching as a profession.
• Redefining the role of parents and communities in education.

These three proposals are far from the only areas of federal policy that affect education in urban communities. Our work, though, shows that they are high-leverage ideas that, if enacted, could substantially improve outcomes among urban youths. The Annenberg Institute stands ready to provide you and your staff any additional information you might need about these or any other ideas, and we will do whatever we can to help put these ideas into practice, if you so choose. More

WindhamARTS Hosts Creativity Networking With New York Composer/Violinist Roumain

[6 January 2008 - International Centre for Creativity and Imagination - By Steven Dahlberg] New York-based composer, performer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain will be featured at the WindhamARTS Collaborative’s Creativity Networking event, which will explore “Threads of Creativity in Art and Science.” It will be held Wednesday, January 7, 2009, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at The Annex at WindhamARTS, 866 Main Street, Willimantic, CT, 06226. The event is $5 and open to all; RSVP to 860-450-1287.

Roumain will be joined by artist Imna Arroyo, scientists Hedley Freake and Christian Brueckner, creativity educator Steven Dahlberg, and the public to explore the intersection of creativity, art and science. This event is in collaboration with the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts and the University of Connecticut's "Year of Science 2009” project.

The monthly Creativity Networking Series is sponsored by the WindhamARTS Collaborative and the International Centre for Creativity and Imagination. It provides a regular forum for people to explore the many facets of creativity and to discover other people interested in creativity. Additional support comes from the Willimantic Brewing Company.

Roumain will return to Connecticut for a bicentennial celebration and performance of his composition, "Darwin's Meditation for The People of Lincoln," on February 12, 2009, celebrating that auspicious day of February 12, 1809, when Darwin and Lincoln were born within hours of one another. This performance launches the University of Connecticut’s "Year of Science 2009." More information about the performance is available here. Ticket information is available online.

ABOUT THE GUESTS:
Known for fusing his classical music roots with a myriad of soundscapes, Haitian-American artist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) has carved a reputation for himself as a passionately innovative composer, performer, violinist and band leader. His exploration of musical rhythms and classically-driven sounds is peppered by his own cultural references and vibrant musical imagination. As a composer, his dramatic soul-inspiring pieces range from orchestral scores and energetic chamber works to rock songs and electronica. According to the New York Times, his "eclecticism was wide-ranging as ever" in One Loss Plus, DBR's evening-length, multimedia work for electric/acoustic violin, prepared/amplified piano, electronics, and video which debuted at BAM's 2007 Next Wave Festival. The second commission, which premiered at BAM's 2008 Next Wave Festival is "Darwin's Meditation for the People of Lincoln," a musical setting of a new pocket play by Daniel Beaty exploring an imagined conversation between Darwin and Lincoln featuring the chamber orchestra SymphoNYC, and internationally renowned Haitian recording artist Emeline Michel.

Artist Imna Arroyo was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico. Her work is in numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art Library/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection, Yale Art Gallery and Schomberg Center for Research and Black Culture. She is a professor of art at Eastern Connecticut State University, where she has chaired the Visual Arts Department.
www.imnaarroyo.com

Hedley Freake is a professor at the University of Connecticut in the Department of Nutritional Sciences, with a joint appointment in molecular and cell biology. He holds a Ph.D. in physiology from the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London. His research has been funded by National Institutes of Health and United States Department of Agriculture. His laboratory uses molecular approaches to address questions of nutritional significance.
www.canr.uconn.edu/nutsci/nutsci/hpg/freake.html

Christian Brueckner is a professor of bioinorganic and inorganic chemistry at the University of Connecticut, where he runs a lab that specializes in the synthesis of molecules with designed properties -- or, creating molecules.
bruckner.chem.uconn.edu/

Steven Dahlberg heads the Willimantic, Connecticut-based International Centre for Creativity and Imagination, which is dedicated to applying creativity to improve the well-being of individuals, organizations and communities. He is a faculty member and associate director of the Creative Community Building Program at the University of Connecticut. Dahlberg authored the foreword to the book, "Education is Everybody’s Business: A Wake-Up Call to Advocates of Educational Change."
www.appliedimagination.org

ABOUT WINDHAMARTS:
The WindhamARTS Collaborative is comprised of member arts organizations and individuals who came together in 2001 to foster and promote the arts and cultural life of the Windham region. Its goal is to maintain a multicultural, multidisciplinary, and multifaceted arts center where artists and artisans can interact with the public by sharing their creative endeavors.
www.windhamarts.org

Harvard Business School Discusses Future of the MBA

[24 November 2008 - Harvard Business School Bulletin] The MBA industry is in turmoil. Many business schools are revisiting their offerings to see if they still have relevance in the 21st century. And HBS is using its centennial year to convene worldwide experts on business education and plot its directions for the next 100 years. Key concepts include: Critics claim MBA programs put too much emphasis on theory and not enough on leadership in a global environment. A number of top MBA programs have retooled their offerings. HBS is looking at several change proposals, including the development in students of "soft skills." Whatever curriculum changes HBS ultimately adopts, the School will remain committed to the case method. More

Having Happy Friends Can Make You Happy

[5 December 2008 - Harvard Medical School] If you're happy and you know it, thank your friends -- and their friends. And while you're at it, their friends' friends. But if you're sad, hold the blame. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego, have found that "happiness" is not the result solely of a cloistered journey filled with individually tailored self-help techniques. Happiness is also a collective phenomenon that spreads through social networks like an emotional contagion. In a study that looked at the happiness of nearly 5,000 individuals over a period of 20 years, researchers found that when an individual becomes happy, the network effect can be measured up to three degrees. One person's happiness triggers a chain reaction that benefits not only their friends, but their friends' friends, and their friends' friends' friends. The effect lasts for up to one year. The flip side, interestingly, is not the case: Sadness does not spread through social networks as robustly as happiness. Happiness appears to love company more so than misery. More

On Creative Leadership

[5 January 2008 - The Writer's Almanac] Journalist Herbert Bayard Swope
said: "I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the
formula for failure -- which is: Try to please everybody."

On Writing and Community

[31 December 2008 - The Writer's Almanac] Junot Díaz said about writers:
"What we do might be done in solitude and with great desperation, but it
tends to produce exactly the opposite. It tends to produce community and
in many people hope and joy."

Museums alienate public from arts, says think-tank Demos

[9 December 2008 - Telegraph - London, UK] Most people feel "alienated" from the arts because many of the people who run them are "cultural snobs" who believe pursuits like opera and theatre need to be "defended from the mob," according to the think-tank Demos. More

Tony Buzan: Brain play - the never-ending story

[15 December 2008 - TrainingZone.co.uk] It's hard not to feel exhausted after talking to Tony Buzan, the brain-power guru best known for his Mind Mapping techniques, for Buzan is a man who never tires, who endlessly achieves and whose commendable positive attitude never fails - he is a veritable example of how to enjoy life to the full. Annie Hayes reports. ... Plus, "Seven Steps to Making a Mind Map." More

On Creative Thinking ... and Being

"Touch me with madness, that I might dance out this frenzy of reason." — James DePreist

Obama on Arts, Education, Science and Discovery in the White House

7 December 2008 - By Steven Dahlberg

A few hours ago, at the end of his interview with Tom Brokaw, President-Elect Barack Obama talked about the importance of culture, arts, education and science.

[7 December 2008 - NBC Meet the Press] MR. BROKAW: Let me ask you as we conclude this program this morning about whether you and Michelle have had any discussions about the impact that you're going to have on this country in other ways besides international and domestic policies. You're going to have a huge impact, culturally, in terms of the tone of the country.

PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Right.

MR. BROKAW: Who are the kinds of artists that you would like to bring to the White House?

PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: Oh, well, you know, we have thought about this because part of what we want to do is to open up the White House and, and remind people this is, this is the people's house. There is an incredible bully pulpit to be used when it comes to, for example, education. Yes, we're going to have an education policy. Yes, we're going to be putting more money into school construction. But, ultimately, we want to talk about parents reading to their kids. We want to invite kids from local schools into the White House. When it comes to science, elevating science once again, and having lectures in the White House where people are talking about traveling to the stars or breaking down atoms, inspiring our youth to get a sense of what discovery is all about. Thinking about the diversity of our culture and, and inviting jazz musicians and classical musicians and poetry readings in the White House so that, once again, we appreciate this incredible tapestry that's America. I--you know, that, I think, is, is going to be incredibly important, particularly because we're going through hard times. And, historically, what has always brought us through hard times is that national character, that sense of optimism, that willingness to look forward, that, that sense that better days are ahead. I think that our art and our culture, our science, you know, that's the essence of what makes America special, and, and we want to project that as much as possible in the White House. More: Full Text of Interview (plus video)

Using the White House as a bully pulpit to promote ideas, creativity and learning would be a marked switch from the past eight years. What topics, people and ideas do you want to see showcased within these domains?

With Obama raising such possibilities, it's a good reminder to sign the petition online to support Quincy Jones' idea for Obama to create a Secretary of the Arts cabinet position, too.

On Creativity

"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a
dancing star." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Encourage Obama to Create 'Secretary of the Arts' Cabinet Position

[December 2008 - Secretary of the Arts Petition] PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD! PLEASE INVITE AS MANY AS POSSIBLE TO SIGN! LET'S ALL WORK TOGETHER FOR A BETTER WORLD AND FUTURE!

    To:  President-Elect Barack Obama

    Congratulations and thank you for all you do.

    Your good friend Quincy Jones said: "...next conversation I have with President Obama is to beg for a Secretary of Arts."
    [November 14th 2008 WNYC interview by John Schaefer on "Soundcheck."]

    We the undersigned support Quincy Jones' plea.

Sign the petition here.

Kresge Foundation President Urges Foundations to Help Revitalize American Cities

[12 November 2008 - Kresge Foundation Press Release (via Philanthropy News Digest)] Private philanthropy must work at the heart, rather than at the margins, of the complex economic, social, political, and environmental problems plaguing American cities in order to contribute meaningfully to their revitalization and success, Kresge Foundation president Rip Rapson said at last week's CEOs for Cities national meeting. Speaking to an audience of mayors, corporate executives, and other urban leaders, Rapson applauded the work done by philanthropy in helping nonprofits improve the daily lives of millions of individuals in communities around the nation, but added that ways must be found to address the underlying problems that perpetuate those needs. Citing success stories in four urban areas, he urged large, privately endowed foundations to behave strategically with respect to cities by helping establish a vision for concerted action, working to align civic actors, aggregating risk capital, and connecting low-income people to the mainstream economy. Rapson emphasized the importance of strengthening cities by identifying bridges between low-income communities and regional economic opportunities and noted the work being carried out in Detroit through the New Economy Initiative, a $100 million fund established by the Kresge Foundation and nine other national, regional, and local foundations. Unless we identify and influence long-term leverage points capable of moving intricately interrelated public, private, and civic systems, we will make no contribution to breaking calcified patterns of disinvestment, inequality, and injustice," Rapson said. "We will not, in a word, make any enduring improvement in our citizens' day-to-day quality of life and their long-term trajectories of opportunity." Read the complete version of Rapson's remarks here.

A call for guts

[November 2008 - Ode Magazine - By Frances Moore Lappe] Like a lot of us, I keep asking myself, How did we get into this mess? Since humans have innate needs and capacities for cooperation, empathy and fairness, which science now confirms, why does so much suffering and destruction continue? For many, the answer seems obvious: Humans just aren't good enough; we need to become better people; we need to overcome selfishness and evolve into more caring and cooperative creatures. I disagree. More

Potential of Facebook to transform the future ...

Facebook and other social networking media is connecting people everywhere, everyday, all the time. Barack Obama's election is one example of the power of such technology in politics -- with the pending experiment and challenge of whether the same might apply in governing. Journalist Mona Eltahawy explores (below) how Facebook might help transform the Middle East.

Another potential area to consider ... How might social networking media help link the creativity of citizens in small towns and rural communities to positively shape and transform their communities? Creative community development is not just an urban issue. What ideas do you have for how this might happen?

[Fall 2008 - World Policy Journal] Check out "The Middle East's Generation Facebook" article by Mona Eltahawy, who writes in this piece:
"In 2005, activists breached not just laws against public demonstrations, but taboos of protesting against Mubarak himself, with street protests that focused on Egypt and its internal discontents. But that movement was perhaps too early to rally the masses and was criticized for being out of touch with the needs of ordinary Egyptians. The recent Internet-inspired activism has flipped the script -- the needs of the masses have sparked a wave of unprecedented activism among young Egyptians. Bloggers have been instrumental in the conviction of police officers for torture and in getting neglected stories into the headlines. The Internet has given young people like Shahi a space that does not exist in the 'real world.' They're using it to create grassroots groups and communities that will eventually translate into a real presence in society, and this bodes well for their ability to influence the futures of their respective countries. Generation Facebook might not be able to change their regimes today, but in building communities and support groups online, they are creating the much-needed middle ground that countries like Egypt desperately require. And, sadly, it is surely in recognition of that nascent power that regimes as aging, paranoid, and powerful as Egypt's Mubarak now arrest, imprison, and harangue bloggers and online activists. ... As Generation Facebook grows older and more assured in its ability to organize and unite, it will be confronting a potentially inexperienced leader in the form of Gamal Mubarak with potentially tragic and unforeseen consequences. ... I am confident that Generation Facebook is planting the seeds of an opposition movement that gives Egyptians, and by extension the whole region, an alternative to the state and the mosque. In 2033, I will be 66 years old. Nothing would make me happier than to see Shahi, Ibrahim, and Maha make my dream come true." More (PDF)

Change

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." -- R. Buckminster Fuller